Federal employees, other government officials and journalists alike are suffering from DOGE-lash as Elon Musk’s cost-cutting team runs rampant and executive orders from President Trump are announced, revoked and held up in court on a daily basis.
One example is an announcement last week from the General Services Administration, which oversees federal properties, that hundreds of “noncore” buildings nationwide—including downtown Athens’ Robert G. Stephens Federal Building and 16 others in Georgia—had been identified for “divestment.” A day later, the list was deleted.
For years, Athens-Clarke County government leaders have been eyeing the mostly empty Stephens Building as a potential site for a new county courthouse. The current courthouse is more than a century old, overcrowded and can’t be expanded, so the plan is to build a new “judicial center,” then consolidate municipal government offices into the existing courthouse, and sell off other scattered city-owned properties on Dougherty Street, Satula Avenue and elsewhere.
This depends, though, on the feds being willing to part with the Stephens Building. Is it really for sale? “It’s not clear,” Mayor Kelly Girtz told Flagpole.
However, Girtz said he remains in touch with the GSA about obtaining the property. “I met with them as recently as last week, and we’re putting together a proposal for them,” he said.
If 355 E. Hancock St. doesn’t work out, the backup plan is to build the judicial center on what is now county-owned parking lots north of Dougherty Street. Commissioners have said they intend to keep it downtown.
Like what you just read? Support Flagpole by making a donation today. Every dollar you give helps fund our ongoing mission to provide Athens with quality, independent journalism.
