Updated 11/29/2012 09:45 AM
As new courthouse nears completion, veteran judge reflects
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After nearly three years of work, it's nearly move-in day for employees at the new federal courthouse.
Sitting on an entire block of San Antonio Street in Downtown Austin, the new building marks a historic transformation and opens opportunities for the local division of the Department of Justice.
Federal District Judge Sam Sparks currently has mementos from his 21-year career on the bench packed away in boxes. He has worked for decades in the old courthouse located along Eighth Street.
“I will miss it,” Judge Sparks said. “I have designed the court room that I have tried many, many cases in."
But that work is far from over. Judge Sparks will be moving into the new $113 million courthouse next month.
The site along San Antonio Street comes with a history of its own. It was originally slated to be the headquarters of tech giant Intel, a supposed sign of a booming industry, but when Intel’s move fell through in 2007, the project was abandoned.
The framework stood for years as a sign of the tech bust before it was finally imploded, clearing the way for a new federal courthouse built with stimulus money.
It was in the 1930s that similar circumstances led the way for the construction of the original courthouse just a few blocks away. It was built as part of a program to reduce unemployment during the Great Depression.
Among other amenities the new federal courthouse will provide three additional courtrooms.
"With extra courtrooms and visiting judges, we will be able to come back to a more reasonable time of setting trials," Judge Sparks said.
It’s a move that surrounding businesses hope will improve more than just the legal system.
"We will definitely order more bread,” Seamus Martin, manager of a nearby Thundercloud Subs said. “We will have more product."
Martin, an Austin Native, says the ever-changing skyline is unrecognizable compared to when he was younger.
The courthouse is a welcome addition to this part of downtown.
"The whole time we have just been waiting for that building to open up because we know that as soon as it does, our sales are going to go through the roof," he said.
As Martin welcomes the customers and the renewed sense of community, Austin's federal bench is ready for a new home for the drama that will play out in the courts.
“My dad told me earlier in life, 'It takes all kind of people to run the world, and there is nothing for free, nothing. You can take both those two suggestions and find out all human nature."
The old courthouse will close Friday for moving and the new one will open on Monday.
Our cameras were not allowed inside yet for what Judge Sparks called security reasons.
Click below for an extended interview with Judge Sparks.
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