Insurors of Texas

The 80-year - old Southwestern Drug building downtown is showing its age. The city's green tag on the front door, dated 10-29-2002, declares the hulking mix of brick, rusted fire escapes and broken windows uninhabitable.

But Tom Chase sees it as home for his three companies — Insurors of Texas, Investors Brokerage of Texas and Insurors Indemnity.

On Tuesday, Chase announced he will spend $2.5 million to renovate the place at South Fifth Street and Mary Avenue, converting it to his corporate headquarters. He'll move his 65 employees from Waco Drive to that location when work is done, probably in nine months to a year.

A news conference inside the drafty building on Tuesday attracted community and business leaders who said they were thrilled with the prospect of the development.

Margaret Mills, executive director of Downtown Waco Inc., called Chase's plans "one of this city's most significant projects, in terms of historic preservation." She likened it to the $2.1 million refurbishing of the Waco Hippodrome Theater, 724 Austin Ave., and creation of the Dr Pepper Museum, 300 S. Fifth St., which has attracted 750,000 visitors since it opened on May 11, 1991.

"I'm just elated and very proud of what Tom Chase is doing. This just continues the revitalization of this part of Waco," said Wilton Lanning, founding president of the Dr Pepper Museum, which sits cater-cornered from the Southwestern Drug building.

Chase will put his employees on the building's first and second floors, and will lease out the top two floors. He said he probably will employ "right around" 100 in two years, while 150 to 200 people could be occupying professional offices on the leased floors by that time.

The arrival of fresh faces downtown will create "spinoff" benefits for restaurants and retailers downtown, said City Manager Larry Groth, who congratulated Chase for turning an "eyesore" into another link in the chain of development from Lake Brazos to downtown.

Chase said his building at 3701 W. Waco Drive has become crowded and obsolete in design, so he wants to create new office space inside Southwestern Drug. He has hired Pearson Construction of Waco to serve as general contractor.

"We're in the very preliminary stages of getting Tom's plans down on paper," said Bob Pearson, adding that crews in mid-January will begin removing asbestos tile from inside the building. "The outside basically will remain as it appears. We can repair the windows and the masonry, but we can't change the look of the building for historic reasons. The inside will have an open concept, with not a lot of individual offices and very few walls. We want to capture the feeling of the high ceilings without chopping the place into small spaces."

The building has been certified for, but not included in, the National Register of Historic Places, said Chase. "That means we're eligible for inclusion if we do things right, and we're going to make sure we do things right."

Though it appears to be a single entity, the Southwestern Drug building actually was constructed in two stages. Chase said his research shows the east end was built before 1925, though he does not have an exact date, while the western two-thirds was built in 1925.

Southwestern Drug occupied the building for more than 60 years, but Mills said it has been vacant at least 10 years.

Developer Bill Wetterman for several years talked of converting the Southwestern Drug building to loft apartments, as he did with the former Behrens Drug building at 219 S. Fourth St. The project fell through after yet another building — the former Imperial Woodworks plant at 323 S. Sixth St. — was destroyed by fire on April 29, 1999. Wetterman wanted to convert that building to lofts, as well.

Chase said he bought the Southwestern Drug building less than a month ago from Southwest Lofts Ltd. Businessman Chris Rhett, speaking by telephone from Austin, confirmed he owns an interest in Southwest Lofts Ltd. and that Chase bought the building.

"We consummated a sale with Mr. Chase, and we wish him well," said Rhett, adding he would have no other comment. Neither Chase nor Rhett would divulge the sales price. The McLennan County Appraisal District places the value of the building at $264,386.

Chase's brother, Jim Chase, owns a parking lot across Fifth Street from the building, and employees will be able to park there.

The building lies within a Tax Increment Financing zone, so the city of Waco will help pay for landscaping, said Chase, whose businesses will receive a federal tax credit equal to 20 percent of what he spends renovating the structure.