x
Breaking News
More () »

San Antonio to build new federal courthouse

Construction of the new 230,000 square-foot downtown courthouse will begin in spring 2019 thanks to a $117 million award announced Wednesday.
John H. Wood Jr. United States Courthouse

SAN ANTONIO — As the 50-year-old John H. Wood, Jr. U.S. Courthouse shows its age, San Antonio will be building a new federal courthouse downtown for the Western District of Texas.

Wednesday, a bipartisan delegation in Washington secured a $117.4 million U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) award for the construction of a new San Antonio U.S. Courthouse. This achievement comes as a result of the combined efforts of Senator John Cornyn (R-TX), as well as the bipartisan San Antonio delegation, including Henry Cuellar (TX-28), Lamar Smith (TX-21), Joaquin Castro (TX-20), Will Hurd (TX-23), and Lloyd Doggett (TX-35).

The plan is for the courthouse to house the U.S. District Courts for the Western District of Texas, U.S. Court of Appeals, U.S. Clerk of the Court, U.S. Magistrate Courts, U.S. Marshals, U.S. Attorneys, U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services, Federal Public Defender and GSA. Plans call for a 230,536 square-foot building at the corner of Santa Rosa and Nueva Street in downtown San Antonio.

"The Wood Courthouse has kept the Western District going for nearly 50 years, but unfortunately it does not have the capacity to support it any longer," Congressman Cuellar said. "The project to build a new courthouse was deserving of emergency appropriations because of the building’s numerous problems: The building’s water quality, air quality, space, safety and security issues go beyond simple repairs. I, therefore, am pleased to announce funding for the construction of a new courthouse immediately, which will transform the area and directly impact the San Antonio community.”

The 2016 Omnibus Appropriations bill allocated $947 million for new courthouse construction projects across the country, with $117 million of that total allocated specifically for the construction of a new U.S. courthouse in San Antonio.

Construction on the new facility is scheduled to begin in spring 2019, with the contract going to Brasfield & Gorrie, L.L.C.

Before You Leave, Check This Out