OLD AS NEW

Downtown historic properties tour imagines the possibilities

A tour of two historical downtown properties gave insight to the cycle of various businesses through these locations and showed possible buyers, renters and history buffs the potential for future projects.

The tour began at 211 East Hutchison Street, the site that was originally an S.D. Jackman Ford car dealership. “The showroom was actually upstairs on the second floor, so customers never came downstairs. This was the garage, and there were bay doors on the back corner over there. They would drive them to the left hand corner where there was a lift to bring the cars upstairs to the showroom,” San Marcos Downtown Manager Josie Falletta said.

According to the building’s broker Simon Hall, approximately 80 years ago, it was the first location of the San Marcos Daily Record. It is situated next door to The Showdown, a bar that has been around since 1977.

According to a brochure provided at the meeting, the 8,800-square-foot property is two stories. It was built in 1920 and has since been renovated and reimagined as retail or office property. It is available for lease or purchase.

Bret Renfro is the contractor involved in the renovations so far. “We ended up replacing the entire floor system in here,” Renfro said. “Air conditioning is all new. Electrical is all new.”

According to Falletta, the building has not been open to the public in a decade. “You’re the first people that are not involved in the building, that are just basic members of the public, that are here and able to walk through the building today,” Falletta said. “The property itself was just purchased last year, and the owners have worked really closely with the city in terms of preservation and our priorities as a city for historic buildings.”

The second historical location on the tour was the Annex Building at 102 North LBJ Drive, right on the corner of the square. According to the Primus Real Estate website, this building is 14,860 square feet total. It has a 1,000-square-foot basement, 6,600-square-foot first floor, 3,630-squarefoot second floor and 3,360-square-foot third floor.

“We are in what we now call the Annex Building because that was the most recent occupant. However, this was originally the site of the First National Bank in San Marcos,” Falletta said.

The building was equipped with a double vaulted room, indicative of its previous use. “That hole to the right of the door is the breathing hole in case you get locked in during a robbery,” Mark Shields, the owner of the Annex Building, said as he pointed to a three-inch in diameter hole to the right of the vault door. Shields said he was told by several people that “Baby Face Nelson robbed this property.”

According to shields the Annex building has had various uses including a detention center at one point in its history. “The back half that went from about here until the parking lot was the Hofheinz Hotel,” Historic Preservation Officer for Planning and Development for San Marcos Alison Brake said, as she gestured to the back portion on the first floor. Brake also said at one time the building extended further back, into where the parking lot now resides.