A new morgue will cost $1.1 million, but county officials are holding off on the project for now.

The Cowlitz County Coroner's office says the morgue, located in a converted house near the Hall of Justice, is outdated and too small. Officials have made a priority of building a larger facility that can handle as many as 25 bodies at a time.

But the county won't break ground on the new morgue until officials complete a study assessing a how much office space county agencies will need in the future, said Ron Junker, the county's facilities director,

Space in the Hall of Justice, which houses the sheriff's office, courts and other agencies, is already cramped. Options include remodeling the Hall of Justice, building a new one or adding to the existing one. Junker said authorities want to know how the morgue might fit into that plan before spending money on a new building.

The study should be finished in March, Junker said. It's still possible, he said, that the county could break ground on a new morgue in 2008 and have it open in 2009.