SALEM — It's a long way off, but Salem State College could move downtown in a few years.

The college is the only state agency to express interest in two court buildings on Federal Street, Superior Court and the former County Commissioners building. Both will be vacant once construction of the J. Michael Ruane Judicial Center is completed in 2011.

The new courthouse will include superior, district, juvenile and housing courts.

Last fall, the Division of Capital Asset Management, the state agency managing the courthouse project, polled state agencies about their interest in those two buildings and heard back only from the college.

That's a good thing, according to Mayor Kim Driscoll, and could give Salem State the inside track.

"Obviously, that's very positive," she said. "They're not competing with anybody else."

In a 2008 memo to the state, the college said it believes "the buildings have the potential of supporting a broad range of college-related activities ..." Among examples, it cited the graduate and continuing education programs, which have a combined 4,000 students.

Salem State President Patricia Meservey said yesterday that the college has done little more than express an interest in the court buildings and that all plans, at this point, are "very preliminary."

However, she said Salem State is attracted by the proximity to the train station, and has talked to the mayor for a while about the possibility of increasing the college's presence downtown. Although it is only talk at this point, they have discussed locating a performing arts center, faculty housing or graduate housing in the downtown, Meservey said.

Currently, the college's downtown presence is limited to the Salem Explorers, a lifetime-learning institute, which rents space in a Federal Street office building.

As far as the two court buildings, it is not certain when they will become available. When the new courthouse opens in two years, these two buildings may be needed as temporary space while renovations get under way at the Family and Probate Court building on Federal Street, the final piece of the courthouse project.

If that's the case, the old Superior Court and County Commissioners building may not be available until 2014, according to Kevin Flanigan, a spokesman for DCAM.

Meservey said she hopes to know more next year. If 2011 looks like a possibility, she said the discussions at the college could get more serious.

Meanwhile, the District Court building on Washington Street also will be available once the new courthouse opens in 2011. The Southern Essex Registry of Deeds, now located at Shetland Park, has expressed an interest in moving into that building. The state is currently investigating that possible reuse, Flanigan said.