The building is located on the northwest corner of 4th Street and Lomas Boulevard in an area known as the Courthouse District.

[3] Designed by DCSW Architects in a contemporary Art Deco style, it features a three-story rotunda finished with granite, marble, and travertine[4] and a 36-foot (11 m) sculpture of the scales of justice.

[1] Ground was broken on the project in May 2001[2] and the building was topped out the following June.

[6] From 2005 to 2009, the Metro Courthouse was at the center of a high-profile fraud investigation, during which allegations emerged that a group of conspirators had siphoned off $4.2 million from the courthouse construction project in a scheme described by the Albuquerque Journal as "breathtaking in scope and star power.

"[7] Eight people were eventually named as defendants in the case, including the former president pro tempore of the New Mexico State Senate and a former mayor of Albuquerque.