Council OK’s million-dollar plaza job

Restoration of the historic Plaza Florita on Cotulla’s east side has been given a new kick-off with approval by the city council of a $1.15 million project that will see demolition of post-1930s additions and construction of new public facilities.

The plaza was given a ranking on the National Register of Historic Places last year for its cultural significance to the Hispanic heritage of South Texas. Established with a gazebo, stone benches, water fountains, walkways and a dance floor in the early 1930s, the area formerly known as Mexican Plaza, a playground for the adjoining Welhausen School, was dedicated in memory of local philanthropist and education advocate Florence Maltsberger.

Laredo artist Armando Hinojosa, responsible for bronzes of Joseph Cotulla at Veterans Park downtown and of onetime teacher and later US President Lyndon Johnson in front of the Welhausen School, was commissioned in 2023 to create a statue of the plaza’s namesake. City officials unveiled the finished bronze last month. The statue is currently on public display at City Hall.

The $147,000 Florence Maltsberger bronze will be positioned in a newly designed forecourt and public seating area next to a restroom building and landscaped garden beside the plaza and beside the vintage Guadalupe Hall, a facility purchased by the city of Cotulla in 2022 from the Diocese of Laredo.

Long-term plans for the complete Plaza Historic District include street repairs and paving, sidewalks and curbs, irrigation, lighting, restoration of stone benches bearing Cotulla families’ names, and removing modern playground equipment and a 1999-built amphitheater and basketball court, features that will be rebuilt at a different site.

Decisions regarding the design and priority of those improvements will be made by the reformed Plaza Florita Committee, a volunteer organization whose members will be approved by the city council and who will take the lead in the plaza’s eventual complete restoration.

Councilors have reiterated that all expenses related to work at the plaza will be paid solely from the city’s Hotel Occupancy Tax, a surcharge on all rooms booked by visitors at the community’s hotels and motels. The fund is dedicated to boosting tourism and regenerating economic development by enhancing interest in local historic sites, museums, festivals and other events and features that attract tourists.

Records at City Hall indicate that hotel tax revenues to the special fund at City Hall exceed a million dollars a year.

To date, the city has used the fund to pay for historic restoration and repurposing of a former service garage into the new City Hall on Main Street, restoration of the former Stockmens National Bank into a public facility on Front Street, landscaping, bronze statues, park improvements, business facade improvement grants, and financial support for the county’s Wild Hog Cook-Off and annual downtown festivals, including Independence Day and Christmas events.

Last month’s green light from the city council activates a contract with CK Construction of San Antonio to build new restrooms at Plaza Florita on a design by Rick Solis of Frank Architects in Laredo.

An earlier agreement between the city of Cotulla and Pearsall-based KJ Oilfield Services for over $700,000 to carry out a portion of the work was nixed when the city withdrew from the contract. The company was paid $169,000 for work it had already undertaken, according to City Administrator David Wright last week.

Councilors had expected KJ Oilfield Services to build new restrooms, a parking lot and the foundation for the Maltsberger statue but then dismissed the company and agreed to seek a new builder this year.

The late-addition public restrooms in a cinderblock building on the southeast corner of the plaza remain in place and are functional. They are opened during public events and will be operational during the September 21 Hispanic Heritage Festival hosted by the Cotulla Main Street Program at the plaza.

The new contract also follows a 2022 effort by the city to begin work at the plaza by seeking bids for the construction. Those bids were soundly rejected by the council on Wright’s recommendation after a low-end price tag of $1.3 million brought talks to a halt.

Wright said this week that councilors believed at the time that the apparently elevated price was due to a post-pandemic spike in service and materials fees. He now believes that while costs may have decreased, City Hall should expect to budget at least a million dollars for the first stage of the plaza project.

“The assumption was that the price was too high,” the city administrator said last week, “but estimates since then have shown us that $1.3 to $1.4 million was, in fact, a realistic price.

“We have actually reduced the final price of the contract from $1.4 million to its current level by eliminating some aspects of the work,” Wright added. “That includes the streets and paving. We can do those later, and they will come under the eye of the new committee, so that everyone involved in this effort has a say in the final design.”

The public facility will be built in a style that matches the 1930’s stone pattern of the plaza’s gazebo and benches, and includes stucco that echoes the style of the nearby Guadalupe Hall.

The most recent indicator of the city’s progress at the plaza has been the demolition in July and August of the former Red Store, latterly Botanica Vasquez, which stood on the north side of Plaza Florita. City Hall had purchased the building with plans to establish a youth recreation facility, vendor booth spaces and some parking areas but discovered earlier this year that the structure and its foundation were unsound.

“Again, future development of that site will be up to the Plaza Florita Committee,” Wright said last week. “There are several options for the property.”

The city has also purchased the former Jimenez Store, a vacant building on a street corner near the Welhausen School, with plans to restore and repurpose the structure for public use.

Wright reminded councilors at their August 29 meeting that he will effectively step back from further decision making related to the Plaza Florita projects, both short- and long-term.

“My opinion doesn’t matter,” the city administrator said. “It’s going to be up to the committee.”

Plaza Florita Board member Alfredo Zamora addressed councilors on Aug. 29 and said he believes there remains a disconnection between City Hall and the volunteer group responsible for the design of the facility improvements. Councilors learned, however, that names of the committee members are being floated and the board will reconvene soon for the first time since 2017.

“A lot of work has been put into this,” Zamora said. “The concerns I have are over the money that has been spent. We want to ensure that what we want to see is going to happen.”

Councilors were told at the meeting that the new project is expected to take 300 days, once the contractor has been bonded and the agreement’s final draft approved with some elements of the original scope of work removed.

“When I look at these figures, I think there is a better way of doing business,” Zamora said, reminding councilors of their earlier approval of the $700,000 contract with KJ Oilfield Services. “Plaza Florita means a lot to the future of the community.”

Zamora asked councilors to consider tabling any further decision on the new contract until the volunteer committee has offered its input.

“I recommend, If you will give us the courtesy, bring us up to par, and let us be a part of this decision,” Zamora said. “That is a lot of money. I think we can do a better job of preserving those resources.”

Mayor Sandra Luna prompted councilors to vote on the contract at the Aug. 29 meeting by indicating that she believes progress on the restoration efforts has been a long time coming.

“We want to go forward with this,” the mayor said. “Our citizens deserve that.”

The mayor also said she hopes the Maltsberger statue will be given pride of place in the newly landscaped plaza.

“We really want a special place for where she is going to be,” Luna said.

City Hall and Frank Architects have produced some renderings of the design, which show the Maltsberger statue on a pedestal in a circular forecourt surrounded by benches.

The motion on Aug. 29 by Councilor Manuel Rodriguez to approve the CK Construction contract was seconded by Councilor Mary Koraleski and supported unanimously with the stipulation that it include landscaping.

“It’s the Cadillac,” Wright told the council regarding the seating, stone paving, landscaping and irrigation integral to the Frank Architects’ plan. “It’s got everything.”