Making history . . . again
Hotel Grim expects to release first units within first quarter of 2023
December 9, 2022
The sound of construction fills the corners of downtown Texarkana, Texas. Banging, screeching and huge trucks surround the streets of the famous Grim Hotel.
The Grim Hotel was built and opened in Texarkana on July 15, 1924. A five-star hotel in this small town was a huge deal, bringing major historical significance. This was an expensive site to build, just to be abandoned some years later.
The Grim was recently purchased and is now being remodeled into leasing apartments by Cohen Esrey, all while restoring many of its original amenities and 1920s architecture.
“The Grim has been designed for 92 multi-family units consisting of studios, one and two-bedroom apartments,” said Cohen Esrey Tim Minson, vice president of Design and Construction. “The main floor and mezzanine is being restored to their original 1924 historical design.”
The former hotel presents many of the antique designs that were used in the 1920s, like crown moldings throughout the ceilings and walls. With those designs not being used much in today’s architecture, restoring them to their authentic design makes this such a unique space that the people of Texarkana will have the opportunity to reside in.
“The Grim hotel is now on the National Historical registry,” Minson said. “[The building] will be submitted for national awards next year.”
On the peak of the hotel lies the outstanding “Hotel Grim” sign, which is not going to be demolished through the project, despite the site now being apartments. The sign has stood since 1924, slowly rusting and accommodating damage over the years of abandonment.
“[The Hotel Grim sign] is one of the most iconic and valuable items for the historic society,” construction superintendent Federico Morales said. “[We are] going to paint it [to make it look better] because it is so rusted.”
With the construction still ongoing, their timeline has gone slower than originally predicted. Even though COVID did not interfere with the production of the build, structural problems and different things on a daily basis have continued to push the opening date of the first leasing apartments into the future.
“Construction is not running as fast as we would like,” Morales said. “There are changes every single day.”
Not only is the remodeling process lengthy, but the restoration process has also been a big factor when it comes to the timeline of the build. Crown moldings like the ones on the ceiling of the entry way for the soon to be apartments take months to repair and restore. The restoration of these consists of months of scraping away dirt, remaking exact copies of missing parts to fill in gaps, all while keeping the original intent of the design.
Structural problems are the other reason the build has slowed down. The demolition revealed further damage than anticipated.
“Once we removed six million pounds of debris, our engineers found much more damage due to the roof being off of the building for 40 years,” Minson said. “The rainwater corroded the concrete columns and foundations.”
Now that the interior sheetrock and structure is starting to make an appearance, an opening phase should begin in the near future, barring any complications that may arise throughout the rest of the construction.
“[Opening] is going to be more like phases,” Morales said. “Releasing the first units [should start] in the first quarter of the coming year.”
