$60 Million Green U.S. District Courthouse Planned for Montana

BILLINGS, Mont. — Federal officials allocated almost $80 million in stimulus funding for construction of a new U.S. District Court building that will be designed to meet LEED Silver certification.

The General Services Administration issued a request for qualifications for a new $60 million, 146,700-square-foot federal courthouse to replace the existing James F. Battin Federal Courthouse in Billings.

The design-build project, proposed for a 2-acre site in the city’s central business district, is expected to begin in February 2010. The GSA will develop the project under the agency’s Excellence in Public Buildings program, with all funding coming from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The courthouse will include district and magistrate courtrooms and associated judges chambers, administrative space and jury assembly facilities, and will house the offices of U.S. Marshals Service and U.S. Attorney.

The GSA decision to pursue construction of a new courthouse rather than remodel and expand Battin was prompted by the discovery of asbestos throughout the existing courthouse building, officials say.

The five-story Battin building, located several blocks from the site proposed for the new courthouse, was constructed in 1963.