A vision of a revitalized downtown Clarendon received its first public viewing during the First Friday Art Trail event in Lubbock last Friday, October 7.
More than a dozen renderings were on display at the Urban Tech office in the Texas Tech University Downtown Center, and TTU architecture students were on hand to discuss their ideas for storefronts on Clarendon’s Kearney Street. The exhibit was part of a larger walking art show that had several displays in different locations in downtown Lubbock.
The Clarendon plans were prepared as part of an agreement between the Clarendon Economic Development Corp. and Texas Tech’s College of Architecture that was signed about one year ago.
University personnel and students performed laser scans of buildings along Kearney and Sully streets between First and Fourth Streets. Those detailed measurements and images were then paired with historic photos of Clarendon, and students created new drawings of what a rehabilitated and revitalized Clarendon could look like. A target date of 1927 was chosen as a restoration point to work toward.
The $17,000 project will be used as the basis for the CEDC to revamp its popular Façade Grant Program guidelines to provide great incentives for property owners to rehabilitate their buildings in keeping with the plans developed by the Tech students.
The CEDC is also working with the Texas Historical Commission to possibly create a historic district designation for downtown, which would not put any restrictions on property owners but would open up the possibility of state and federal historic preservation tax credits for property owners in the district.
The Clarendon drawings will remain on display at the Urban Tech office for about one month as final revisions are made to the plans.
A local viewing will be scheduled in Clarendon after the CEDC finalizes incentives to be offered under the project.
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