The Doubletree Hotel will “knock your socks off,” the Mills Plaza project is over budget but on schedule, and you might soon be eating in the railroad depot visible from I-10 to the east of Downtown.

That was the gist of the updates given by representatives of the three Downtown projects to a crowd of about 60 at the Central Business Association luncheon Wednesday.

J. Curtis Noe spoke first, and described the multimillion-dollar Doubletree venture. He said the project, headed up by lawyer and landowner Jim Scherr, will be finished by spring. It will include 200 rooms, convention facilities and a restaurant that will “knock your socks off,” he said.

Noe said he was glad the term “Hotel Baghdad,” the nickname of the dilapidated property when Scherr bought it, was being laid to rest. Noe, , the general manager of the project, also announced he would be hiring 75-110 people for the hotel, which would include 24-hour room service and several bars.

Following Noe, Brent Harris, President of Mills Plaza Properties LP, spoke about the renovation of the Anson Mills building, specifically plans to connect it to two parking lots. “We’re not quite on budget but we are on schedule,” said Harris, adding that the project would be finished before the end of next year.

“We’ve got to get the history folks to sign off on it,” said Harris, referring to plans to power wash and paint the building’s exterior. He also touched on the difficulty of meeting the requirements to qualify for tax credits from state, local and federal governments.

It had been an “interesting and at times frustrating process” getting through all the paperwork involved in restoring the building. Restoration aims to allow El Pasoans to “enjoy it for what it once was” from an architectural perspective while creating new spaces Downtown for dining and shopping, he said. Mills Plaza Properties, controlled by Western Refining CEO Paul Foster, were “talking to a lot of retailers” about setting up shop once renovations were completed, Harris said.

Last to speak was Juan Uribe, who is leasing the El Paso and Southwestern railroad depot from local businessman William Abraham, owner of many historic but run-down local properties. The century-old building had been placed on the state’s most endangered historic properties list by Preservation Texas. It was designed by Henry Trost, who also designed the Anson Mills building and the Plaza Hotel. Though most of the space will be dedicated to dining, Uribe said he plans to install a museum on the ground floor, funds-willing.

For a Southwestern city, El Paso enjoys a unique concentration of historic buildings in the Downtown area. This is ironically due to an utter lack of investment over the last half century. That catalogue of neglect may turn out to be why El Paso (thankfully) doesn’t look like Dallas.

But will Downtown’s regeneration be affected by the fallout on Wall Street? “The economic crisis taking place is not slowing us down,” said Harris. Let’s hope that remains true for the whole of El Paso over the coming months.

Credits: Newspaper Tree