Sunday, March 09, 2008
By J.B. Smith
Tribune-Herald staff writer
It’s not quite a land rush yet, but the urban pioneers are staking their claims in downtown Waco.
It’s been happening one settler at a time. A Christian rock star here, an insurance executive there, around the corner on Austin Avenue a family of five living upstairs from their special event center.
Some renovate decaying houses. Others — grad students, young professionals and empty nesters — live in sleek loft apartments carved out of old warehouses.
Together they are reversing a decades-old pattern by moving from the suburbs back into the center of town, seeking the bustle of urban life instead of fleeing it as past generations did.
You’re about to see a lot more of them.
Residential construction planned in the next two years at the old Waco High School and around Heritage Square would bring at least 860 new residents to downtown.
That includes 368 beds of student housing that Town Square Partners are planning next to the Courtyard at Marriott. A block away, the Austin Avenue Flats are under construction, with about half of the first 47 apartments already sold or leased. Construction will begin next year on the second phase of 120 flats, and developer Michael Wray is already scoping out land for more downtown apartments.
“This is the first or second inning of nine,” Wray said. “I think this is going to shock people, but over the next five to seven years it would not be surprising to have three or four thousand people living within six blocks of City Hall.”
To put that in perspective consider the 2000 census figures for downtown. Census Tract 1 — about 1 square mile bordered by the Brazos River, Waco Drive, 17th Street and Clay Avenue — had only 1,254 residents, not counting those in group homes or institutions. And only a handful of people at that time lived within six blocks of City Hall.
Housing development on the scale Wray envisions would change the identity of downtown Waco. Downtown was written off as dead a couple of decades ago, after most of the department stores, restaurants and movie theaters took off for the suburbs. The area became known for blighted storefronts and panhandlers, a place that closed down in the evenings after the last office workers turned off the lights.
In the 1990s, RiverSquare Center opened and began drawing people downtown again for dining and shopping. Then came the lofts in the late 1990s: The Praetorian, Behrens and Holiday-Hammond projects have added nearly 80 upscale residences in the heart of downtown for students and young professionals.
“It was unproven ground back in 1999,” said Ginger Townley, who manages the Behrens and Holiday-Hammond lofts. “It was slow getting started, but in the last four years, it has gotten a lot better. Our occupancy has been at least 90 percent.”
City planning director Bill Falco said the movement of young people into downtown is part of a nationwide phenomenon that has turned conventional wisdom about downtown revitalization on its head.
“I used to go to planning conferences and hear people say, ‘First you’ve got to get retail, restaurants, arts and office buildings, and then you might get residential at the end,’ ” he said. “Now it seems residential is leading the other. A lot of younger people, and some baby boomers, are seeing downtown as a fun place to live.”
The idea of an urban lifestyle is what drew all four of the urban pioneers interviewed for this story — Texas Life Insurance Co. CEO Steve Cates, Christian rock musician David Crowder, metalwork artist Nathan Lane and Palladium owners Chris and Lorin Matthews. All have lived in the suburbs before but wanted to live in a densely populated area with restaurants and cultural offerings. All four live near their work.
All four admit that downtown faces continuing challenges, both in reality and perception. They mention vagrants and panhandlers, blighted buildings and a lack of services such as grocery stores, drug stores and dry cleaning.
“It just lacks residents,” Cates said. “With residents will come services and amenities. There’s a certain charm about a central business district. This resurgence of downtown living and residences is going on all over the country.”
Wray, the Austin Avenue Flats developer, sees residential growth as the foundation for bringing more businesses downtown. “We need a drug store and boutique grocery downtown,” he said. “But first we’ve got to get the head count up. Retail follows rooftops. You’ve got to get the critical mass of people living down here.”
Wray said downtown Waco isn’t capturing the retail and entertainment dollars it should from Baylor students because students leave for Dallas or Austin on the weekend. Now’s the time to change that, he said. The student housing stock around Baylor is aging and needs to be replaced, and downtown is the place to do it, he said.
Wray, who has done downtown projects in Houston and Austin, said the market for his lofts falls into three categories: college upperclassmen who want a more grown-up place to live; young childless professionals; and empty nesters who no longer see the need for a big yard.
“It’s people who want to live, work, play, dine and shop in the same area,” he said. “It’s for those who are young or desire to be young. It’s for people who value how they spend their time more than how much square footage they have.”
Wray says the economic benefits of a livable urban center reach beyond downtown itself. He said cutting-edge businesses want to locate in areas that have lifestyle appeal to young, creative professionals.
“If you want to attract that educated, sophisticated young workforce, you have to offer them the kind of lifestyle that’s being offered in other cities,” he said. “You’ve got to make Waco, particularly downtown Waco, attractive to the next generation.”
jbsmith@wacotrib.com
757-5752
Ages: Steve, 54; Darlene, 53
Occupations: Steve, Texas Life Insurance CEO; Darlene, volunteer.
Home: 1512 Columbus Ave., built in 1906.
When Steve Cates was living in New Jersey and commuting into midtown Manhattan, he and his wife always dreamed of living in the city.
Ironically, they found what they were looking for in their hometown of Waco.
The Cateses moved back here in the mid-1990s and raised their kids near China Spring. But four years ago, with the children grown and flown, they decided to live their downtown dream.
They bought a century-old two-story fixer-upper near 15th Street and Columbus Avenue and refurbished it.
“It’s quite a contrast to living on acreage out in the country,” Steve said. “There’s always activity around, some of it unwanted.”
