Historic Preservation and Adaptive Re-use
After a $13 million renovation completed in 2000, Laredo's crown jewel, the Hamilton Hotel, offers 165 affordable apartments to the community's most vulnerable residents - elderly earning less than $10,000 annually. Its restoration returned one of two Laredo landmarks on the National Register of Historic Places to its place as an admired, integral part of the community.
The project
has strengthened the downtown area as
residents, their children and grandchildren shop, eat, and attend parades,
festivals and art activities. The Hamilton restoration spurred unprecedented
downtown revitalization, including a cultural center, a pedestrian mall, and
renovation of the first bridge to Mexico and surrounding riverfront. The Hamilton
Hotel won the 2002 National Trust for Historic Preservation/U.S. Department
of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary's Award for Excellence in
Historic Preservation. For more information, visit
http://www.nationaltrust.org/news/docs/20020924_awards_hud.html
