SAMUEL L. NEAL, JR.

County Judge

September 6, 2018
Claudia Lobe!!
Chief Executive
cia u di S.101) cii @ flu CCC SC 0. CO n Mark Wolfe
Executive Director
Christopher Boyce, E.M.C. Texas Historical Commission
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C hr is Lu ph Cr. ho yCe@ nu e CC S Co. CO fli
1511 Colorado Street
Austin, TX 78701
Monica Perez
Executive Secretary
monica perez I @nuecesco .com
Re: Historic 1914 Nueces County Courthouse

Dear Mr. Wolfe:

I am writing on behalf of the entire Nueces County community. As you

know, since Nueces County moved out of the Historic Courthouse and into
its current location in 1977, there have been attempts by many parties
including Nueces County, the city of Corpus Christi, and the Texas
Historical Commission, to preserve the Historic Courthouse site. It now
seems as though our community has reached its breaking point with this
site.

Attempts to save the Historical Courthouse actually began long before the
County moved out of that building. In 1957, the Nueces County
Commissioners Court asked the voters to approve a $2.7 million dollar
bond issue for the courthouse and jail for purposes of maintaining the
structure.

This was not a small task as the bond would be over $24 million in today's
dollars. The Court was asking for commitment in the Historic Courthouse
from the community, but the measure failed.

When the County moved into the 1977 Courthouse, there were numerous
entries in the Commissioners Court minutes exploring options for the
preservation of the Historic Courthouse. None of them were successful, and
the building and grounds were ultimately sold to Lex Land, LTD. for
$206,000.00 in 1978. Filed along with the deed is a nearly 40 year
restrictive covenant in the name of the State of Texas requiring preservation
of the historical integrity of the building and grounds, which expired May
31, 2018.

The Historic Courthouse changed hands a number of times with great hope,
but there was never a viable solution to the ever-deteriorating building.

Nucces County Courthouse • 901 Leopard Street, Room 303 .Corpus Christi, Texas 78401-3697. (361) 888-0444 • FAX (361) 888-0445
Meanwhile, taxes on the Historic Courthouse began to grow over time resulting in foreclosure.

In the late 1990's, the County made one more attempt to save the building. The County took
ownership of the building from the taxing entities and applied for a grant from the Texas
Historical Commission in hopes of sparking interest to restore the entire building. A condition of
the grant was the acceptance of a 25 year historical easement that does not expire until 2027.
Ground was broken for the South Wing restoration on December 11, 2003, and substantial
completion was accepted by the County on November 29, 2006. However without further
funding, the building continued to deteriorate.

In July 2011, LNV Engineering was engaged to perform a "Structural Condition Assessment
Report." The Executive Summary of the report concluded that the building is "in a state of severe
deterioration" and that many of the items cited in the report are "Life Safety Hazards." Therein
the report states that the approximate costs of structural repairs of the entire building would cost
$23.5 million and complete renovation would cost $41.1 million.

Considering the insurmountable costs involved in saving the building, and the safety risks it
posed, The Nueces County Commissioners Court unanimously adopted a resolution calling for
the "Razing" of the Historic Courthouse on August 31, 2011. The resolution was presented to the
Texas Historical Commission by then County Commissioner Mike Pusley. The idea of razing the
building was met with much resistance, and the Historical Commission did not terminate the
easement. In the meantime, the building continued to deteriorate.

In the summer of 2016, the County learned there may have been some interest from a group of
contractors/investors in buying and restoring the Historic Courthouse. This led to the
Commissioners Court adopting an order rescinding the previous resolution to raze the building.
Further, this order contemplated that if the building was not sold, the Court at its discretion could
"elect to pursue the possibility of razing the 1914 Nueces County Historic Courthouse"

The tedious process of receiving proposals to sell the Historic Courthouse continued into 2017,
where finally, a deal was reached that April with Nueces County Development Partners, LLC,
for an earnest money deposit and an agreement to pay the back taxes of just over $1.5 million.

Despite the experience of this contractor/investment group, the deal did not go through because
the money for back taxes could not be raised. Ultimately, the Commissioners Court terminated
the deal on August 13, 2018.

I submit to you today that this is the end of the road for the building. Every possible avenue for
restoring it has been explored, and we must now accept the fact that it is impossible. The
community is no longer willing to tolerate this, and we must do what is right in razing the
building now, and not wait until 2027.

As public officials, we owe this to our community, South Texas, and all of Texas, to do what is
right and to finally put an end to this dangerous and unsightly embarrassment at the gateway to
our community.
 I respectfully request the Texas Historical Commission, on behalf of the State of Texas, to
submit to Nueces County or file in the Deed Records of Nueces County, a "Termination of
Easement" related to the 1914 Historic Nueces County Courthouse.

Removing this easement will allow us to begin with haste, the removal of the eye-sore, and get
the property back on the tax rolls for future economic development for the betterment of our
community. To wait another ten years for the inevitable is not an option. I hope the Texas
Historical Commission agrees.

Thank you for your kind consideration of this matter.

Sincerely,

Samuel L. Neal, Jr.

Nueces County Judge

cc: Senator Juan Hinojosa

Representative Abel Herrero
Representative Todd Hunter