As the years rolled by, the calls for demolition of the old courthouse grew louder. In 2010, County Commissioner Mike Pusley called for another engineering study to determine the soundness of the structure. That study, carried out in 2011, showed the courthouse to be dangerously unsafe. The study cited a new estimate for total renovation costs at $41 million and $3 million to demolish. After the study’s results were known, the Commissioners passed a resolution supporting demolition. For the next five years, the county simply tried to maintain the grounds and keep entry points boarded up to deter vagrants, while deterioration accelerated.
In 2016, the Commissioners decided to make one last attempt to sell the building. The Commissioners Court rescinded their 2011 resolution to demolish the building and instead, put the building up for sale. The asking price was $800,000.
Surprisingly, an offer was made by a group called “County Courthouse Development Partners” which specialized in restoring historic buildings. A purchase agreement was signed in April 2017 after the asking price was dropped to $1,000. The buyer had plans to turn the old courthouse into a $57 million luxury hotel. The final deal was signed on May 25, 2018. More than 40 years after being abandoned, the historic courthouse was to be saved and restored!
Or so everyone thought.
When the company missed a deadline in August to pay the back taxes due on the property, the Commissioners voted to terminate the sale. Yet another heartbreaking opportunity was lost!
An interesting proposal was made in 2019, when the Ed Rachal Foundation offered to buy the courthouse. The charitable Foundation made it clear that their intention was to demolish the building. Not only would the Foundation pay all of the back taxes, it would also pay the estimated $3 million cost of demolition. The sale would be contingent upon the county being able to have the state covenant preventing demolition until at least the year 2027 lifted. The State Historical Commission, however, made it clear that it would not consider lifting the covenant. The Commission had never rescinded a covenant on a recognized historic landmark in its history, and was not about to start now. A new engineering study conducted by the Historical Commission was released in July 2019. The cost for restoration had now risen to $68.5 million.
With the coming of Corpus Christi’s new high bridge, new opportunities were seen for saving the rapidly deteriorating 1914 Courthouse. Once the new bridge is open, the old Harbor Bridge will be demolished, freeing up nearly 46 acres of Harbor Bridge right-of-way for development. The city, county, and Port decided to request that the State Department of Transportation release its ownership of the right-of-way for redevelopment as a commercial corridor. The old courthouse, once renovated, could serve as the centerpiece of the project. But, as the new high bridge enters what is hoped to be its final year of construction, there has been no further talk about possibly saving the courthouse that was once declared “the most beautiful in the state”.
With the state covenant protecting the building expiring in 2027, the fate of the 113 year old Nueces County Courthouse now seems certain. The historic building may very well be in its final days.
Robert Parks is a special contributor to KRIS 6 News. Parks was a history teacher at Carroll High School for 19 years and is now retired. His knowledge of Corpus Christi history makes him a unique expert in the subject.