CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The City of Corpus Christi was caught off guard after receiving an eviction notice at the Wilson Plaza building. The building houses the detention center, which is where those who brake the law are taken.
Corpus Christi Director of Municipal Court Services Gilbert Hernandez said the move has caused some hurdles.
"You have to build detention cells and what not, and be prepared for CCPD to bring people, anyone who has been arrested," he said.
The center was originally located downtown, but has now temporality moved to the old Fire Station No. 5 building off of Leopard Street.
"We have temporary cells, we built them, we got together with PD, we got together with the fire department obviously, IT because it requires IT," he said.
Hernandez said there were dire factors that caused them to have to pack up and move.
"The A/C went out in March of this year and we have been operating with portable A/C's," he said. "They're not the greatest, so we knew we needed to get out."
Corpus Christi Assistant Fire Chief Randy Paige said that his team also noticed that the building had it's fair share of violations when they inspected it.
"There were issues with the fire alarm system, it had multiple with what we call 'red tags' on it for system troubles, you know, there were many areas that weren't working correctly," he said.
The investigation resulted in the fire department issuing two citations. They said that they are uncertain about what the status of the building will be moving forward.
"I don't know what their plans are right now," Paige said. "If they plan to go back and fix stuff and do some renovations or what, but that will be up to the owner."
Hernandez said that moving into the old fire station will save the city thousands on rent because they own the temporary building. He adds that city leaders are discussing potential plans on a more permanent location, looking to keep it as close to downtown or central city as possible.