Cottages to culture

Center plans to turn complex into interactive arts locale



The restoration Several freshly restored cottages stand at Spanish Village in 2006. Spanish Village cottages might eventually undergo a new incarnation to become part of the Port Aransas Art Center.

The restoration Several freshly restored cottages stand at Spanish Village in 2006. Spanish Village cottages might eventually undergo a new incarnation to become part of the Port Aransas Art Center.

The Port Aransas Art Center is planning to purchase the Spanish Village cottages on Alister Street and build a new art center headquarters building there.

If it happens, the move will assign a new identity to a piece of property that served as tourist lodging for more than half a century and more recently served as rental homes, smack in the middle of part of old-town Port Aransas.

The art center plans to preserve most of the 26 cottages on the property, said Karen Winship, president of the organization’s board of directors.

“Everybody is so excited,” Winship said. “It’s just a wonderful thing. … We can do so much with that property.”

The art center approached the owners, Chuck Pearson and his sister, June Pearson, asking them if they’d be willing to sell the property for the purposes of establishing a headquarters for the art center.

The Pearsons said they are overjoyed at the possibility of seeing the property become an arts presence in the heart of downtown Port Aransas.

“We didn’t want it to turn into another t-shirt shop,” June Pearson said. “It has such a history. … This way, it insures that some of that history will remain.”

Both sides reached an agreement late last year in which the Pearsons said they would grant the organization a three-year purchase option on the approximately two-acre piece of property in the 100 block of North Alister Street.

Chuck Pearson is a Port Aransas resident. June Pearson lives in Sheridan, Wyo., and Port Aransas.

The art center’s board of directors is working with an architectural firm to put together a design for the new headquarters.

The non-profit organization has been looking to move out of its current headquarters at 323 N. Alister St. for the past few years because the group has outgrown the space.

The art center tried for months to work out a deal with the City of Port Aransas and Nueces County that would allow the organization to eventually establish a headquarters on county-owned land at 430 N. Alister St. The city currently leases a building on that land from the county and allows the non-profit Port Aransas Computer Club to operate the Computer Center there for free use by the public.

The art center’s negotiations with the city and county fell through last year. Last spring, the Port Aransas City Council voted 6-0 to continue leasing the building. That decision voided a vote six months earlier to have the city attorney talk to county officials about terminating the lease and allowing the county to begin leasing the structure to the art center.

The architecture firm of Turner, Ramirez and Associates are drawing up architectural plans for the new headquarters.

Current plans have the new building being one story high and with about 4,000 square feet of room – about twice as large as the headquarters’ current location, Winship said.

The property originally was built as a set of motel cottages set in a circular drive. The art center’s plans call for demolition of probably about seven of the 26 cottages to make room for the new headquarters building, she said.

The rest of the cottages will be preserved, Winship said. One could be used for storage, another for a ceramics and pottery studio and another for a kiln room for firing pottery, Winship said, No solid decisions have been made on what to do with other cottages, but they probably will be rented as homes, Winship said. It’s possible some could be used as places where visiting artists could stay and hold workshops, she said.

An existing pavilion in the center of the property likely will remain, but a swimming pool is expected to be filled in and a deck built there.

A broad, grassy area likely will end up being a location where outdoor art center functions could be held annually, such as Art Fest and Songwriter’s Showcase, Winship said.

The art center needs to raise about $2.2 million to buy the property and build the headquarters, she said. The art center has raised some $65,000 in its building fund, and new fundraising efforts are going to kick off in about a week with a publicity blitz and efforts to “begin soliciting funds from various people,” she said.

Built and owned by E.W. Jamison, Spanish Village was established as motel cottages in 1946, and it continued operating that way until closing in 1997, Chuck Pearson said.

The property remained vacant until the Pearsons bought it in 2004 and extensively restored the little cinderblock buildings.

Tom Wheeler of Port Aransas was instrumental in restoring the property, “always maintaining the vision of what the place could be, even when it seemed an overwhelming task,” Chuck Pearson said. Wheeler has remained as the on-site manager and has done a good job in that role, Pearson said.

The Pearsons ran the cottages as short-term rentals for vacationers at first and later as long-term rentals. A few businesses also have operated out of the cottages, but it’s all currently residential, and most all of the cottages are occupied, Chuck Pearson said.

“Some of the folks living there actually are artists, so my hopes are that it will be a mixed-use development,” Chuck Pearson said. “This is one reason June and I made the decision to kind of take a chance on the art center being able to put together funding to purchase it, as opposed to just selling it on the open market. We feel like this is something that could really benefit Port Aransas.

“If they do it properly – and, by all indications, they intend to – I think they will have a world-class facility, and with a tie-in between residential properties and the main structure itself, I think there’s a world of possibilities,” Chuck Pearson said. “So, we’re excited. But it’s a bitter-sweet thing. I recognize that some people ultimately will be displaced, and I feel like we have become the defacto moderate-income (housing) provider for Port Aransas. Unfortunately … it is just not a viable long-term financial model.”

Pearson said he and his sister are proud that they’ve been able to provide good places to live for folks of modest means for the past eight years.

“It is my hope that the need for affordable housing in Port A. will be not just stated, repeated and batted around, but that real action be taken to make it available,” he said.

Winship said the art center will put together fundraisers to bring in the money needed to purchase the property, but the board hasn’t made firm plans for any specific events yet.

She said it’s too early to say when construction might begin and end. But she said Port Aransans can be confident that the headquarters building’s design will have charm, Winship said.

“It will fit in with old town,” she said. “It will be a fantastic addition to Port Aransas.”

The art center got started about 17 years ago and today has about 335 members, more than 200 of whom are artists who have displayed their works at the center, according to the organization’s Web site.

The art center offers classes and workshops for children and adults in a variety of mediums. The organization hosts receptions and exhibits and offers scholarships for Port Aransas youths interested in art.

Folks who’d like to make donations toward the cause of building a new art center headquarters should make checks payable to the Port Aransas Art Center, with “building fund” on the memo line. Checks should be sent to:

Port Aransas Art Center

P.O. Box 1175

Port Aransas, TX. 78373


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.