Today, Congressman Henry Cuellar (TX-28), along with members from the San Antonio Congressional Delegation, U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez, and Mayor Ron Nirenberg, attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the new San Antonio Federal Courthouse, the culmination of years of work in Congress.

In the fiscal year 2016 Omnibus Appropriations bill, Rep. Cuellar 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 Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz (R-TX), as well as the bipartisan San Antonio delegation, which includes Reps. Chip Roy (TX-21), Joaquin Castro (TX-20), Will Hurd (TX-23), and Lloyd Doggett (TX-35), who were united in their goal of creating this new judicial home for the Western District. The total funding for this project is $144.5 million dollars. Breakdown of total funding includes:

·         $8 million appropriated in fiscal year 2004 for site and design;

·         $4 million appropriated in fiscal year 2010 for design; and

·         $132.5 million appropriated in fiscal year 2016 for design, construction, and other related expenses. 

The new facility is planned to be a state-of-the-art 225,536 square-foot complex that will meet the security, accessibility, and operational needs of the courts. It will be located in historic downtown San Antonio at the corner of Santa Rosa Avenue and Nueva Street and will include eight courtrooms (five district, two magistrate, and one special proceeding) and 13 chambers (seven district, three magistrate, and three special). The facility will 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.

Congressman Cuellar worked to obtain these funds to address numerous problems at the current facility, the John H. Wood, Jr. U.S. Courthouse. Judges, jurors, prosecutors and visitors often pass defendants charged with violent crimes in corridors and conveyances around the building. The building also lacks a protected perimeter, tests positive for high levels of lead and iron contamination in its water, likely due to poor pipe construction, and is missing proper heating and air conditioning controls, not to mention the presence of asbestos and mold in and around the HVAC systems.

Unfortunately, due to budgetary constraints, the Judicial Training Center was excluded from the blueprint. In December 2018, Congressman Cuellar led a letter with the San Antonio Delegation to the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts requesting that the center remain in San Antonio. Currently, the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts is in talks with GSA to secure a new location for the Center in San Antonio.

The construction of this new facility will not only address these issues, but also increase capacity to raise staffing levels and manage the litigation demands of one the nation’s busiest federal judicial districts.  The contract has been awarded to Brasfield & Gorrie, L.L.C., a nationally recognized construction firm with an established history of service to Texas communities.  The new state-of-the-art courthouse will meet the security, accessibility, and operational needs of the courts in service to the Western District of Texas.

"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. It is great to see progress being made on the construction of the new courthouse, which will transform the community and allow the Western District to meet growing jurisdictional demand.”

Congressman Cuellar added, “I would like to thank the General Services Administration for laying out specific options and concrete next steps for this courthouse. I also thank Senators Cornyn and Cruz, Reps. Hurd, Doggett, Castro, and Roy, in addition to former House Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Ander Crenshaw, for their steadfast advocacy of this project. Finally, I would like to thank Mayor Nirenberg, U.S. Western District of Texas Judge Rodriguez, and Chief Judge Garcia, and recognize Judges Biery, Guaderrama, and Pitman, whose work on this matter has been essential.”

Congressman Henry Cuellar (TX-28) joins members from the San Antonio Congressional Delegation, U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez, and Mayor Ron Nirenberg at the groundbreaking ceremony for the new San Antonio Federal Courthouse on Monday.