New Hidalgo County courthouse ‘substantially complete’

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Construction of the new Hidalgo County courthouse has at last reached “substantial completion,” according to county officials.

The major milestone comes nearly four years to the day after Morganti Inc., the Houston-based firm tasked with building the seven-story courthouse, initially promised to reach substantial completion.

“Are you sure we’re ready to accept this?” Hidalgo County Judge Richard F. Cortez asked County Administrator Valde Guerra during a Hidalgo County Commissioners Court meeting Tuesday morning.

“This is recommended by our project architect, HDR. This will complete the phase … so that we can begin the process of the integration of all our services from the old courthouse to the new courthouse,” Guerra replied.

Guerra was referring to HDR, the Omaha, Nebraska-based global architecture firm that designed the seven-story, 321,000-square-foot courthouse in the heart of downtown Edinburg.

Accepting the certificate of substantial completion puts the county one step closer to moving into the facility and tearing down the current courthouse.

However, reaching “substantial completion” doesn’t mean that all construction work on the building has been completed, as Guerra noted.

“With that being said, there’s still some issues that are being addressed. The exterior is still being addressed,” Guerra said.

The county administrator was referring to repairs that still need to be made to the building’s roof and portions of its exterior cladding — construction defect issues that were discovered during a third-party inspection conducted in 2023.

That includes replacing some stucco, Dina R. Treviño, the county’s assistant purchasing director, told commissioners.

County officials initially tasked HDR with designing and overseeing the courthouse build in October 2017, according to county records.

By the time construction began the following year, several other firms had joined in on the project, including Edinburg-based ERO Architects.

Jacobs Project Management, a Dallas-based firm, came on board as the project manager, while Morganti Inc., a Houston-based firm, was hired to serve as “construction manager-at-risk” for what was originally slated to be a $150 million project.

But delay after delay plagued construction, ultimately pushing back projections for move-in day first by months, then by years.

Initially, some of the delays were blamed on the COVID-19 pandemic. But soon, it became clear that the pandemic could not account for every busted deadline.

Morganti had initially expected to reach “substantial completion” by Feb. 28, 2021, according to documents the company provided to the county.

But that date got pushed back several times and there were also disputes between the county and Morganti that remain mired in mediation.

In November, Cortez announced that the project was close to being finished. And on Dec. 6, he — along with Edinburg Mayor Ramiro Garza Jr. — led the media on a tour of the new courthouse to celebrate it receiving a certificate of occupancy.

The following week, the Texas Commission on Jail Standards gave its stamp of approval for the courthouse’s jail facilities, which will be used to hold prisoners as they await their day in court.

Now that county leaders have accepted HDR’s certificate of substantial completion, the architectural firm will have 11 months to conduct an inspection and review period, according to the terms of HDR’s contract with Hidalgo County.

Move-in date has yet to be set, but Cortez was enthusiastic about reaching the substantial completion milestone.

“We should have had a drumbeat after that last one,” the county judge quipped as the commission turned its attention to the next agenda item.

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