TEXARKANA - With all the big projects in the works downtown it is easy to lose sight of some of the smaller ones - if you consider $250,000 small.
Yes, while work on the Grim Hotel, Texarkana National Bank and the Crossties entertainment complex grab most of the headlines, several other nearby projects will help change the face of downtown for years to come.
One of these - the $250,000 one mentioned above - is restoring the east wall of the Landmark Building at the corner of State Line Avenue and East Broad Street. When complete, it will make the building whole again.
It's east wall was severely damaged a number of years ago when the adjacent building was destroyed by fire. While still functional, it looked bad to anyone who cast an eye in its direction.
Efforts began about four months ago to repair that side of the building and make it match the facade on the other three walls.
Since then, construction crews have spent much of their time on scaffolding and lifts. The work is expected to be completed in the next few weeks.
In addition to the wall repair, owner David Potter is putting in new air-conditioning equipment and making elevator repairs, updates that will allow the building to remain a significant downtown fixture.
Built in 1903 as a bank, the Landmark has survived fire, vacancy, multiple changes in ownership and a general exodus from downtown that seems to be reversing itself now. Initially built as State First National Bank and later repurposed into Ben F. Smith Dry Goods, it is now an active office building.
Central to the building's resilience is its steel-reinforced concrete construction. It was the first Texarkana building put up using the method, an improvement over the masonry exteriors and wood-frame interiors typical at the time, Potter said in an earlier interview.
In the aftermath of the fire that destroyed the adjacent building, the empty lot became "a big hole in the ground," and then a water pit, let alone a money pit.
Eventually, the space was deeded to Potter, who cleaned it up and, after a failed attempt to turn it into green space because of drainage problems, made it into a parking lot with a retaining wall on Broad Street.
The damage to the east wall has been visible ever since the fire, but not for much longer if construction stays on track.
Potter, in an earlier interview, said he expects to add some exterior lighting, as well.