Pedestrian Plaza Planned for Downtown El Paso

As president of Mills Plaza Properties, Brent Harris is happy to announce downtown El Paso’s historic Mills building is back open after a major facelift. An attached parking garage is also now open.

Now, he says, it’s on to Phase 2: a Mills Avenue pedestrian plaza between El Paso and Oregon streets that would connect the Mills building and San Jacinto Plaza to the Plaza Theatre and Civic Center.

“Our weather’s beautiful here in El Paso,” Harris told ABC-7. “We need to take advantage of it.”

The developers have taken input from the public on what to construct along the promenade. Popular ideas at a public meeting Thursday included water features, an outdoor stage and cafes.

“All the restaurants we’re talking to, we’ve told them they need to have an outdoor presence,” said Harris.

Marybeth Stevens attended Thursday’s meeting. She said downtown is the perfect location for a promenade.

“If you walk around downtown and you looked up, it’s a beautiful place,” she said. “The architecture is incredible and has so much history.”

Harris said he hopes the owners of other historic downtown buildings will take note and follow the promenade’s lead.

“We hope what we’re doing is infectious,” he said. “A lot of it is wait and see.”

Harris hopes to begin construction on the promenade this summer, with a completion date early next year.