CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — There was cause for celebration in Aransas County Thursday as a groundbreaking took place for the new county courthouse and the brand new Rockport City Hall.
Hurricane Harvey forced the County and the City to build new facilities because of the heavy damage caused by the storm.
Paul Bonnette's PGAL architectural firm is in charge of the project. He was one of a number of people who showed up along Live Oak Street for the groundbreaking ceremony for the unique setup where the County Courthouse will sit next to the City Hall.
"In terms of having a City and County collaborating and working together on a project for a new courthouse and a new City Hall, and don't forget about the community building, I don't know if that has happened in the state of Texas," Bonnette said.
3News spoke with city councilman Joe David Villa about the groundbreaking and he said he can't believe that it took five years after Hurricane Harvey before finally seeing this day happen.
"I don't think anybody thought that it would've taken this long five years to get this done," Villa said. "But the way the economy is right now and everything with the rise of the cost of materials, we had to deal with the insurance agencies and just getting all of our ducks in a row."
The new County Courthouse is going to cost $23.6 million while the city hall portion of the complex will sit at $16-17 million. This project will be completed within 18 months.
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