New Hidalgo County Courthouse to open next year

EDINBURG, Texas (ValleyCentral) — After six years and a price tag of more than $190 million, the new Hidalgo County Courthouse is set to open next year.

The county received the necessary certificate of occupancy from the city of Edinburg this week. Many have wondered if the problem plagued courthouse would ever open as construction began before the pandemic even hit the area.

“They should open it and go with it," said Edinburg resident Juan Rios.

After waiting for six years residents are excited about the courthouse finally opening sometime soon. This is amid the multiple problems with construction as many say it is needed.

“I think it is so beautiful and we need it because the other one was really crowded and Edinburg is growing, and we just need it," Janie Rios from Edinburg said. "We needed it desperately.”

Julio Cuello, who is also from Edinburg, agrees.

“It should add some prestige and most definitely allow us to open some jobs for people that have been out here studying," Cuello said.

Like so many other times in the past, there is still no date set when the building will officially open its doors and courtoorms.

Hidalgo County Judge Richard F. Cortez says since there are several detention areas on each of the floors to hold inmates on trial and the courthouse still needs approval by the Texas Jail Standards Board to be fully ready to operate.

"Who knows, who knows," said Cortez. “On the worst case situation, we would be in there conducting business, certainly by April of next year.”

The judge says a number of factors delayed the completion of the courthouse such as supply shortages of construction materials during the pandemic, engineering problems and the state awarding the facility more courtrooms.

“All of a sudden, the State of Texas awards more courts to us," the county judge added. "So, the things that we thought were going to be somewhere in the future happened right away. So we weren't anticipating building the seventh floor. We had to build that. So that took additional time, additional money.”

The new facility will feature 12 district courts, 10 county court of law judges, master courts and the 13th Court of Appeals. As well as district clerk, county clerk, sheriff and some district attorney offices and a cafeteria.

In total, the building will have an occupancy of 9,000 people. Cortez says the decades old courthouse will be demolished and the space used for parking.

“Parking is always going to be a problem there," Cortez said. "It's right smack in the middle of Edinburg, Texas. So, parking is at a premium, and we need it. We need it for that, and that's what we're going to use it for.”

Judge Cortez said that the county judge’s office will not be part of the new facility. They will remain in the annex building behind the new courthouse.