Prayers answered: Motiva downtown plan ties city, major industry
Published 9:37 am Friday, May 17, 2019
By Ken Stickney
Motiva’s “reveal” of its downtown office plans — it establishes at the least the start of a multi-million-dollar, white-collar, company “campus” — drew the right responses from more than 500 enthusiasts who gathered Thursday at the intersection of Austin Avenue and Fifth Street for a celebration.
“I’ve been looking out my window for 17 years,” said Judith Smith, director of Port Arthur’s Health Department. Her office squares off across Austin Avenue from what has been the abandoned and forlorn 1926 Adams Building. “I’ve been praying for my city.”
Prayers answered.
Motiva closed Wednesday on the purchases of the Adams Building and the equally ramshackle Federal Building, at the same intersection and built in 1912. Thursday brought both festivities and pledges from Motiva that the company was signing up as corporate citizens for the long haul.
$10 million job
Motiva will renovate both buildings at a cost of about $10 million, Travis Capps, Motiva’s executive vice president for Strategy, Business Development and Technical Excellence said. In return, the company will get about 150,000 square feet of office space in the two-story Federal Building and six-story Adams Building, later called the World Trade Building.
That’s enough to house about 500 office workers in buildings that will be composed of about 80 percent workstations and 20 percent offices.
Capps said the first floor of the Adams Building would likely be public space, which will include at least a coffee shop and possibly other retail or service outlets, depending upon what the public prefers there.
“Downtown Port Arthur was once the vital heart of the city,” said Brian Coffman, president and CEO of Motiva, in prepared remarks, “and for us to be even a small part of the city’s plan to recapture its past success and revive downtown Port Arthur is a real honor.”
Historic status
Among the first orders of business: Acquire historic status for the Adams Building, once a gleaming structure that offered offices to the city’s leading professionals. That in itself may take at least six months. The Federal Building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, which affords it some tax breaks.
Architects Haddon & Cowan of Houston, the firm that did the downtown 501 Building, will do the work on the Federal and Adams Buildings. Michael Cowan said work may start as early as Monday in removing, preserving and storing for later use some distinctive architectural facets of the exterior of the buildings. Early on, contractors will address safety challenges and do abatement for lead and asbestos.
Meanwhile, the architects will study historical photos to meet the demands of renovating according to historical standards. Design work might start as early as Friday.
“The interiors are rough,” Cowan said. “They’re in pretty derelict stages. The roof on the Federal Building has been gone since 1986.”
Happy memories
It wasn’t always in such a rough state. Otis Johnson Jr., 93, was the superintendent in the Federal Building in the 1950s and 1960s, and returned Thursday for the celebration. Former U.S. Rep. Jack Brooks, D-Beaumont, once told him that the building in his care was the “cleanest federal building he ever saw,” said Dr. Tom Johnson, Otis Johnson’s son and president of Lamar State College Orange.
In his comments, Mayor Derrick Freeman saluted both Motiva and those citizens who kept the faith for years about revitalizing downtown. He thanked generations of city leaders who worked to keep the dream alive, recalling many times when naysayers would ask, “You’re still trying to nourish that idea?”
He reminded the crowd that Gov. Greg Abbott allowed Port Arthur to have six “opportunity zone” designations — most in the state — to help reclaim downtown and recover from Hurricane and Tropical Storm Harvey.
That helped the city place “the tools in the toolbox” to lure investment downtown.
‘Vital, active part’
In his remarks, Coffman noted that Motiva has some 220 trailers at the Savannah Avenue site, most of which will be cleared when the downtown buildings open, probably in late 2021.
“Just as I can picture the hustle and bustle in these buildings 50 years ago, I can now envision Motiva employees someday filling their hallways. With careful and thoughtful renovation and rehabilitation — so their unique qualities are not only preserved, but more importantly celebrated — these buildings will provide a true business hub for Motiva’s administration and engineering teams,” Coffman said.
“They will be a modern workspace for a daily planning — a place to greet visitors, holding meetings and manage Motiva’s Port Arthur-based workforce. I’m here to tell you today that we plan to be a vital and active part of this community for decades to come.”
