El Paso City Council advances Downtown historic district, excludes Duranguito

The city is one step closer to establishing a Downtown Historic District. However, following a vote by the El Paso City Council, that designation will not extend to the city-owned properties in Union Plaza.

The Council voted 6-1 Tuesday to direct Mayor Oscar Leeser to send a letter to the Texas Historical Commission in support of the National Register of Historic Places nomination of the proposed Downtown El Paso Historic District, but only after adding amendments from El Paso city Rep. Cassandra Hernandez that the Union Plaza properties are not included and another delay in the letter until a city ordinance can be changed.

The El Paso County Commissioners Court proposed the boundaries for the historic district in June 2020.

The city currently owns 12 properties in the Union Plaza area within the now-abandoned Duranguito arena footprint.

El Paso city Rep. Chris Canales, who brought the original proposal before the Council, was the only dissenting voice. El Paso city Rep. Alexsandra Annello was not present for the vote.

The letter of support from Leeser would have superseded a letter sent by former Mayor Dee Margo in 2020, which carved the same properties out of the historic district.

"The city respectfully requests the (Texas Historical Commission) and the State Board of Review to exclude the (Multi-Purpose Center) site from the nomination to the National Register of Historic Places," Margo's letter dated Dec. 23, 2020, states.

During Tuesday's meeting, Canales advocated for the letter of support and said the designation would bring access to generous tax incentives and federal grants for Downtown property owners that could amount to 45% of the cost of renovating a historic property.

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"Almost every city similar to us in size has a federally-designated historical district in their Downtown," Canales said, adding that such a designation preserves cultural heritage and attracts economic development. "When you visit a place, you want to visit their historic Downtown."

"I think it's a fairly simple step forward," he added later.

Shortly after that, City Attorney Karla Nieman advised that an executive session was needed to discuss how the historic designation might impact city-owned properties — after roughly an hour and a half, council members emerged and moved swiftly to approve the amended item.

Former state Sen. Jose Rodriguez among those to speak in favor of historic designation

Before the council took to executive session, it heard from multiple residents in favor of the historic designation, including former Democratic state Rep. Jose Rodriguez, who hailed a possible Downtown historic district as a "tremendous" opportunity for Downtown property owners.

"What you have here is an opportunity ... to use historic preservation, a designation of many places in El Paso as historic places, to develop not only heritage tourism but to use as an economic development tool," Rodriguez said. "That's what happens when you renovate old buildings, old homes, that have historic value."

And the historic value of buildings in El Paso's Downtown, he said, is "unparalleled."

Veronica Carbajal, president of local political action committee Justicia Fronteriza, in a written statement, praised the historic designation as a way to protect and preserve the history of Mexican, Black and Indigenous communities told through Downtown structures.

"Many El Pasoans have deep ties in our historic Downtown," Carbajal's statement read. "Please don't allow it to be erased ... "

Likewise, non-profit historic preservation group Preservation Texas Executive Director Evan Thompson and board member Max Grossman submitted letters of support for the designation.

"We have long believed that El Paso's historic architecture is one of our state's most valuable cultural resources," Thompson wrote in his letter, "not just because of what it teaches us about our past but because of the economic development opportunities that it will create for El Pasoans in the future."

Grossman, who just ended a years-long legal battle with the city over the proposed Duranguito arena site, noted the vast economic development potential a federal historic designation brings. The city spent over $3 million and six years litigating the Duranguito suit and Tuesday's vote represents a significant setback in Grossman's effort to revive the historic neighborhood. He declined to comment following the council's vote.

More: City of El Paso files motion to dismiss Texas Supreme Court case over arena in Duranguito

"There are currently 26 individually-listed properties in Downtown, including the four that have been restored by Paul Foster using federal and/or state tax credits," Grossman's letter read. "The proposed historic district would increase that number to 191 buildings, which would become eligible for tax credits that could pay for up to 45% of the cost of renovating them — without imposing regulations on their owners."

He also noted the importance of including the Duranguito properties in the historic district.

"Without adding the Duranguito properties to the National Register," Grossman wrote, "investors will not want to invest their capital to restore them and there will be no practical solution for the neighborhood."

Downtown Management District director raises concern over city ordinance

While there appeared to be broad support for Canales' proposal early on, the concerns raised by Downtown Management District Executive Director Joe Gudenrath represented a turning point in the council's discussion.

Gudenrath, who took the reins at the Downtown Management District in 2014, called the Downtown historic district a "contentious issue" and worried that a city ordinance that requires federal or state-designated historic sites to meet local zoning codes might derail Downtown investment.

He said delaying the letter of support until the ordinance could be changed would be a "gesture of goodwill to developers (and) property owners" as most currently oppose the designation.

Both Canales and Interim City Manager Cary Westin advised that the recommended changes to the ordinance in question, which Nieman could not specifically identify during the meeting, had already been approved by the relevant committee and would be headed to the council for approval in the coming weeks.

Both Hernandez and El Paso city Rep. Henry Rivera expressed understanding for Gudenrath's position, while Canales insisted that the language being considered left broad latitude for Leeser to decide when the letter should be sent.

All seven council members present for Tuesday's vote were contacted for comment, but none responded.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: El Paso City Council nixes Duranguito buildings from historic district