
It was two decades in the making, but the newly built Sylvia H. Rambo U.S. Courthouse in Harrisburg opened its doors to the public April 17.
The 243,000-square-foot courthouse at 1501 N. Sixth St., which will house the U.S. District Court and Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, replaces the 1960s-era Ronald Reagan Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse.
The Reagan building, at 228 Walnut St., only had four courtrooms because it doubled as a federal building and a courthouse; it didn’t meet the U.S. government’s requirements for a federal courthouse, according to the General Service Administration.
As the old courthouse closes, the Federal Station Post Office located there is projected to move into Strawberry Square on the 300 block of Market Street this month, theburgnews.com reported.
The new courthouse, named for the Honorable Sylvia H. Rambo, includes eight courtrooms and 11 chambers. Also on the premises are the U.S. Marshal Service, U.S. Attorney’s Office, U.S. Trustee Office, Homeland Security, Federal Public Defender and the GSA.
Rambo is one of few women to have a federal courthouse named after her and the first in Pennsylvania. Among the others is retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.
She was also the first woman chief public defender and Common Pleas Court judge in Cumberland County and the first woman federal judge for the Middle District.
A senior judge, Rambo was appointed to the federal bench in 1979 by President Jimmy Carter as part of a historic class of 23 women federal judges. Only 10 women had been appointed as federal judges in the previous 190 years.
The 10-story courthouse was substantially completed by the end of March, the GSA said. A ribbon cutting had been held in December 2022.
The official genesis of the project dates from 2003, when the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee approved money to find a site for a new federal courthouse in Harrisburg.
GSA said the overall cost for site acquisition, design and construction was $200.9 million.
Ennead Architects, of New York City, was the lead deign architect. Describing the project on its website, Ennead wrote:
“Inspired by Harrisburg’s civic history, regional landscape and evolving Midtown urban fabric, the building design aims to establish the new United States Federal Courthouse as a northern gateway and contemporary civic landmark that embodies the vital intersection between the federal judiciary and the community it serves.”
The fate of the 11-story, 251,179-square-foot Reagan building, built in 1966, has yet to be determined.
Over a year ago, it was purchased by out-of-state developer Global Ocean Investments for $10.1 million, which outlined plans to turn it into one-, two- and three-bedroom luxury apartments with such amenities as a fitness center, movie theater, salon and two restaurants. However, the building was sold again – earlier this year – to another out-of-state buyer, 1422 Route 179 Florida Realty LLC, for $13.13 million.
That buyer also wants to convert the office tower into apartments, biznewspa reported. Global Ocean is still involved in the project, as a lender.
Paula Wolf is a freelance writer