Lit Review

Abstract

The city of El Paso, Texas adopted a plan on October, 2006, which consisted of the downtown area being revitalized. This plan has come a long way since 2006, with many projects already being completed. This literature review provides information about the zones of downtown that are being revitalized, as well as programs that have helped the city be able to complete projects throughout the downtown area. It offers information about grants for the revitalization as well as the completed projects that this plan has accomplished.



El Paso's Downtown Revitalization: A Review of Literature

El Paso is a city in far western part of Texas, with a population of 649,121 in 2010. Located on the northern bank of the Rio Grande across the border from the Mexican city of Ciudad Juarez; positioned in the intersection of three states Texas, New Mexico, and Chihuahua; and of two countries the United States and Mexico (US Census Bureau, 2010).

The city of El Paso is filled with plenty of culture and history, large amount of this is located in the downtown area; over the past years this area has been deteriorating. On October 31st, 2006 a plan to revitalize downtown was adopted. By downtown El Paso being revitalized, it will have an effect on many aspects of the city; including tourism, the economy of the city, as well as the overall appearance and architecture of the area. This project focuses on five zones of the area, each having their own unique features which will amplify the look of downtown. The main confrontation that this plan has is the funding, for example where is all the resources to complete the plan going to come from as well as the total amount of funds needed. The revitalization of downtown has already been put in effect, "since a plan was unveiled just more than five years ago, it's been a slow, but steady progress" (El Paso Times, 2011). The following questions are used to further understand the development of downtown of El Paso:

1. What are the zones of downtown being revitalized (i.e. names, number of zones, consistence of zones)

2. What programs were put in place to foster the improvement of downtown?

3. What are the completed projects of downtown?

The literature review will focus on the questions mentioned above; by answering them it will give further information about El Paso's downtown revitalization and so-far progress.

What are the zones of downtown being revitalized?

The plan of revitalizing El Paso’s downtown area was first adopted on October 31, 2006. Soon after the Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ) the districts were established, this was on December 19, 2006. TIRZ are areas in which the counties of Texas create a device to increase tax funding (Richards, 2006). Before the zoning of downtown El Paso could take place, a long process regarding the TIRZ district had to occur; this process consisted of many steps. The first few steps that occurred in April 2007, after the establishment of the TIRZ were the board to be formed. The Board approved of the project as well as the financing plan; which lead to the project of El Paso’s downtown revitalization being sent to the TIRZ Board. All the inducements for the restoration of downtown later went to City Council as well as the TIRZ Board. In following month of May 2007, the downtown area was able to be re-zoned. This district was broken up into zones (El Paso Downtown Revitalization, 2010). These zones included the Lifestyle Retail, Entertainment, Mercado District, Border Retail, Historic Incentive, and the mixed use of residential areas.

Lifestyle Retail is the area which improves the shops to create more business for the population. This will generate more jobs and improve the unemployment rate. The entertainment zone has actions such as construction of museums, renovation of the Convention Center and redevelopment of buildings, an example is the restoration of the Plaza Theatre. The third zone labeled as the "Mercado Zone", which consists of all the Hispanic cultural market that the border city is well known for. Renovating this zone is important especially for the tradition and background history of the city. The other zone is the Border Retail which is very similar to the Lifestyle Retail zone, the only difference is this involves both sides of the Mexican-American border. The fifth zone is Historic Incentive; this zone includes all the areas of downtown which are labeled under the state of Texas as “Historic Landmarks”, for example the Mills Building, a historic structure designed by Henry Trost, which was El Paso's most famous architect. The sixth and final zone is the Residential Zone, which involves all the housing and areas that are populated by citizens of the city. Figure 1 shows a map of El Paso’s downtown districts:



Figure 1. The figure shows the map of El Paso Downtown Districts and includes names of each district with a color representation of each. “El Paso Downtown Map” by Keller-Koch Realtors, 2008. Retrieved from http://www.keller-koch-realtors.com/web/elpdowntown.htm



What programs were put in place to foster the improvement of downtown?

The current national economic situations have forced some cities in the United States to put restoration projects on-hold, or wait until a more beneficial and less dangerous time, because of the fear of not succeeding. However, El Paso has had the good management skills as well as capital to be able to move forward with their plan on revitalizing the city's downtown. To encourage these plans of revitalization, the City of El Paso offers incentives, which are also known as programs; for development in downtown. These programs are part of a general approach to influence the investments in downtown area, as well as to lower the cost of doing business with property owners choosing to take part of the restoration of the downtown area. They were put in effect to revive the area as the center of commerce, culture and tourism. (Soto, 2009).

There have been three major incentives that have helped the plan move forward; the first programs put in effect was the Facade Improvement Program, which was intended to help downtown property owners improve the artistic appearance of downtown properties. It provides a grant up to 10,000 dollars in funds to encourage renovation and restoration of the exterior of buildings in the Downtown Area, to enhance or beautify these structures. Downtown Management District and the City of El Paso are the ones responsible for providing these resources. These funds are limited, which leads to a pre-application requirement on a first-come, first-served basis. The Sales and Use Tax Rebate Program, is a second incentive designed to boost the new constructions as well as major remodeling of downtown properties. The city offers a sales tax rebate on labor and materials used to remodel, rehabilitate or build a structure in downtown El Paso. In order to qualify for this program a pre-application is requested and minimum spending of $100,000 on materials and labor is required. Thirdly, the Green Building Grant Program is a city-wide program planned to encourage creation of energy efficient buildings. It provides grants for completion of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design or LEED. LEED is a recognition that a construction project or building can attain by utilizing environmentally friendly building practices during construction or remodeling, as well as the “Green Building Rating System”. These grant awards start at $50,000 dollars and can increase up to $200,000. For specific downtown areas, grant awards double to a maximum of $400,000 dollars. New construction or major remodels of commercial structures are eligible for this program; buildings must be at least 15,000 square feet. Depending on the level of LEED certification the grants have a range of $50,000-$200,000 and can even double that amount to $100,000-$400,000 if that building is at least five floors. The requirement for this program is that fifty percent of the building must have been unoccupied for at least five years, as well as the structure must be LEED qualified, and obtain a minimum of ten points on the LEED specification list (Soto, 2009).

