We are redefining our downtown

Les Minor, columnist
Les Minor, columnist

Downtown has started morphing on us, changing in ways not wholly anticipated.

People often talked about the beginnings of a restaurant-entertainment hub, some nightlife, an arts district, office space and maybe a dash of retail-something that kind of looks and feels like downtown, only in a more relevant and predictable way. When people imagined fixing downtown, it was always as something new, but not too far removed from the old new that we once knew.

And we do have some of that going on. But, coming soon, we have another sector picking up steam: housing. Welcome to the new downtown neighborhood. Or should we just say: Neighborhood Downtown, the Big ND.

Has kind of a ring to it, don't you think?

For most of its existence, few people lived downtown except travelers-brought here by rail and staying at several of the premiere hotels that once populated the cityscape here. For the most part, Texarkana rolled up its streets at night-at least to what you might term neighborhood activity.

In recent years, downtown has been relatively dead at night, except for traffic at a few restaurants.

But that is starting to change as efforts to create downtown living space have gathered traction.

This may not be what town fathers past or present envisioned, but this won't be the first downtown that has been repurposed.

In this case, it has happened pretty organically.

It started with Jeff Sandefur developing and leasing lofts along Broad Street about 17 years ago, coincidentally, as you will soon see, about the same time Buhrman Pharr Hardware, a legendary Texarkana wholesaler and retailer, was closing its doors for good. Other private loft development followed. Then, starting in 2006, a developer turned Buhrman Pharr into downtown apartments-first one building, then the other.

This was the start. Then, a few years ago, talk resurfaced about restoring the Hotel Grim.

We've been hearing about the Grim restoration project for many years now, and frankly, the natives are getting restless. Perpetual delays seem to be the operative description. This was to be the year it all came together, but the year is slipping away.

Tied to Project Grim are potential living spaces in the old Sears building on Pine Street and the Medical Arts Building on North State Line Avenue.

The Regions Bank building is being worked into a combo complex, with several floors of living space.

The 1894 City Market at Front and Olive streets-long known as Ritchie Grocery-has been revived, boasting apartments and a gallery on the first floor.

A general store is now in the works on Broad Street. This speaks to the potential of local traffic in the city's core.

If a general store has potential, does not a convenience store, where you can get a six-pack of soft drinks or beer, or a loaf of bread and gallon of milk?

The Coliseum, a failed nightclub most recently and previously, in its glory years, a major department store, is getting a makeover as apartments. This means more people living downtown.

At some point, we will run out of old buildings to save and repurpose. But then, dare we dream, there is vacant space for new construction. Don't laugh. Once a preponderance of people embrace downtown, other possibilities, currently beyond practical consideration, will emerge.

Yes, people are moving downtown to live. And more are coming.

People from here, based on predispositions, often look at downtowns and neighborhoods as separate places, a very compartmentalized view. Other places aren't so rigid and embrace a more blended approach. They live, shop, work, eat and play all in the same vicinity, basically small-town living in an urban setting.

Our downtown was created with retail traffic in mind, a place active during the day and mostly empty the rest of the time. But that is not an absolute. Nobody says it has to stay this way.

This will create challenges, but none that can't be overcome.

When plans to flip the Coliseum into apartments were announced, initially there was some consternation about adequate parking in the vicinity, but these concerns seem to have subsided, at least for the moment.

Really, parking a problem? Check out that section of town at 8 a.m. on any weekday morning. It will make you yawn.

Check it at 3 p.m. Some more yawning.

A downtown in decline has plenty of places to park, but nobody to park in them.

Not enough parking is a good problem to have. It speaks of activity when there was none before. We'll figure it out.

In truth, we're going to have to stop looking at the city center as if it is still our grandfathers' downtown. It is not.

It is coming alive with new people, new activity, new perspectives.

Old rules aren't necessarily going to apply anymore and will have to be revised.

Simply put, we must demonstrate a willingness to think outside the traditional city block.

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