City talks investment, renovation for Downtown

Tuesday afternoon, city officials held a news conference inviting the public to take a closer look at recent investments that they say preserve historic buildings and spur private development.

On the podium, Mayor Dee Margo said, “There’s one element of all great cities that the world has in common and that is that they all have great downtowns.”

Margo says more than $250 million in public and private funds have been invested since 2013 in the restoration of historic structures and the economic revitalization of downtown.

“A vibrant downtown is key to having a solid, sustainable regional economy,” Margo said.

City officials say the city has incentivized 21 projects downtown since 2013. A dozen have been completed, six that are under construction and three more are under development.

Deputy City Manager for economic development and tourism Cary Westin says investments already made by the city are paying off.

“We’ve got a number of our developments that are paying out exceedingly in terms of investment back, well over four or five times what we’re putting in and I think that’s just the tip of the iceberg,” Westin said.

“You don’t have to have much distance between your trips downtown to notice that things have changed,” Joe Gudenrath said.

Gudenrath is executive director of the El Paso Downtown Management District. He feels downtown is heading towards a population boom.

“We’re seeing more hotels develop which are going to bring people during the evenings. We’re seeing office buildings go up which will bring people out during the daytime. I think we’ll be seeing more residential (living) which will bring more people on the weekends,” Gudenrath said.