A Sleeping Beauty Awakens

You've got to believe that somewhere H.O. Wooten is smiling. It was the legendary Abilene businessman who began building the Hotel Wooten on Cypress Street in the late 1920s. When the stock market crash of 1929 evaporated the financing for the construction, the old man finished the job by paying for it out of his own pocket.

The faith of Wooten, who died in 1947, will be rewarded this spring when the building reopens as a high-rise apartment building after a $12 million renovation that has restored the building to its original luster. It will be like nothing Abilene has seen before. "It really is like nothing else around here," said Misty Monita, hired in December as the Apartment Manager. "You'd have to go to Dallas or someplace to see something like this." Bill and Michelle Wenson of Austin are the owners of the building, having purchased it in 1998. Earlier in the '90s, the Wensons had bought the Windsor and had turned it into apartments for senior citizens. However, the plans for the Wooten were a bit grander.

The 17-story building will be home to 55 apartments ranging in size from a cozy 680 square feet to one that's more that 1,800 square feet. They'll have all the amenities like a stacked washer and dryer as well as being wired for high-speed Internet. Because the apartments have no more than two bedrooms, living areas in the larger apartments are spacious.

The first floor includes the lobby, replicated to the ornate likeness of the original as well as space for a restaurant and other retail. There's a ballroom on the second floor and the apartments begin on the third floor.

Pulling this thing off took some time. The Wooten is in the middle of a 100-block area known as the Tax Increment Financing District, an area bordered by N. Treadaway on the east, S. 7th to the south, Butternut and Hickory to the west and N. 6th on the north. TIFs are used by local government to finance redevelopment. When an area is designated as a reinvestment zone, its tax base is frozen at the rate in effect immediately before development.

Funding for the project came from several sources: $3.9 million came from a loan from the Malone Mortgage Company of Dallas; $3.5 million came from the Abilene Economic Development Corporation, $1.6 million came from the TIF development district and $1.7 million came the sale of tax credits.

To meet the funding requirements, the Wensons will have to rent the apartments for the first several years. Eventually, said Downtown Manager John Dugan, apartments could be sold.

Dugan sees the completion of the project as an important piece of the downtown renovations that has been going on for more than 20 years and is a nationally recognized success.

"A lot of people don't know what's going on downtown because there's no reason for them to go there," he said. "Restaurants do well if they're surrounded by other restaurants, we know that. We've had people come in and seriously look at downtown for a site for a restaurant. But nobody wants to be the first one."

So where does the Wooten come in? If there is an affluent residential population downtown with disposable income, retail business is sure to follow. A convenience store, or some sort of market will be a natural. A middle-tier restaurant to complement Cypress Street Station on the high end and Bogey's on the low end would be a natural progression. Specialty stores already are popping up downtown and permanent dwellers would make the area more attractive. Dugan said there are buildings downtown that could be converted into first-run theatres and still maintain the charm and the appearance on the old buildings. He can see the day when a couple can go out for an evening of shopping, dining and entertainment and never start their car.

Obviously the Wooten isn't for everyone. The rent will be market-driven and will run anywhere from around $700 to $1,700 a month. Monita sees the typical Wooten resident as young professionals with either no children or small children and "empty-nesters" whose children are grown.

Dugan thinks there's another market out there.  "I keep hearing from retired people who remember the Wooten in its heyday and would like to move back there," he said.

Just people who would like to live out a dream. The Wooten, like its original owner, welcomes dreamers.