Another Downtown Wichita Falls Building Being Demolished

Nothing lasts forever, and sometimes you have to make a mess before you can build back, but the demolition of the building at 713 Indiana Avenue in downtown Wichita Falls has people talking.

While the plan to demolish the building has been in the works for some time today's social media post from Downtown Wichita Falls Development has brought the subject front and center.

Texoma's Homepage reported earlier this month that the Wichita Falls 4B Board voted to fund half of the cost of the demolition with the building's owner, Will Kelty, picking up the rest.

Kelty says that if the demolition goes well he hopes to preserve the bones of the building, including the front facade from when it was originally erected in the early 1900s, and restore the building to a functional space.

He recently stated, "If during the demolition we find out that enough of the structure can be restored, then that is my goal and that will be done on my own dime."

The building at 713 Indiana Avenue sits between the newly rehabilitated office space for Downtown Wichita Falls Development and the old Value Village building. After decades of use as a downtown resale store Value Village closed its doors back in 2017 but according to reports that building is still structurally sound and could be reopened for any number of uses.

The comments on the Downtown Wichita Falls Development Facebook page range from those calling out other buildings that they'd like to see razed to the ground and those that people would love to see saved and brought back to life.

As with all communities our size the downtown buildings were at one time the hub of commerce and socializing. As the city grew those activities moved farther out to new locations and some of the older buildings fell into disrepair. Some can - and should - be saved, but others are too far gone or don't have enough historic value to justify the expense.

There are notable restorations in our downtown area already from the Holt Apartments to the old Zales building that now houses Karat Bar & Bistro, even the Landmark Apartments on Lamar.

Construction is also continuing on the Picker's Universe building with plans to add a restaurant and bar on the upper levels.

With the owners of the building at 713 Indiana Avenue clearly indicating that the demolition going on now is only the first step, we can't wait to see what comes next.