A Third Act for a Lubbock Landmark

Metro Tower withstood a tornado but sat underutilized for years. REALTOR®Alison 布莱洛克的召集高管和政府官员将经济适用房带到市中心. Her five-years-in-the-making property sale won the 2020 William C. Jennings award for commercial transaction of the year.

2015年，艾莉森·布莱洛克(Alison 布莱洛克的)与外地的开发商会面，讨论她列出的一栋建筑. She and the developers drove around Lubbock, looking at buildings and talking about what’s happening downtown.
Then the developers saw the city’s tallest building, Metro Tower. It wasn’t for sale, yet the developers were extremely interested. “我们想要那个，”他们说. The WestMark 商业/TNC Worldwide REALTOR® said she’d make
一些电话.

多年来一直屹立不倒

大平原人寿保险大厦建于1955年，位于砖砌的百老汇大街上. 这栋20层、面积约111,000平方英尺的建筑由大卫. Castle, an Abilene architect whose works have been listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.

On May 11, 1970, downtown Lubbock was hit by an F5 tornado. 据该市称，这场风暴在拉伯克造成了近2亿美元的损失，26人死亡.

Telecom company NTS 通信 bought the building in the mid-1980s. By 2015, 地铁大厦里有几层是国税厅的办公室，还有他们的主要服务器和线路.

Floors eight through 20 were vacant due to fire safety issues. The building needed extensive remodeling, 一个新的消防喷淋系统, and a secondary staircase to allow full occupancy again. Without it, the tower would remain underutilized and slowly deteriorate.

出售“妈妈的房子”

Metro Tower was no ordinary property for 布莱洛克的. “在20世纪80年代末，当我还很小的时候，我从小就知道那栋楼是‘妈妈的楼’.’ My mom actually managed and leased Metro Tower for several years. 我有一些进入大楼的短暂记忆，”这位拉伯克本地人说.

布莱洛克的’s first call about the project was to her mother, commercial agent and WestMark teammate Karen Higgins. 希金斯分享了她的背景知识，甚至保留了她做物业管理时的旧建筑平面图和报告.

They later toured Metro Tower together. Higgins showed 布莱洛克的 where her office used to be. The carpet Higgins had replaced was still inside the building. “我已经和这栋建筑有了非常私人的联系，”布莱洛克的说.

布莱洛克的 got in touch with NTS 通信’ executives. 她提出了开发商的想法:购买这栋建筑，并利用德克萨斯州住房和社区事务部(TDHCA)的住房税收抵免和德克萨斯州历史保护税收抵免基金对其进行翻新. 她说，在接下来的三年里，她提出了多份工作邀请，但时机不对.

2018年底，在听到高层管理人员变动的消息后，布莱洛克的再次联系了他. NTS was now very interested in selling the building. 当时，国税厅正在将该业务出售给光纤通信公司Vexus.
“Vexus did not want the building because of its many issues, 所以这是一个完美的时机:NTS可以把业务卖给Vexus，把大楼卖给我们,她说。.

Making the Case for Metro Tower Lofts

布莱洛克的和开发商需要迅速采取行动，申请TDHCA 9%的竞争性住房税收抵免. 他们在年底前就销售价格和合同交易进行了谈判.

“This transaction was really funded through tax credits, and that process is very competitive,布莱洛克的说. “我们知道我们需要得到相当多的支持.”

布莱洛克的 compiled a brochure with key information. 她联系了市长丹·波普, 拉伯克市议会, and the city’s downtown redeveloper, 麦克道戈尔公司. 她告诉他们，这是拉伯克重振塔楼的机会，同时也为中央商务区的税收增量再投资区带来了经济适用房和重建. 布莱洛克的 received unanimous support.

布莱洛克的 and the developers also met with Texas Rep. 约翰Frullo. She credits his support as crucial to receiving full funding from TDHCA. The tax credit process took most of 2019.

关闭的障碍

NTS通信计划将服务器和设备放在2层和3层，将卫星放在顶楼. 国税厅和开发商需要签订长期租约，才能让他们继续居住. The NTS servers could not be disturbed during renovation and remodeling.

All renovations had to meet Lubbock’s fire and code standards for safety, 同时也符合历史保护标准，批准获得全额资助.

Closing was planned for March 20, 2020. 在月初, 历史保护官员否决了在1层和4层之间设置防火通道的想法，因为它会破坏建筑的历史外观. 布莱洛克的, 项目的架构师, 工程师, 市政府官员在几个小时内起草了一份新计划，并得到了各方的批准.

今年3月，COVID-19大流行开始扰乱人们的生活和商业活动, investors froze some of the developers’ funding. 开发商做出了一些财务上的改变，交易于2020年4月30日完成.

“I could not have done this without city support. 我非常感谢所有帮助完成这项交易的人，”她说.

有很多次我都觉得这是不可能结束的. 障碍太多了, so many tiny details that all had to be worked out, and so many people involved in it. We kept taking it one step at a time.

新阁楼即将推出

Metro Towers Lofts is scheduled to be completed in late 2021. 该项目将为市中心带来89套经济适用房.

“有很多次，我认为这是不可能结束的,布莱洛克的说. “障碍太多了, so many tiny details that all had to be worked out, and so many people involved in it. Even until weeks before closing, I didn’t know if it would. We kept taking it one step at a time.”

布莱洛克的 was shocked to learn she had won the William C. 詹宁斯奖. 她说，她很荣幸能参与这一千载难逢的合作，并为开发商给予她的信任感到自豪.

“Because of this deal, we’re seeing new things happen in downtown Lubbock. Additional people are investing and opening new businesses down there, 这让我非常兴奋地看到重建就在我眼前发生.”