From newspaper to courts

WILMINGTON -- The Port City's federal courthouse will soon have a temporary home, and it's one some of Wilmington's journalists are very familiar with.

The federal General Services Administration (GSA), the government's landlord, has signed a lease for as many as five years for the building at 1003 S. 17th St. -- the former home of the Wilmington StarNews.

Since Hurricane Florence caused significant damage to the Alton Lennon Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse, 2 Princess St., federal court functions have been temporarily housed at New Hanover County Court facilities several blocks away. By summer, GSA spokesman Adam Rondeau wrote in an email, the federal courthouse will be moved to the former newspaper offices.

"All court functions will relocate to the newly leased space so that the repair project at the Alton Lennon Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse can proceed," he said.

The South 17th Street headquarters housed the StarNews beginning June 16, 1970, until Hurricane Florence forced the paper's operations out of the facility in mid-September.

After the storm, developer Bobby Harrelson bought the former StarNews building for $2 million. The StarNews is now located at The Harrelson Building, another Harrelson property, located at the corner of Chestnut and North Third streets in downtown Wilmington.

Designed by James Wetmore, the three-story downtown federal building has overlooked the Cape Fear River since 1919, and has been named to the National Register of Historic Places.

The building is named after longtime Alton Lennon, a longtime Wilmington-area congressman. Throughout his career in public life, Lennon held a series of elected offices, including being appointed to a seat in the U.S. Senate from July 1953 to November 1954 and holding a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1957 until 1973.

GSA is currently evaluating Florence's damage to the courthouse building.

On Jan. 24, U.S. Sens. Richard Burr and Thom Tillis, both R-NC, wrote a letter to GSA expressing concerns about the Alton Lennon building's ability to reopen by the time the GSA's temporary lease with New Hanover County expired April 1. At least 44 federal workers, including a federal judge, had been displaced by the closure of the federal building, the senators wrote.

"We urge you to secure temporary, leasable space in Wilmington for displaced federal employees and to restore and reopen the Alton Lennon Federal Building as soon as possible," Burr and Tillis wrote, adding it is important to have a federal courtroom in Wilmington because many constituents in the area are unable to travel long distances.

GSA officials are, Rondeau said, completing their response to Burr and Tillis. By securing the lease in the former StarNews building, though, they have answered at least one of the senators' questions.

Reporter Adam Wagner can be reached at 910-343-2389 or Adam.Wagner@GateHouseMedia.com.