Tag Archives: Downtown Amarillo Inc.

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Still waiting for some breaking of ground

Downtown Amarillo’s renovation is proceeding at a snail’s pace.

A couple of things have happened in recent days that give me hope that something might be about to move the city forward.

The Amarillo Economic Development Corporation signed off on the relocation of the Coca-Cola distributing plant from downtown to the business park near Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport. That move had been stymied when it was learned that the place where the Coca-Cola center would relocate was structurally deficient. The repairs have been made and the deal is done.

Then came news this week that West Texas A&M University’s downtown “campus” is moving from the Chase Tower to the Commerce Building two blocks south on Tyler Street. WT will vacate two floors in the 31-story tower, which I’m sure will be gobbled up by someone seeking some prime office space downtown.

I don’t mean to sound impatient, though. I keep wondering when the big stuff is going to start taking shape. I’m talking about the planned parking garage, construction of a new downtown hotel and the building of that sports/activities venue, aka the baseball park.

Friends and acquaintances closely associated with the project tell me the city is being extra-careful, ensuring that all the hoops are cleared adequately and that no legal hurdles will stand in the way of the projects getting done.

Yes, the city has seen progress. The Potter County Courthouse complex is done, and the square looks fabulous. The city has rebuilt some pedestrian crossings, making them a lot more attractive. Some new businesses have opened up downtown. The district has a business hotel in the historic Fisk Building. All of that is positive news. However, the Barfield Building continues to rot, as does the location across the street from the Santa Fe Building, not to mention the Herring Hotel site.

The development firm the city hired to ramrod the project says private investment money will foot the entire bill of the first phase. No tax money is involved, which should please the anti-tax activists who had said they opposed any public funds being spent on what they consider to be a boondoggle.

Some of the rest of us, though, are waiting for something significant to start happening now that the fanfare has subsided.

Patience is important. It’s also a finite resource.

Well?

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Downtown Amarillo’s rebirth taking shape

Maybe it’s just me — and perhaps I’ll include my wife, as she’s noticed the same thing — but downtown Amarillo is looking quite a bit more pulled together than it did when we first arrived way back when.

I don’t get downtown as often as I used to. I average about one visit per week. But I’m noticing something as I make the drive into the central business district.

I’m noticing fewer gutted-out building hulks; fewer vacant lots strewn with trash and weeds; and a decidedly more appealing appearances to existing structures, blocks and street corners.

I usually enter downtown around noon from the Canyon Expressway. I drive to Eighth Avenue and then turn left. I have noticed that the corner of Eighth and Taylor Street is cleaned up. I look toward the Marriott Hotel and see considerable pedestrian traffic along Polk Street. Eating establishments are quite busy with lunchtime activity. I look south and continue to marvel at the Santa Fe Building, which Potter County purchased for a song and turned it into a fabulous office complex.

To what should we credit all this? It’s not yet clear. Of course, I am aware of all the Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone activity and pledges to start busting up pavement to build a ballpark, a parking garage and a hotel downtown. It hasn’t happened yet. The old Coca-Cola distribution center will be moving out to make room for some of that activity.

The Potter County Courthouse Square is complete and the city has installed those fancy curbs along the corners that jut into the streets. I haven’t heard of a rash of accidents that some critics claimed would occur when the city installed those new curb designs.

I’ve heard about investment firms buying up commercial property, vowing to turn them into commercial successes.

Is it all rosy and bright downtown? Well, not really. The city still has that hideous Barfield Building at the corner of Sixth and Polk. The developer who owns that building cannot secure the money to do anything with it. It sits there, languishing and rotting more by the week. I will choose to look away from that eyesore whenever I travel past that corner.

But all in all, the years since our arrival in Amarillo in early 1995 have been good for the city’s downtown business district.

I’ve said all along that virtually all cities’ success can be measured by how it treats its downtown district. Amarillo is moving slowly — and I hope inexorably — toward that success.

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City ponders rail depot purchase

As a big supporter of Amarillo’s effort to revive its downtown district, I am intrigued by the city’s consideration of purchasing the Santa Fe Depot across the street from the Civic Center.

