Tax Credit Program Highlight: Jean Lafitte Hotel

Galveston, Galveston County

1927

Designation	Individually listed in National Register of Historic Places
Historic Use	Hotel
Current Use	Apartments, retail
Total Rehabilitation Cost	$9,978,096
Qualified Rehabilitation Expenses	$2,449,524
Date Certified	May 22, 2015
	Also certified for Federal Rehabilitation Tax Credits

History

Constructed in 1927, the Jean Lafitte was the major hotel of downtown Galveston providing lodging for business visitors and tourists during a period of heavy commercial port activity and casino and beach tourism. Designed by Scottish architect Andrew Fraser, the Jean Lafitte was one of the two largest buildings in Galveston during this time and remains a prominent structure in downtown today. The building had been vacant for a number of years prior to 2008, when it sustained significant damage from Hurricane Ike.

Rehabilitation Project

The Jean Lafitte’s 200 hotel rooms were converted into 83 one and two-bedroom apartments, with retail tenant spaces on the first floor. Exterior rehabilitation work included masonry repair and cleaning, historically-appropriate replacement of missing windows, restoration of storefront, and construction of a new stair tower for fire and life-safety codes. The bottom of the grand stair case in the lobby was retained and preserved, while the upper flights were enclosed to meet codes. The project was also financed, in part, with funding from HUD and federal disaster recovery grants, and approximately half of the units are set aside as affordable housing.