The existing Ribicoff Courthouse immediately south of downtown Hartford. Photo courtesy of the GSA

The federal agency in charge of the U.S. government’s real estate announced it plans to propose a new federal courthouse on a downtown Hartford site.

The General Services Administration (GSA) announced it’s picked a 2.19-acre site at 154 Allyn St., about halfway between the Hartford train and bus station and most of the city’s skyscrapers, for the new facility.

The GSA still needs to acquire the site, and it’s taking public comment on the idea until 5 p.m. on June 9.

The Allyn Street site won out over a site at 61 Woodland St. on the far side of Asylum Hill from downtown. That site currently holds a state office building and would have required demolition of the existing structure.

The downtown Hartford site will ultimately host a 281,000-square-foot building with 11 courtrooms, 18 judges’ chambers, offices for court-related agencies and 66 secured parking spaces, with enough space to meet the federal courts’ needs for the next 30 years.

It would replace the existing Abraham A. Ribicoff Federal Building and Courthouse, which was constructed in 1963 and which, federal officials say, no longer meets the needs of the federal court system.

No design has yet been made public for the Allyn Street site, but the GSA appointed Michael Maltzan Architecture as the project architect under a $32.2 million contract last year.

The Allyn Street site chosen for a new Hartford federal courthouse. Image courtesy of the GSA