Dec. 11—Located on prime downtown Decatur real estate, the once-thriving federal governmental building located next to City Hall and the Morgan County Courthouse will soon be home to nothing but the post office.

The 58-year-old Seybourn H. Lynne Federal Building, "acclaimed as one of the most modern in the Southeast," according to a news report when it was built, could provide valuable space for businesses or city government, but its owner — the U.S. Postal Service — has announced no plans for what it will do with the vacant space once the dwindling federal presence on the top two floors has disappeared.

Decatur's loss is Huntsville's gain.

Construction began in September on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama's new $86 million, 123,100-square-foot federal courthouse at 610 Gallatin St. in Huntsville.

The new federal courthouse in Huntsville is scheduled for completion in 2024. The U.S. Bankruptcy Court will move out of the Decatur federal building and into the new Huntsville federal building, said Cathy Rineer-Garber, spokeswoman for the U.S. General Services Administration. GSA manages federal government buildings and real estate.

The Decatur facility is also no longer a regular venue for other courts in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, which typically hold proceedings in Huntsville, Birmingham or Tuscaloosa.

The new Huntsville courthouse will include five courtrooms and six judges' chambers and will provide workspace for other federal agencies, including the U.S. Marshals Service, the U.S. Attorney's Office, and the U.S Probation and Pretrial Services.

Upon completion of the Huntsville facility, Decatur's post office will be the only inhabitant in the building and 1.8 acres at 400 Well St. N.E. The post office uses about half of the building plus the loading docks and rear parking lot.

"We have no information regarding any future closure at this time and will continue to operate at the present time," said Debra Jean Fetterly, USPS spokesperson, Alabama-Mississippi District, in an email.

Lobbying effort

Crystal Brown, president and chief executive officer of the Decatur-Morgan County Chamber of Commerce, said she and Mayor Tab Bowling are working with Dane Cutrell, a federal lobbyist from the law firm of Maynard Cooper & Gayle, to backfill the space, possibly with a federal project or department.

"We think it's very important that we keep that federal connection," Brown said. "We know that's a couple of years away, but that time is going to come quickly."

The departure of the remaining federal tenants would be a loss for a building that housed numerous federal agencies in the 1960s.

Bowling said the departure of the federal court may make available numerous offices and a large courtroom.

"We're working to fill the building after the loss of jobs with GSA," Bowling said.

With Decatur City Hall just across Cain Street Northeast, the empty Federal Building offices could also offer an opportunity for the city to consolidate some of its departments.

City officials have been looking for alternatives to the two buildings that the city leases on Cain Street.

The Planning and Engineering departments are in a building owned by HCS Cullman LLC. City Chief Financial Officer Kyle Demeester said the city pays $5,500 a month to rent at the corner of Cain and Ferry streets.

The Municipal Courts Annex building is owned by Larry and Phyllis White, and Demeester said the city pays $4,043 a month ro rent this building at the corner of Cain and Line streets.

"That might be something for us to look at and weigh," Bowling said. "Those leases are costly."

Mark Moody, broker of MarMac Real Estate and Huston & Lee Management, a property management division, said the Federal Building could meet a need for office space in downtown Decatur.

"The proximity to the (Morgan County) courthouse and the downtown municipal complex makes it very desirable," Moody said. "For a young attorney starting a practice, the location is a real drawing card."

A Morgan County deed shows the Decatur Housing Authority, led by Chairman J.C. Harwell, sold the property in June 1962 to the United States of America for $78,405.70. The covenant shows the property "must be devoted to the Urban Renewal Plan for the Well Street project of the city of Decatur." In a Decatur Daily story shortly after the Federal Building was completed, City Commissioner F.S. Hunt noted that the building helped eliminate "the squalor which existed for years in this area" along Well Street.

John Allison, director of the Morgan County Archives, said that before the Federal Building was built in 1964, the post office was in what now is Magnolia River Service's home on Bank Street Northeast.

Construction of the 27,600-square-foot Federal Building cost $1.5 million, The Decatur Daily reported in the Aug. 22, 1965, edition. The headline of the article: "New Post Office Facility is Decatur's 'Dream Come True.'"

The post office covered the entire first floor of the new federal building and only used 10,000 square feet of the available space.

Then-Morgan County Commission Chairman Guy Roberts was quoted in the 1965 article as saying the new federal building "is a monument to the dedicated people of Decatur ... ."

Judge Lynne

Decatur's Federal Building was designated a seat of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama by an act of Congress in 1961. A dedication of the new courtroom was held in November 1965 when U.S. District Judge Seybourn H. Lynne presided over the first case there.

According to the Congressional Record, the Federal Building was named after Lynne on Dec. 18, 1995. Lynne, a Decatur native, was at that time the country's longest-serving federal judge, serving on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama for 49 years. Born in 1908, Lynne earned his bachelor's degree from Alabama Polytechnic Institute, now known as Auburn University, and his law degree from the University of Alabama in 1930.

According to the Congressional Record, Lynne was first elected to serve on the bench in 1934 as a Morgan County judge. He later served on the Eighth Judicial Circuit Court of Alabama until stepping down in 1942 to volunteer for military service and later being appointed to serve as a federal judge.

"The Seybourn Lynne Federal Courthouse will serve as a permanent reminder of his legacy of service, for future generations," according to the Congressional Record.

Lynne remained a senior judge on the federal bench until his death in 2000.

At the time of its opening, the Federal Building was occupied by numerous federal agencies and bureaus with 138 employees. Occupancy of the third floor was confined entirely to federal courts and related offices, with the post office on the ground floor and the other agencies on the second floor.

Allison said a 1967 city directory shows Decatur's Federal Building was home to agencies that included the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, U.S. Air Force and Army recruiters, Army Reserve Center, Selective Service (draft board), Social Security Administration, Crop Insurance, Bureau of Sport Fishing and Wildlife, Internal Revenue Service, and Soil & Conservation Service. According to news stories upon its opening, it also was home to offices of the FBI, the U.S. Attorney's Office and General Services Administration.

— bayne.hughes@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2432. Twitter @DD_BayneHughes.