Chamber Drives $1B Development Initiative for Downtown Waco
Published Dec 03, 2008
The Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce building anchors a downtown revival.
With a new, $4 million building backing up its commitment, the Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce has thrown down the revival gauntlet to the rest of downtown. And the challenge is being met, to the tune of $1 billion in overall investment.
Challenge Greater Waco, the chamber’s strategic economic development campaign, established revitalizing downtown as one of five goals. The ambitious plan calls for a 50 percent increase in downtown housing, retail, restaurant and office development by 2010, as well as groundbreaking on at least two new, large-scale developments.
Waco’s downtown is picking up momentum thanks to:
1. Waco Town Square, a $60 million, mixed-use project by SWB Heritage Square Partners LP on a 17-acre site that will include upscale retail, restaurants, professional office space and residential living.
2. A $15 million renovation of the historic Roosevelt Hotel, which is being transformed into office space.
3. The Greater Waco Chamber’s new headquarters, touted as the first “green” chamber facility in the country.
The unique, gold-domed chamber building includes a bevy of eco-friendly design features to back up the claim as it seeks to obtain LEED certification through the U.S. Green Building Council. It anchors a $75 million, mixed-use development, and is leading the way for other eco-friendly projects that also are going after LEED status.
But while the chamber’s new building has gotten a lot of attention for its environmental friendliness, it’s important not to let what’s happening in downtown Waco get overlooked, says James G. Vaughan Jr., president and chief executive officer of the Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce.
“The vision we had was that we could make the downtown area important economically and as a symbol for the region,” Vaughan says. “Our location on the Brazos River makes this a special place, and the community has wanted to capitalize on that for a long time. With our new building, and everything else that’s happening, we’re finally doing that.”
A major aspect of the visioning process was a re-examination of exactly what “downtown” means in terms of boundaries. When all’s said and done, Waco’s urban center is likely to be much larger, but not sprawling and unconnected.
“Downtown won’t look like it did in its heyday of the 1940s and 1950s, and it won’t be exactly the same kind of retail center,” Vaughan explains. “When we’re talking about a billion-dollar facelift, that means we’ve got projects under way that are going to leverage other projects, and that will stretch what we’re able to do in terms of economic development.”
What will eventually take place, if all goes as planned, is that a “greater downtown” will form around the historic downtown area, allowing growth and expansion to head out in every direction. And that will be key for plans that call for a regional buy-in of this master growth plan.
“If the downtown is the symbol of a region, and it’s prosperous, people are going to get excited about it,” Vaughan says. “That has a positive effect on the whole marketplace, and that’s what we’re trying to do here. We’re going
to be a magnet for and symbol of a ‘Greater Waco’ region, and we want the surrounding communities to be attracted to this as a kind of second hometown, a place to go instead of the larger metro cities outside our region.”
Story by Joe Morris
Photo by Jesse Knish
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