San Antonio’s getting a new federal courthouse

Currently the John H. Wood Jr. United States Courthouse at 655 César E. Chávez Blvd was built as a theater for Hemisfair 1968. Since the building was built, it was supposed to be temporarily used as a Federal Courthouse. The building has a lot of issues such as high levels of lead in the drinking water, foundation issues, flea infestations and faulty HVAC systems.
Now, San Antonio is finally going to get a much smaller courthouse which will start construction next spring at Nueva and Santa Rosa is where the former San Antonio Police Headquarters was located.
The current facility boasts about 305,000 square feet and the new one being built in 2019 will be 230,536 square feet at the tune of $117 million. The original plans for the new construction was supposed to cost $180 million but the General Service Administration only budgeted a certain amount and wouldn’t budge on a higher price tag that U.S. Judge Xavier Rodriguez originally envisioned.
After the new building is built, plans will be conducted on how to demolish the old Federal Courthouse by the city.