Wanted: Buyer for Pittsburgh Municipal Courts Building with costly maintenance, jail views

Pittsburgh will try to sell the Downtown Municipal Courts Building, described by City Council as a money-sucking facility that will cost more than $1 million to maintain.

But whether anyone wants to buy the building, and for how much, remain open questions.

Council voted Tuesday to send legislation authorizing the sale to Mayor Ed Gainey, with only Councilwoman Deb Gross, D-Highland Park, opposed.

Gross last week expressed concern that the bill would allow anyone to buy the site if Allegheny County and the state declined to purchase.

Councilman Anthony Coghill, D-Beechview, earlier this month introduced legislation to terminate its existing lease agreement with the county and sell the building outright.

The city owns the four-story building and pays for maintenance and utilities, though city offices take up only half of a floor. The rest of the building is used for county court functions.

Coghill initially said he’d like to sell the building to the city or county for $9 million, but he’s since said he’d be willing to sell it for far less to get it off the city’s hands.

Pittsburgh in 1991 entered a deal with the county and other partners to maintain the courts building. The agreement allows the county to use the site rent-free through November 2046.

Though council approved a measure Tuesday to begin the process of selling it, Coghill said the city will continue paying for maintenance and utilities at the site until a sales agreement can be negotiated.

The bill requires a report on the progress of the sale within six months.

If the state or county refuse to buy the building, Coghill said, he’d support selling it to any other entity willing to take it.

But he acknowledged that the building, which is connected to the Allegheny County Jail, wouldn’t be appealing for developers and was constructed explicitly for use as a court building.

“There’s no developer on this planet that’s going to go in there and say, ‘I’m going to turn this into condos or apartments,’” Coghill said. “It is literally and physically connected to the prison.”

When the city first entered the agreement to maintain the site, the mayor and City Council appointed up to 17 magistrates to handle criminal matters and city ordinance violations, and the mayor sat on the Allegheny County Jail Oversight Board.

But that board has since been reorganized, with the mayoral seat scrapped in 2009. The city-appointed magistrates have been replaced with elected district judges.

Because courts are a county function, Coghill said, the county should foot the bill.

Pittsburgh police use a portion of the third floor for computer operations, the Telephone Reporting Unit and a records office. Coghill said he’d support paying rent to a new owner or relocating those offices to another city-owned building.

Director of the Department of Public Works Chris Hornstein last week estimated it would cost over $1 million to replace the aging roof and HVAC systems that are now nearing the end of their lifespans.

“It’s a costly building to own and operate,” he said.

As the city braces for tight financial years ahead, Coghill said he’d like to eliminate those costs.

A county spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment on the measure.