CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — It's been looking a little tattered for a few years now. From the outside it's easy to see time hasn't been kind to the Nueces County Courthouse -- after all, it's been up and running since 1978.
However, as we prepare to enter a new year and a new decade, the massiver facility is about to get a new breath of life.
Nueces County Judge Barbara Canales explained to 3News what we can expect at the Nueces County Courthouse in 2020.
Canales calls it a massive undertaking that's long overdue. She detailed some of the infrastructure improvements that need to be made.
"They include things like the elevators, the chillers, the parking lots," Canales said.
You can already see signs of progress at the courthouse -- scaffolding and wood now completely cover the courthosue atrium, and for a very good reason.
"This has occured as protection. For protection of property and also for personal safety," Canales said. "We had some pieces of 'travertine,' which is like a marble, which is very heavy and it represents the exterior, the outside of our courthouse. We had a piece fall several weeks back and commissioners took what I consider emergency steps to protect our courthouse from further damage."
That big chunk of the "travertine" fell off the building's facade and cracked one of the atrium's three-pane windows; but that's just one of the myriad of projects that will be tackled in 2020, and all of it represents a major investment from taxpayers.
"We've got an investment of over $10 million I think dedicated to this courthouse," Canales said. "You've already seen some expenditures having been made. Almost $2 million in elevators, a little over $2 million in chillers. These are all on order. They're coming in."
Then there are all the Americans with Disabilities Act improvements, which will include a courtroom dedicated specifically to those with special needs.
"We want this type of facility," Canales said. "We want to be a community that welcomes people of all extraordinary abilities, as I like to call them, not disabled but people of extraordinary abilities, to be able to come in here, be a witness, a lawyer, a judge."
Also set to be updated is the County's Emergency Command Center. The exsisting bistro will be replaced and updated, as will the County's law library.
"It's a good use of your money, because we need this building to last many, many more years to come," Canales said.
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