County chooses firm for Historical and Architectural survey of downtown

Fourteen months after the County approved to fund a historical survey of downtown, they have now selected a firm to conduct it.

County commissioners, with the exception of commissioner Vince Perez who was absent, approved the selection of Hardy-Heck-Moore Inc. It’s a historic preservation firm based out of Austin.

The survey will look at areas as north as Arizona Ave., as south as the border, as west as the Union Depot and east as Cotton St.

“It has been a long time coming,” county judge Veronica Escobar said. “It’s great that we finally have that in place. It’s going to take about six weeks to negotiate the contract. In the contract though is something very important to all of us. That is that there be an inclusive process, that everybody will have a seat at the table, and be able to work with us and provide their input as to the historical survey.”

What the County and Hardy-Heck-Moore Inc. have already agreed up on is the price — $139,562.

“The survey itself, and it did not vary much between bidders, it takes at least a year,” Escobar said. “It’s an exhaustive process. It’s a building by building process. We’re very excited that it’s finally underway.”

County Commissioner David Stout, who represents the area where the survey will take place, said he’s happy to finally get the ball rolling.

“We had some issues with delays in purchasing. We had a transition from a former purchasing director to a new purchasing director,” Stout said. “I’m just glad that we’re going to finally get to start signing a contract.”

Stout said one of the things he wants to negotiate is for the survey to start in Duranguito, the downtown neighborhood where the new arena is proposed to go.

“Hopefully we’ll be able to know sooner rather than later what the status is on those historic buildings — if they exist or not,” Stout said. “I’m not sure if it’s going to do anything to stop the city, or to stop the process. But, at least the public will know what we lost.”

The survey aims to see if a neighborhood should be listed on the national historic register. If that’s the case, the buildings in that area could receive significant state and federal tax incentives.