McKinney city leaders are rethinking plans to recycle Collin County's McDonald Street courthouse into a new city hall.

It's not exactly buyer's remorse. They adore the location. But the structure? Not so much.

"This kind of building would not be built today, and there's a reason why," City Manager Frank Ragan told the council in July. "It's built like a bomb shelter. This building is atrocious."

The city bought it from the county in 2006, two years before Mr. Ragan was hired. He doesn't dispute the $8 million purchase but values the location far above the building.

"I think the site was worth the price you paid for it," he said. "But if I had my choice, I'd tear this thing down and start over."

That could be one of the options the City Council considers when Mr. Ragan and his staff make recommendations about how to proceed.

"Nobody wants to propose a Taj Mahal," said Assistant City Manager Regie Neff. "The question just becomes: What's the best expenditure of taxpayers' money to get the kind of services we need for the citizens?"

The city has wrestled since 2000 with planning adequate facilities to serve its rapidly growing population. Purchasing the 1979 courthouse fulfilled numerous goals – financial restraint, maintaining a city presence downtown and preventing the scar of a vacant building.

The city budgeted $17 million for Phase 1 renovations, which would serve the city up to a 200,000 population. A consultant's report issued in July escalated the price to $36.5 million, which could go higher because construction costs have been rising about 9 percent annually.

The building has enough space, the consultants said, but the floor plan has limitations, and energy-efficient upgrades will prove costly. And its 1970s utilitarian facade doesn't exactly please the eye.

So city leaders started thinking: Couldn't we have a new building without the constraints for nearly the same price?

"With that building and how it is, are we really feeding a money pit?" council member Ray Ricchi said.

Said Mayor Bill Whitfield: "It just seemed prohibitive. I, for one, am very hesitant to spend a lot of money on something that's not going to fit our needs."

Council members directed further study, and city staff should be ready to present them with several options within six weeks. Ms. Neff said the goal is to do the work right the first time rather than waste money on a patch job.

"We're going to end up with something nice," council member Bill Vitz said. "But something McKinney can afford without putting us in a bind."

•Located at 210 S. McDonald St.

•Houses county commissioners and administrative offices. County will vacate next year.

•Includes a six-story main building and two annexes.

•McKinney city offices already occupy Annex B.

•Municipal Court is temporarily housed in the main building while its Chestnut Street site undergoes renovations.

SOURCES: City of McKinney, Collin County and DMN research