In a recent interview with Veronica R. Soto, is the Redevelopment Manager for the City of El Paso, Texas in the Economic Development Department; that has worked in the non-profit and public sectors at the federal and local levels, as we as held positions in Development and the City of El Paso Department of Planning was asked about her inputs in the revitalization of El Paso’s downtown. Her testaments are important because she directly ties in with the revitalization, as well as her position as President-Elect of the Texas Chapter of the American Planning Association. Soto stated that, “the incentives offered by the city of El Paso are a very useful way in attracting owners of properties in the downtown area to remodel vacant or outdated buildings in order to make downtown a more attractive area” (Soto, personal communication, Oct. 14, 2011).

What are the completed projects of downtown?
There has been much improvement since the beginning of the downtown revitalization project, which started in 2006. Many building have already been remodeled and made up to date, with much success. Some of the completed projects consist of; Double Tree Hotel, Mills Plaza District, Sun Metro Transfer Terminal, and the United States Courthouse. One previously empty building was the Doubletree Hotel City Center, which had fallen into bad shape. However, it is now an example of how successful the downtown redevelopment plan is; this project was completed in spring of 2009. It is now a 17-story, 200-room hotel, which features a scenic ballroom on the top floor, swimming pools throughout the hotel, as well as a full restaurant called “Fire”, these are just a few of the new features the Double Tree Hotel has(Downtown El Paso Ongoing Projects- Double Tree Hotel, 2009). Another major project that has been completed is the Mills Plaza District, which is the largest and perhaps the most exciting project which was completed in September, 2009. An investment of more than $25 million dollars is being used to renew the districts three historic sites. The most remarkably, the Mills Building, which is a historic structure designed by Henry Trost, El Paso's most famous architect, this was renovated to its original appearance. Additional parking is being added as well as other facilities to incorporate a variety of spaces in the newly modified downtown. The revitalization of downtown El Paso has created an economic development that is rejuvenating the landscape and making the environment to a more productive as well as attracting tourism to the city (Downtown El Paso Ongoing Projects-Mills Plaza District, 2009). The two projects mentioned above are only two of the many that has been completed since 2009.
Conclusion
The city of El Paso is well known for its history, which most of it lies in the downtown area. The plan that was put in effect on October 31, 2006, and consisted on revitalizing certain areas of downtown; TIRZ broke down the area into six zones which are the Lifestyle Retail, Entertainment, Mercado District, Border Retail, Historic Incentive, and the mixed use of residential areas. One of the major projects that were already completed in Historic Incentive zone was Mills Plaza; there have been many other completed projects since then. The city has been able to have funds some projects by offering incentives to the owners of the buildings, three of the key incentives consisted of the Facade Improvement Program, Sales and Use Tax Rebate Program, and the Green Building Grant Program. The project is anticipated to be fully completed by 2015; this has a great possibility in being completed in time because of the so far progress it has accomplished in the past five years.



References

Downtown: DMD leads new revitalization push - El Paso Times. (n.d.). Home - El Paso Times. Retrieved October 20, 2011, from http://www.elpasotimes.com/opinion/ci_17925102

El Paso Census . (n.d.). US Census Bureau. Retrieved October 17, 2011, from factfinder2.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/searchresults.xhtml?ref=ci&refresh=t

El Paso's Downtown. (n.d.). El Paso Downtown Revitilization. Retrieved October 20, 2011, from www.ci.el-paso.tx.us/econdev/tedc.pdf

Map of El Paso Downtown. (n.d.). Map of El Paso Downtown Districts . Retrieved October 23, 2011, from www.keller-koch-realtors.com/web/elpdowntown.htm

Soto, V. R., & AICP. (n.d.). Sustaining Downtown El Paso. American Planning Association. Retrieved October 16, 2011, from http://www.planning.org/eda/spotlight/2009/fall.htm

elpasonext - DOWNTOWN EL PASO. (n.d.). THE CITY OF EL PASO, TEXAS - www.elpasotexas.gov. Retrieved October 17, 2011, from http://www.elpasotexas.gov/downtown/elpasonext.htm

elpasonext - DOWNTOWN EL PASO. (n.d.). THE CITY OF EL PASO, TEXAS - www.elpasotexas.gov. Retrieved October 14, 2011, from http://www.elpasotexas.gov/downtown/elpasonext.htm

elpasonext - DOWNTOWN EL PASO INVESTMENT. (n.d.). THE CITY OF EL PASO, TEXAS - www.elpasotexas.gov. Retrieved October 29, 2011, from http://www.elpasotexas.gov/downtown/investment.htm#1_2

elpasonext - DOWNTOWN EL PASO Ongoing Projects - DoubleTree Hotel. (n.d.). THE CITY OF EL PASO, TEXAS - www.elpasotexas.gov. Retrieved October 14, 2011, from http://www.elpasotexas.gov/downtown/investment/doubletree_hotel.htm

elpasonext - DOWNTOWN EL PASO Ongoing Projects - Mills Plaza District. (n.d.). THE CITY OF EL PASO, TEXAS - www.elpasotexas.gov. Retrieved October 15, 2011, from http://www.elpasotexas.gov/downtown/investment/mills_plaza_district.htm