BANGOR – The state’s efforts to build a combined district and superior courthouse on a city-owned development parcel advanced another step Monday night, when city councilors unanimously approved a purchase and development agreement with the Maine Governmental Facilities Authority.

The deal helps pave the way for a $37 million construction project slated to be completed in about 21/2 years, according to State Court Administrator James “Ted” Glessner, who attended Monday’s regular council meeting held at City Hall.

The new courthouse would combine the superior and district courts, now located in separate, though adjacent buildings off Hammond Street.

“The groundbreaking probably won’t be until June 2007. It’ll be at least that long,” Glessner said, adding that the building’s final design phase would take several months to complete.

The city’s option with the state’s governmental facilities authority runs through June 30, 2008, though it can be extended through Dec. 31, 2009, if the court system otherwise has complied with the terms of the agreement, city documents relating to the agreement show.

Under the terms of the deal, the state will pay $254,000, or the appraised fair market value, for the land located at the corner of Washington and Exchange streets. If for some reason the project does not go forward, the city has the right and the obligation to buy the site back at the original sale price.

Councilor Geoffrey Gratwick asked Glessner for assurances that the result would be a courthouse that fits in well with existing buildings in the vicinity, many of them historic and most of them built in brick, stone or a combination.

“I do, in fact, give you that assurance,” Glessner said during the meeting.

“We’re quite excited by this project,” he said. “Our intention is to add something that’s going to be beautiful and something that’s going to be there for years to come.” The state, he added, “is not interested in [building a courthouse made from%] smoked glass and polished aluminum.”

City Manager Edward Barrett said that the agreement gives the city design-review authority and that court system officials were familiar with the architectural design standards the city adopted for its waterfront and downtown parcels.

Barrett also said Sally Bates, a city economic development officer, has been tapped to serve on the courthouse planning committee, which includes representatives from the court system, members of the area legal community, police officers and other key users of the building.

In other terms, the state is required to build a courthouse of at least 100,000 square feet.

Because parking has been a concern for courthouse developers, the agreement also provides for the use of some of the spaces in the long narrow parking area known as Kenduskeag Plaza East.

The city would continue to own and manage the parking plaza, located across the Kenduskeag Stream from the backside of the Pickering Square Parking Garage.

The state Legislature approved $37 million for the project. Glessner estimated last month that about $30 million of that will go to the actual physical construction and the remainder for architectural and other fees.