City Hall Annex, a one-story building on Walnut Street where the Board of Mayor and Aldermen meets regularly, may be sold, and the city may purchase another nearby building, Mayor Laurence Leyens said Friday.

&#8220I don’t think this will happen quickly,” he said. &#8220It’ll be at least a year.”

The city is negotiating a deal with a development company, Courthouse Investors LLC, which two years ago bought the federal courthouse and downtown post office building next door on Crawford Street, Leyens said. The company has announced tentative plans to transform the courthouse building into a hotel.

Leyens said the company wants to add parking areas by razing the annex, which stretches around the corner with South Street and also houses the Senior Center.

In return, Leyens said, the city would like to purchase the AmSouth Bank building, across Crawford Street from the front of City Hall.

AmSouth’s city president, Will Lofton, said his bank has not discussed a deal with the city, but he would be amenable to talks.

&#8220I think with the facilities we have, it would be feasible,” he said.

Leyens said the city is waiting for a letter of intent from the owners of the post office building before initiating discussions with AmSouth.

&#8220It would give us a lot more room and allow us to improve our efficiency by consolidating city government, so it’s not all over the place, and it would allow us to have a larger place for the Senior Center,” Leyens said.

The annex, built as private retail space, houses RCTV23, Human Resources, Public Works, Inspections and Internal Investigations. It also is temporarily housing the Main Street department until it returns to its building on Clay Street.

Realtor Shirley Waring, who represents Courthouse Investors, declined comment.

The building was purchased in 2004 from General Services Administration, the federal government’s property manager, which had bought it from private owns.

The post office has continued to operate with limited hours under a lease deal with Courthouse Investors.

Meanwhile, city crews are painting and replacing rotten molding on the annex.

Leyens said the work, estimated to cost $8,000 to $9,000, has been needed for more than five years.

&#8220Our building was looking pretty cruddy,” Leyens said.

The work began Thursday and is expected to last two weeks, said Johnny Puckett, head of the city’s building maintenance department.