A renovation project to the Brown Building in downtown Wichita Falls could bring some of the first upscale apartments to the area.
On Tuesday, the Wichita Falls City Council approved a 4B Sales Tax Corporation Board of Directors expenditure to Anthony Patterson, doing business as ARP Brown Building LKLC, for $122,805.
The funds would cover installation of a fire suppression system (sprinklers) and fire alarms.
The building at 901 Ninth Street is a familiar site to the city and currently holds a burrito restaurant, cigar shop and rehab center.
Patterson said the building was constructed in the 1920s and has numerous attractive features, including brick work hidden under the plaster walls and an original mosaic near the staircase of medieval knights in the midst of battle.
He said he was looking for a building with the potential for apartments that included an ample parking lot.
Patterson acquired the building in October with the potential of turning it into either office space or apartments.
“My passion is to put 10 quality apartments in the building with the intention of future apartment expansion,” Patterson wrote in a letter to the city and 4B board.
Quality was important to him in this project for his future tenants and the future of the city.
“I don’t want to build mediocre guts inside an 88-year-old building … If I’m going to build it, it’s going to be quality or nothing at all,” he said.
Updating the building for offices would be about $650,000 and making it into apartments would be nearly double the cost at $1.3 million.
The apartments would rent for about $910 to $1,080 and include water, valet trash, Direct TV and WiFi.
Patterson said the building has passed hands many times over the years with no real improvements. He said moving forward with this project and being a part of the increasing momentum of downtown development is exciting.
He said he aims to be like other downtown investors, such as Will Kelty, and purchase other buildings downtown to help increase the residential population of the area.
The project would include a total of 10 large apartments in the building – one on the first floor and nine on the second floor.
Construction is expected to take eight to 10 months with a completion date in September.
