Plainview celebrates completion of downtown streetscape project
PLAINVIEW — Citizens and local leaders are celebrating the completion of a years-long bond project to breathe new life into downtown Plainview, and they are hailing the project as a success that only marks the beginning of a larger effort to revitalize downtown.
Known as the “Downtown Streetscape,” the project is the third of six bond projects passed by voters in 2017 to be completed in the city. It includes improvements to downtown Plainview's sidewalks, landscaping, lighting and pedestrian accessibility from Fifth Street to Eighth Street.
A celebration and ribbon-cutting was held Friday evening to commemorate the milestone. The festivities included wine tastings, live music, food trucks and even an appearance from Dallas Cowboys great Jay Novacek, who was selling and signing bottles of his signature whiskey.
“This is a landmark day for Plainview,” Mayor Charles Starnes said during the ribbon cutting ceremony — a landmark day that has been a long time coming according to downtown leaders.
Ranada Jack, president of the Downtown Plainview organization, said in her remarks that the revitalization effort gained momentum when a development firm transformed the old Hilton Hotel at Sixth and Austin streets into affordable apartment space.
From the archives: Former Plainview Hilton Hotel to receive $7 million makeover as apartment complex
Jack and her husband Jimmy moved to Plainview 33 years ago.
“The first time we drove through downtown, I told Jimmy, ‘I’m gonna redo that Hilton someday,’ and he looked at me and said, ‘You have got to be kidding me,’ and I said, ‘Nope, I’m gonna figure out how to do it,’ and, by golly, we did,” Jack said to applause from the sizable crowd gathered in front of the Fair Theatre.
Jack, who owns Santa’s Mercantile and More in the historic Mason Lodge, said Friday’s festivities are another monumental moment in the future of downtown.
“This is going to go down in the history books for Plainview, and I’m just really honored to be a part of that,” Jack said. “There’s been a lot of blood, sweat and tears that have gone into this project — a lot of energy, a lot of talent, a lot of people. It has taken a village to do this.
“Bringing this streetscape to life has just revived downtown and I’m just so excited about that. This is just the beginning, though. We have got to keep going.”
Phyllis Wall, Downtown Plainview secretary, agreed with Jack’s assessment.
“We’re not done,” Wall said.
“When the heart of the community, which is your downtown, is pumping, it goes out into the rest of your community. I think, in my opinion, the revitalization of downtown is the very thing that we needed in order to do all of the things that are happening in midtown and west-town Plainview.
“I’m really excited about (the future). It’s really not so much the streetscape — and that’s beautiful and all that — but it’s the people,” Wall added. “For me as an old person who’s lived in Plainview 64 of her 66 years, it is the young entrepreneurs that are coming in here and putting in businesses that give me such hope.”
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Plainview celebrates completion of downtown streetscape project
