City crews worked quickly on Tuesday to clear demolition debris from what had once been the Sanchez Auto World building and the old Quick-A-Teria restaurant at the downtown corner of Matamoros and Convent Avenue.
The City purchased the two properties, an adjacent lot facing Convent Avenue, and the two-story red brick building at Convent and Houston — a third of a block in all — for about $800,000 in July 2016. The demolished properties fronting Matamoros and Convent and backing up to the historic three-story Southern Hotel will become a metered parking facility operated by the City.
The demolition reveals in full the eastern elevation of the hotel, which according to the Webb County Heritage Foundation was built in Victorian architectural style before 1890, closed in 1970, and has been vanishing in stages of neglect over the last several decades.
A description of the building’s architectural features were noted in a 1981 survey of historic buildings in Laredo — the Matamoros Street façade of the Southern Hotel includes rectangular stuccoed piers with flared stone capitals, steel I-beams decorated with patera above the capitals, and three fluted cast iron pilasters that delineate the two front shop spaces. The Southern Hotel was part of the original Hamilton Hotel.
While much of the third-block bounded by Matamoros, Convent, and Houston will be used for parking, the red brick building at 820 Convent (contra esquina to City Hall) will be converted into affordable elderly housing rentals. The building housed the studios of KGNS early in its operations in Laredo.
According to Arturo García, director of the City’s Community Development department, the conversion of the building into elderly housing addresses the demand and long waiting lists at the Laredo Housing Authority (282), the City’s Tenant Based Rental Assistance (107), the Laredo Municipal Housing Downtown Elderly Project (82), and the Hamilton Hotel Elderly Apartments (12).
The demand is identified as a priority in the City’s comprehensive plan.
Funding to reconfigure 820 Convent into apartments comes from Community Development Block Grant income of $1,424,700, the amount the City was paid for the refinancing of the Hamilton Elderly Apartments.
García said the location of the proposed apartments will provide the amenities of easy access to transportation, access to fitness and recreational facilities, walkability, social interaction with the residents of nearby elderly housing, proximity to Jarvis Plaza, and access to other services provided at other nearby elder centers.
Community Development staff and City engineers have developed a conceptual plan to maximize the build-out of the apartments while meeting all code criteria.
According to García, the preliminary cost analysis covers design, abatement, interior demolition, and construction.
García said that the federally funded project must meet federal requirements such as ADA, Davis Bacon and related labor requirements, and Section 3 reporting.
The Community Development department staff recommended the re-use of the building at 820 Convent rather than its demolition. The Laredo City Council approved the project on March 20, 2017
(Old photos courtesy of the Webb County Heritage Foundation and The Texas Historical Commission/University of North Texas Portal to Texas History.)
My uncle John Puig had a Sinclair gas station at the corner of Matamoros and Convent for a number of years. I assume, or at least hope, that the fuel tanks have long since been dug up and hauled away.
So glad to have LareDosNews back. Congrats!