CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Now that work for a $55 million justice center in San Patricio County is in progress, some are wondering if a new sheriff's office is not to far behind?
On the corner of old Hwy 181 and East Sinton Street is where a large crowd gathered to take part in the groundbreaking ceremony for the justice center.
Construction for the 91,000 square-foot facility will begin sometime in the summer, and will take two years to complete.
The district and county attorneys will move into the facility, but the sheriff's office and jail remains over on North Rachal Avenue.
The development is something San Patricio County Judge David Krebs said is a sigh of relief for him and his staff.
"Right now they feel like sardines, you know, in a can with the way they're working right now. So it'll make the working conditions a whole lot easier for them a whole lot, more enjoyable for them," he said.
Tamra Cochran-May is a San Patricio County attorney and said her staff are working out of offices that are smaller than closets.
"Space, not only involves room for all of my personnel to operate efficiently, but also room to move the prisoners and have a holdover cells attached to the court room," she said.
3NEWS asked San Patricio County Sheriff Oscar Rivera if it made sense to move his operations over to the justice center complex.
"We are hoping some day that we can build right across the street at the old health department. That building is getting very, very old and I hope to build a three-story structure there, and stay where we are and move the jail across the street," he said.
Rivera said that he doesn't want to build a new jail at the justice center because it sits across the street from the high school.
The proposed move is still in the discussion stage and nothing has been ironed out or decided on.
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