City approves funding for Cactus Hotel awning renovation

Aaron McGuire
·4 min read

SAN ANGELO, Texas (Concho Valley Homepage) — It’s official: After years of trial and error, the Cactus Hotel may soon be renovated thanks to Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone funding.

During the San Angelo City Council’s Tuesday, March 5, meeting, the Council once again discussed whether to renovate the historic hotel’s awnings after the project failed to be approved for funding in the Feb. 6 council meeting. Introduced alongside five other projects, the Cactus Hotel awning renovation plan was removed from the February meeting agenda due to concerns about criteria set by the Secretary of the Interior Guidelines for Historic Properties.

PREVIOUSLY: The Cactus Hotel was almost renovated. What happened?

The awning project had been proposed to the City Council on three separate occasions before 2024, according to the meeting’s agenda. The project would be stopped on its first attempt in 2021 and second attempt in 2022, but it would find success on its third attempt in 2023 that saw its application be “approved and rated highest on the list based on current criteria.”

So, what encouraged the City Council to approve the project for TIRZ funding this time?

The March 5 meeting

Plans for the proposed renovation have remained largely the same as before, with the Planning & Development Services Department requesting $75,000 in TIRZ funding to be allocated for the replacement of the fabric awnings lining the hotel’s exterior walls with same-colored metal awnings. The project would also facade improvements and an upgrade to the building’s doors and doorways for compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

“They have this nice awning that is going to give some shade to those windows, replacing an older shade that just has not been able to hold up,” Aaron Vannoy, assistant director of the City’s Planning & Development Services Department, said.

  • An image used in the presentation given to the City Council depicting the proposed changes to the Cactus Hotel’s awnings. Image courtesy of the City of San Angelo.
    An image used in the presentation given to the City Council depicting the proposed changes to the Cactus Hotel’s awnings. Image courtesy of the City of San Angelo.
  • An image used in the presentation given to the City Council depicting the proposed changes to the Cactus Hotel’s awnings. Image courtesy of the City of San Angelo.
    An image used in the presentation given to the City Council depicting the proposed changes to the Cactus Hotel’s awnings. Image courtesy of the City of San Angelo.

This time around, however, Vannoy brought photographs of the Cactus Hotel confirmed by the Texas Historical Commission and Angelo State University to have been taken in 1929, the year just after the hotel opened, and 1984, the year that the building underwent a major interior renovation.

These photos depict awnings on the side of the building when it first started and awnings removed from the building during the major renovation time period, providing a historical precedent for the features’ replacement.

“These two pictures are from pretty much the same angle, and this helps us a whole lot in verifying that what we’re replacing back was there from the beginning,” Vannoy said.

  • An image of the Cactus Hotel taken in 1929, one year after the hotel’s opening.
    An image of the Cactus Hotel taken in 1929, one year after the hotel’s opening.
  • An image of the Cactus Hotel taken in 1984, when awnings were temporarily removed from the building for a major renovation.
    An image of the Cactus Hotel taken in 1984, when awnings were temporarily removed from the building for a major renovation.

District 3 Councilman Harry Thomas, the council member representing the district the project falls in, made a motion to approve funding for the plans. His approval came after he stated that he had read the “300-plus pages of background information” for the project more than once and that he didn’t wish to delay the renovations even longer.

“The owner of this property started this process more than two years ago, and because of things that happened, here we are today again,” Thomas said. “I do not want to delay this any further.”

District 2 Councilman Tom Thompson seconded the motion. However, the City Council’s approval of the project wouldn’t go without comments from the public, as Zane White, a citizen from District 6 who has been a proponent of the hotel’s historic preservation in the past, came to the podium.

White, whose comments partially swayed the City Council’s decision to remove the Cactus Hotel’s TIRZ project from the Feb. 6 agenda, accused the Planning & Development Services Department of corruption by purposefully mishandling the proposed renovation plan on multiple occasions throughout the years.

“What’s been happening, particularly for the last two years on this awning-canopy fiasco, is misrepresentation regarding the project itself, outrageous interference and malfeasance on the part of the planning department as far as overlooking certain things and running this thing through for two years in front of you guys,” White said. “Things get overlooked, rules get changed and that’s what has been happening here.”

Despite White’s efforts to throw shade at the agenda item, the City Council would still vote 5-0 in favor of approving TIRZ funding for the Cactus Hotel project, meaning that the iconic building may soon be in for a metal makeover.

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