Community Celebrates Restoration Of Historic Hotel

Cruz Lopez would drive by 236 South Missouri and wonder as many others did in Mercedes about a once grand two story-building gone gray.

“Why doesn’t someone try to fix it?’’ Lopez would ask about the Mercedes Historical Hotel.

Now someone is, and to be more precise about it, two people are and they are Cruz and his wife, Laura. The native Texans and owners of LaserLux in Mercedes are taking on a project many in their adopted city had longed to see happen. An abandoned hotel building that originally housed “one of the most handsome homes’’ of the Elks Lodges is finally getting a makeover.

The revitalization of the nearly 100-year-old building has a long road ahead with cleanup efforts still in their early stages. Its new owners, however, are determined to see it through.

“We decided that we were in a position where we could do something,’’ Cruz Lopez said at a Dec. 14 ribbon cutting for the historical building’s restoration. “There’s a lot of pride and excitement in this community to see it come back to life.’’

Glory Days

In the Mercedes pf 1928, the city was only 21 years old when visitors from all over Texas came by train to celebrate the grand opening of a new 9000-square-foot Elks Home.

It cost $60,000 to build, ($1.4 million in today’s dollars), and was built on the same street lined with the fine two-story homes of land company executives who were among the original founders of Mercedes. The Elks Home would become a social hub and “popular venue for fancy events,’’ said Barbara De Leon Edwards, a local historian. Its brick-and-stucco exterior and grand staircase with steel trusses made it a Mid-Valley focal point for decades.

The Elks Home would transition to becoming a hotel among other business uses before falling into years of disuse and abandonment. The city’s Economic Development Corporation worked for years to find willing investors to buy and redevelop the historic structure. The Lopez couple with their business backgrounds and affection for their adopted city fit the bill.

They plan to relocated their office supply and printing business from its present expressway location to the first floor of the restored hotel building in downtown Mercedes. The second floor will be the new home for the Lopez couple and their three children.

“I hope it’s as exciting for the community as it for us,’’ Laura Lopez said of the historic building’s redo. “I hope the city likes what we do with it.’’

Getting There

The first order of business is to continue the building’s cleanup efforts as the Lopezes begin the process of finding contractors and construction companies to tackle the old hotel’s rebuild.

An early December cleanup effort was a community event as Keep Mercedes Beautiful volunteers pitched in to help. The ribbon cutting event included a walk around for visitors as Laura Lopez pointed out the work done and gave a preview of what lays ahead. Those on hand at the ribbon cutting spoke enthusiastically of the efforts to revitalize the 1920s-era building.

“This is a big deal for the city of Mercedes,’’ said C.A. Hinojosa III, the owner of the Mercedes Enterprise and the chief operations officer for the Leadership Empowerment Group.

“Thank-you for what you’re doing,’’ Mercedes Mayor Oscar Montoya said at the ribbon cutting event. “This kind of stuff goes on down the road in helping to create an energy for Mercedes and the growth we’re currently seeing in our community.’’

Cruz Lopez couldn’t give a timetable for completion of the restoration project. For now, he said, “it’s the basics, fixing the roof, security, the doors and windows.’’

“Little by little, we’ll get there,’’ he said.

His wife, Laura, spoke of how restoring history helps the community’s overall well-being.

“Mercedes needs all of the growth it’s seeing all around the community,’’ she said. “What we’re doing here will help to keep it going.’’

• Ricardo D. Cavazos