Work may begin soon on a comprehensive renovation of the famous Kress Building in downtown El Paso.
Long treasured by preservationists for its Art Deco design, the El Paso Kress Building, located at the intersection of Mills Avenue and Oregon Street, was opened in the spring of 1938, serving as a multi-story department store for the next nearly half century.
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the building at the time its opening was hailed by the El Paso Herald-Post for its “Spanish-Moorish architecture in the modern manner, with gold minarets on its tower and tile and terra cotta polychrome trimming.”
In late 2018 businessman Paul Foster put in a winning bid of $2.2 million to purchase the property after it had fallen into a state of disrepair.
Now Foster has announced plans to renovate and upgrade the property, a project that is expected to cost upwards of $18.4 million and more.
The project may also include the construction of a tunnel underneath Oregon Street that would connect the Kress building with the Plaza Hotel Pioneer Park at 106 W. Mills Avenue, which is also owned by Foster.
The former Plaza Hotel was opened by famed hotelier Conrad Hilton in 1929 and renovated at a cost of $78 million by Foster two years ago.
As planned, work on the Kress Building will also see the creation of some 45,000 square feet of restaurant, retail, and commercial space.
By Garry Boulard