The Cateses live in a mixed neighborhood that ranges from the three-story Rotan mansion to the Freeman Center drug rehabilitation agency to the Townhouse Motel. The western end of downtown has its share of vagrants, one of whom slept on the Cateses’ porch while the house was under renovation. But other than some stolen tools during the renovation, the Cateses have had no crime issues.
Steve said he loves living a few blocks from work and seeing downtown’s resurgence close-up.
“It’s interesting,” Steve Cates said. “Four years ago, when we bought the house, the kind of reaction we got was, ‘Are you out of your mind?’ Now it seems to be a more accepted thing.”
Ages: Chris, 40; Lorin, 36; Sterling, 3; Allyriane, 3; Zayn, 9 months
Occupations: Chris, stay-at-home dad, real estate investor, event center owner and ex-pilot; Lorin, Baylor physics professor.
Home: Above the Palladium event center, 729 Austin Ave. Built in 1895, the 15,000-square-foot building once housed the Bauer-McCann department store.
At the Matthews house, an exuberant 3-year-old boy zips around the kitchen on his tricycle while his twin sister and little brother play in the living room.
Downtown Waco is the only neighborhood they have known. Downstairs is the elegant Palladium reception and party center, which their parents own. Across Austin Avenue is the Waco Hippodrome Theatre.
Chris and Lorin Matthews moved above the Palladium three years ago, after living for five years in Hewitt. Chris said the suburban life wasn’t for them.
“It was weird,” he said. “You’re surrounded by people but you feel alone. Suburbs are all that way in a sense.”
Since moving downtown, Chris says he has become more active in public life, including service on the downtown Public Improvement District advisory board.
“Here you’re living in an organism,” he said. “You can’t not be part of the community. It makes you feel like you’re part of something bigger than yourself.”
A native of Clear Lake who came here in 1993 to study aviation at Baylor, Chris said his first impression of Waco was of untapped potential.
“When I moved to Waco, I saw it was a nice town with a pretty big population,” he said. “But it was missing almost everything. It was almost like a little town, but it was a big town with a college and lots of young people. I couldn’t understand what was going on. Downtown was a ghost town.”
He said that’s changing, and he believes there’s a “huge market” for downtown dwellers.
Chris and Lorin say they love living downtown but there are some drawbacks: vagrants, noise, the lack of grocery and drug stores nearby and the lack of play opportunities for their children.
“The only thing we really miss is having a yard,” Lorin said. “I’m hoping with the new development that they can incorporate some green space.”
Age: David, 33
Occupation: David, touring Christian rock performer; Toni works with him.
Home: 1503 Washington Ave., built by Wade Morrison in 1886.
David and Toni Crowder’s footloose lifestyle made them yearn to sink some roots into downtown Waco.
David’s career as a Dove Award-winning Christian recording artist had them zigzagging the country and living in hotels. They had seen examples of vibrant downtowns in places like Miami’s South Beach and Chattanooga, Tenn., and knew they wanted to live in a place like that.
“Everywhere you go, people are moving downtown,” David said. “Now you see people who, having done suburbia, are looking for something more. Cities offer that. Walking down the sidewalk, you feel like you’re a part of the history.”
They found their chance in Waco, where David went to Baylor in the 1990s and helped start University Baptist Church.
Driving down Washington Avenue, they spotted a “cute little house” for sale. It turned out to be rather huge, with 4,600 square feet, plus a 2,000-square-foot barn around back. And the Crowders fell in love with the intricate woodwork and the high ceilings.
They bought the place a few years ago for about $110,000 and have put about that much into restoring it and replacing the rain-damaged back of the house with a gleaming stainless steel kitchen. David turned the barn into a recording studio for his band, and now they’re building a swimming pool, cabana and garage.
It’s a lot of space for two people, but the Crowders like being able to host parties there, including an annual welcome event for about 250 Baylor freshmen from University Baptist.
They say downtown Waco still has some perception problems to overcome, such as blight and the perception of crime.
“If they get rid of things like the Townhouse Motel, that would help,” Toni said. “Things like that make people scared.”
Still, they enjoy being in the historic center of town and being able to walk across the street for dinner at 1424, the bistro. The Crowders are looking forward to the day when they can spend more time in Waco.
“It’s turned out better than we thought,” David said.
Age: 28
Occupation: Metalwork artist; Owner, Fast Lane Customs.
Home: Sixth-floor penthouse, Behrens Lofts, 219 S. Fourth St.
From Nathan Lane’s window, you can see a panorama of Waco, from Cameron Park to the Suspension Bridge to the Ferrell Center at Baylor. On the horizon is Texas State Technical College, several miles away. On the Fourth of July, the sky lights up with fireworks.
It’s a view that changes people’s negative attitudes about downtown Waco, he said.
“I have so many friends who have come over, and they can’t believe looking out my window that this is Waco,” he said. “It catches them totally by surprise.”
From his loft he can walk over to Diamondback’s for dinner, or over to Treff’s on Austin Avenue for a drink. He takes his giant bull mastiff, Baby Girl, for walks along the Brazos River.
He can also ride his motorcycle a few blocks to his business on South 15th Street, where he makes stylish metal signs and furniture.
Lane, a Tyler native, lived for a while in China Spring but felt isolated there. Being downtown gives him the sense of being in the middle of things.
“When I first moved to Waco, I was thinking, ‘I can’t wait to get out of here,’ ” he said. “But now I feel like Waco’s home.”