The City Commission will consider this purchase at its next meeting, on Tuesday. The city might plunk down $2.6 million for the deal.

Then what? That’s the big question.

http://amarillo.com/news/local-news/2013-09-20/city-considers-buying-santa-fe-depot

I was most intrigued by the quotes attributed to City Commissioner Lilia Escajeda, who seems to be suggesting something different from her colleagues. Commissioner Ellen Green noted the building’s historical significance and said that Amtrak might want to use the depot to bring passenger train service back to Amarillo.

Escajeda, though, said the depot’s purchase would make it easier for the city expand its Civic Center in the future. Is she suggesting the city could, um, knock down the depot — since it might own the property — to make room for a Civic Center expansion? I hope that’s not what she’s saying.

My own sense is that the city purchasing the depot has the potential for contributing to a successful downtown revival. My hope would be for the city to pull out all the stops to find a suitable — and successful — tenant who could put the building to the kind of use that would attract visitors to the downtown district.

Who or what would that entail? Well, I’m not a commercial real estate marketing genius, so I’ll leave that discussion to the experts. What’s more, the city has no shortage of resources to find someone who knows something about marketing buildings such as the Santa Fe Depot.

The building is beautiful and has at least as much potential as the “other” Santa Fe Building downtown, the one that Potter County transformed from a rotting hulk into a glorious office structure.

Go for it, City Hall.

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Call it a career, Judge Ware

It’s time for me to get something off my chest.

Potter County Judge Arthur Ware needs to do one of two things: Either resign his office or declare that he will not seek re-election to the job he’s had for the past two decades. Of course, the first option precludes the second one. Either way, it’s time for the judge — who I admire greatly for all he has done for the county and the country — to end his career.

Ware cannot do his job. He suffered a devastating stroke in 2010 that left him paralyzed on one side of his body and unable to speak coherently. He manages to force a word or two out at a time, but he is unable to articulate county policy, or argue a budget point, or converse with anyone who stands before him in a probate hearing. I saw him about two years ago at a downtown Amarillo restaurant. I sought to engage him in conversation. He answered with single words. “Yes” and “no” had to suffice. It was a sad encounter.

Earlier this week, the judge was shot down by his four Commissioners Court colleagues on his request for a pay increase. Every one of the commissioners opposed the increase. At least two of them spoke quite harshly about the judge, one of them saying he should take a pay “decrease” and other saying the county would be “negligent” by approving the proposed pay raise.

And after taking the verbal battering from his colleagues, Ware had no response. Why? He couldn’t verbalize the thoughts that no doubt were running through his head.

I’m not privy to all the ins and outs of county politics and policy these days. I do know a couple of key points. One is that a number of qualified individuals are considering a run for county judge in 2014, when Ware’s term is up. Another key point is that candidates for county office must be able to articulate a policy. They must make public appearances at, say, church picnics, candidate forums, televised debates, the Tri-State Fair, grange halls, feed stores and … well, you get the idea.

I say all this with deep affection for the man. I remember meeting Ware when I arrived in Amarillo in early 1995. He wasn’t that many years removed from his active-duty deployment as a Marine called to fight during the Persian Gulf War. His office is adorned with Marine Corps banners, flags and assorted photos and other paraphernalia. Semper fi, Judge Ware.

He scored a huge coup in 1995 when the county purchased the Santa Fe Building for 400 grand. He took a colleague and me on a tour of the then-vacant building and talked effusively of the grand plans he had to turn it into a county office complex. After a few hiccups along the way, the county got it done.

He fought for the county’s inclusion in a tax increment reinvestment zone to help fund downtown Amarillo’s redevelopment, acknowledging forcefully that the county courthouse indeed, sits in the middle of the downtown district.

But all that is in the past. The here and now has produced a sad spectacle.

Arthur Ware cannot possibly campaign for an office the functions of which he no longer is able to perform. Tell the public, judge, what you plan to do. My best advice is to quit now and spare yourself further humiliation at the hands of your colleagues.