County Construction: Brackenridge Hospital, Courthouse

Tuesday was a big day for buildings in Travis County. Commissioners approved a $450 million lease for two of the six blocks on the old Brackenridge Hospital campus to UT Austin's Dell Medical School (to last 99 years), and County Judge Sarah Eckhardt announced the beginning of negotiations with Hunt Development Group to build a new courthouse at 1700 Guadalupe (the surface parking lot where Dog & Duck Pub used to be), bringing some much-needed focus to a potential replacement for the outdated Heman Sweatt facility six blocks to the south.