Run-down Municipal Court may exit downtown for SE Austin digs

The odor’s undeniable. “It just smells like mold and mildew, and half the time it smells like poop,” said Austin Municipal Court Clerk Mary Jane Grubb. Some of Grubb’s employees at

downtown courthouse swear that the putrid air in the building is making them sick. Evidence of black mold was obvious in the basement of the 65-year-old, asbestos-laden courthouse on Friday as fans blew in a training room where water had seeped in from Friday’s thunderstorm.

For decades, the Municipal Court, located at the intersection of Seventh Street and Interstate 35, has been ignored as its maintenance problems have mounted. With each passing year, the refrain of assurances that the building would be fixed were followed by an array of reasons as to why the needed funds weren’t available.

“That is probably the story for the last 20 years,” Grubb said. “We have always been told, ‘We are going to get you a new building.’”

Grubb might see the court finally get its new building. On Thursday, the Austin City Council will consider leasing space to relocate the court to Southeast Austin near the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. The site in question is a 96,000-square-foot building at the 550-acre MetCenter at 7000 Metropolis Drive. It’s the same development where the city created a temporary shelter last year for Hurricane Harvey evacuees. The lease is for 10 years at a total cost of $31,278,785.

But even as conditions at the