County Selects Courthouse Architect, Following Some Confusion

Hidalgo County commissioners selected architect firm HDR to design the new, multimillion-dollar courthouse for the Rio Grande Valley. The decision, however, was not quite so cut-and-dried.

HDR was one of two firms interested in the project, with the other being HOK. In the initial decision-making, which depended on ranking scores, the architectural firms ended up in a tie. After learning that the Texas Code doesn’t allow for ties in such situations, it was realized that the scores were averaged, rather than weighted individually by each grader.

With the new parameters in place, commissioners had voted 4-1 in favor of HDR. The new courthouse will be built just north of the current one, which is in downtown Edinburg.

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