Short months ago, downtown Port Arthur was derided as a wasteland, a veritable ghost town after dark. Now it’s a boomtown.

On Tuesday afternoon, Port Arthur councilmembers emerged from an executive session and voted to sell the Hotel Sabine, a 10-story edifice that was built in 1929 and whose glory days were long past, to Motiva, the energy giant that operates North America’s largest refinery here. The city’s tallest building, it has stood vacant since the 1980s, a towering and constant reminder of sad times.

Not Tuesday. Sale of the hotel was the largest but not the only real estate development of note revealed at City Hall. Councilmembers voted to negotiate with Motiva on two other pieces of property at 440 and 500 Austin Avenue — one an empty lot, Mayor Derrick Freeman said, the other the Port Arthur Health Department, housed in the former Merchants Bank. The asking price for that property was said to be $1.2 million.

The mayor also confirmed that Motiva had secured an agreement to buy the A.E. Scott Furniture Co. building, built in 1911, from a private party. Should the city and Motiva agree on the Health Department purchase, Motiva would own all four corners of the intersection of Austin Avenue and Fifth Street. Motiva is expected to close on sales of the former Federal Building, built in 1912 and the Adams Building, built in 1926, by May 15; both of those historic buildings are at the intersection.

The Greater Port Arthur Chamber of Commerce and Motiva has scheduled an event called “Imagine … Port Arthur,” at 4:30 p.m. May 16 in the 500 block of Austin Avenue downtown, where Motiva will unveil its plans. Freeman said the city was trying to close the hotel deal by that date.

Sale price of the hotel was not disclosed, although the mayor said it would sell for “fair market value.” That may have increased in recent weeks, since Motiva’s purchase of the Federal Building and Adams Building were revealed in early April.

In addition to the hotel, Motiva has been seeking the Port Arthur Police Department parking lot, adjacent to the Hotel Sabine. The company may be considering purchase of as many as 20 lots downtown, some for parking.

Freeman, whose full-time work is in real estate, said numerous downtown sites are in play for purchase. He said developers are seeking land for a strip shopping area, restaurants and more. In addition, contractors are seeking to locate near Motiva’s offices.

Freeman said the city is offering myriad programs that would assist developers, including credits for developing historic buildings, opportunity zone credits and enterprise zone credits. He said pursuit of property downtown has become a “free for all.”

“We’ve been working on it for a long time,” Freeman said. “There are several entities in the tool box. I’m thankful we did the upfront preparation work to allow some of these things to happen.”