High-rise Hotel to Replace Chrome and Cafe J?

The Chrome/Cafe J Complex
Photo by Evan Dixon

Rumors are circulating in Lubbock that local businessman Clayton Isom plans to buy the land where the Cafe J restaurant and Chrome retail store now do business and may build a new high-rise hotel there.

Isom said he is in the process of buying the land, but said he is just “considering” building a high-rise hotel there.

The two existing businesses are currently located in the same complex across 19th Street from Texas Tech University near University Avenue. Local attorney and Cafe J co-owner J. Edwin Price said Isom has a contract to purchase the land, but Isom has not closed on it yet because he is working through feasibility studies.

“Our plans are interesting. The property isn’t based on, you know, the redevelopment of it. We would want the location either way just because of its location,” Isom said.

Regular customers can be assured that the Cafe J owners do not plan on going anywhere for a minimum of five years, according to Price.

Chrome
Photo by Evan Dixon

“He’s indicated to me that he doesn’t know what he’s going to do with the properties yet,” Price said. “He may just refurbish what’s there and continue to attempt to lease to us and to Chrome. We have five years left in our lease so we’re not going anywhere in the immediate future.”

Since there are quite a few years left on the both leases, Isom said his interest in buying the land was because of its location.

“I mean, obviously, we are in the hotel business, and so that’s, you know, naturally one of the things we are going to consider,” Isom said, “but there are quite a few years left on the leases put in place.”

If Isom does decide to put up a hotel, Price said they hope one option would be for Cafe J to become the restaurant for the hotel. Other than that, he said it is too soon for them to make a decision about what they might do.

Cafe J
Photo by Evan Dixon

Information from the Texas Historical Association states the building opened in 1937 as Plains Hospital and Clinic. The Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange, Calif., bought the location in 1939, and it served as the St. Mary’s of the Plains Hospital until 1970. According to the Covenant Health System website, St. Mary’s of the Plains Hospital would later merge with the Lubbock Methodist Hospital System to become Covenant Health System.

According to officials at the Texas Historical Association, property owners are legally allowed to do whatever they wish to the building, including tearing it down, because it is not considered a historical landmark. If Isom decides to put up a hotel in that location, it would not be the first time a hotel has been there. The current building briefly served as a hotel in the 70’s after St. Mary’s moved.

Godbold Complex towing sign
Photo by Evan Dixon

Since then, it has served as home to the University City Club and the Godbold Cultural Center. Cafe J co-owner Price said the complex’s owner, Carlton M. Godbold, has had the property on the market for around 15 years.

However, Isom said the property was not on the market. He said he approached Godbold, and they made a deal.

“I’ve been working on it for quite a while,” Isom said.

Godbold did not respond to attempts to contact him.

Isom said the deal will be finalized fairly soon. He said the scheduled date is within the next few weeks.

“We’re really excited to be buying it,” Isom said.

According to a 2011 Daily Toreador article, the Isom group’s Holiday Inn in San Antonio, Texas, broke ground in 2007. However, the article stated, the group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in June 2011 after the financing bank failed just before construction was completed and the bank’s receiver did not pay the necessary construction payments for months. Isom’s attorneys advised him to file for bankruptcy, according to the article, which also reported that the holder of the construction note sued Isom and two of his partners.

Isom did not answer questions emailed to him about the current status of the Holiday Inn bankruptcy.

Isom is also one of the principals of the RaiderPark parking garage located across the Marsha Sharp Freeway from Texas Tech University’s Jones AT&T Stadium. In 2011, The Daily Toreador published several stories chronicling the significant amount of money Texas Tech and the Texas Tech Alumni Association were losing from their deal with RaiderPark. The alumni association recently decided not to renew its contract with RaiderPark when it expired in December.

Abbie Arroyos and Evan Dixon contributed to this report.