Imagine a city skyline transformed by vision and tenacity. That’s the story Steve Fitzpatrick, managing partner of Fitzpatrick Architects, brings to life in our chat. Join us as we track the firm’s ascent from a single-bedroom operation to an architectural keystone in East Texas. Fitzpatrick’s tales weave through the creation of the UT Tyler Medical School, the rebirth of Smith County Courthouse, and the revival of downtown Tyler with an insider’s perspective. He reveals both the hurdles and victories, delving into the reimagining of the Blackstone Hotel and the Carlton Building’s journey toward becoming a mixed-use haven. Through it all, Steve Fitzpatrick sheds light on how dynamic architectural design and strategic planning are reshaping the landscape amidst the challenges of a fluctuating economy.
Transcript
MIKE LANDESS: 0:04
From the new UT Tyler medical school to the new Smith County courthouse, you’ll find millions of dollars in projects associated with Fitzpatrick Architects. I’m Mike Landess, and today UT Tyler Radio Connects with managing partner Steve Fitzpatrick. And all this began in a back bedroom of your house four decades ago.
STEVE FITZPATRICK: 0:23
Yes, in 1986, I was approached by a couple of different clients in Henderson, Texas, and said, hey, would you be interested in doing a project for us? So, I said, “OK, I’ll just open up my own office and off we go, and we’ll see what we can do.” And the orthodontist office and law firm happened kind of at the same time. I went over to meet with the law firm people, and the orthodontist found out I was coming, and he said, “Hey, would you stop by here first?” And so, I got those two jobs on the same day and just opened up my business and actually the one of the girls’ bedrooms. We have three daughters and moved the oldest one in with the other two and just set up in there and started working.
LANDESS: 1:08 That’s great. So, you cut your teeth on the orthodontist office? Is that correct?
FITZPATRICK: So to speak, right.
LANDESS: Well, obviously you’ve had enormous success with the national recognition for what you do and the different projects here. It’s hard to see anything here in Tyler that doesn’t have your name on it these days. And on the one hand, I know it’s got to be very satisfying and, at the same time, great challenges.
FITZPATRICK: 1:35
Oh, yeah. It’s really a miracle, and you have to pinch yourself and say, “This is really happening.” That’s been the plan this whole time. It’s been a long, diligent journey, and we’ve had the rough times and good times. But in the last 15 years, we’ve just taken off and things have really come together. Got a great group of people, got five partners. We’ve got some people who have been there over 20 years and been on this journey a long time, and things are really going good now. We’ve grown to a firm of 26 right now, at the current time.
LANDESS: 2:17
Well, probably the newest project that we know about is the Blackstone Hotel, which is announced in December. That was under wraps for a while. Did it take a little while to get all the moving parts going like they were supposed to?
FITZPATRICK: 2:30
Right. That’s an interesting project because it came out of our — In 2015, we started working on a plan for Broadway — what the downtown could be like. We were seeing the successes we were having with some of the projects there and revitalizing downtown, and we looked at a street improvement project and then took that to the square and what could happen if we improved the streets around the square and made a park, and we even dared to show moving the courthouse and creating a new courthouse. And here we are, 8 years later, that’s actually happening. So, a lot of projects have grown out of that plan where people have seen the potential. So about a year ago, we talked about we’ve heard from various people for the last 8 years that downtown really needs a full service hotel. That’s a big need. And we’ve always had that plan in the back of our mind: where could it go and how can we make that happen? And so about a year ago, the mayor reached out to the Valencia group, a hotel group from Houston, who does full service hotels all over Texas and other areas as well. And they have some really well-known hotels around the state, and they looked at Tyler and came and they come back probably six or seven times. And we helped them find a location, and they love the opportunity here and love the market and think it’s going to be great. And we’re getting, they’re doing all the due diligence right now, and they’re actually in the process of raising capital from investors and getting the financing done. And we hope to start on the detailed documents of that in two months, in March.
LANDESS: 4:29
Wow, well, you talked about the downtown projects. Obviously, the courthouse is huge. I mean coming up with it, with the design for it and that sort of thing, and having it move back where the original courthouse will stand until the new courthouse is underway, and then it’ll be taken down in the park and all of that. The downtown plan, the animated, the animated video that you have. I believe it’s on your website, and it’s certainly available online, for those of you listening to this. It is amazing. It is so cool to see — particularly for those of us — I came to Tyler in the 60s, and the Blackstone Hotel was a functioning hotel back then and the Carlton and all of those, and to see those projects moving along now. By the way, speaking of the Carlton, let’s talk about that for just a moment. That is going to be an apartment project and mixed use, as I understand. Issues with the financing on that one, and I gather it’s just the times, right?
FITZPATRICK: 5:32
Right, it’s related to the interest rate last year raising. That one was all set to go. The drawings were done, and they had everything ready and then the interest rate started going up and that hurt the deal. and so they’re trying to now find the financing for it, and it’s been delayed a little bit.
LANDESS: Yeah.
FITZPATRICK: But I still think that will go, probably later in the spring. That’s their plan. It would have already been underway by now, but we’re trying to get that one off the ground. Yeah, but it is going to be 105 apartments, so it’s a pretty big project for that downtown need. North did, the developer from New Orleans that is doing the Wilcox, Carlton and Lindsey, they did a commission, a study, that said there was a demand for 1,100 apartment units in the downtown core right now. And a couple of apartments have opened up. It’s starting to. It’s getting better, but there’s obviously a need for quite a bit more, and they said that by the time the 1,100 departments were in place that there would be a demand for another additional 1,100.
LANDESS: 6:46
Right.
FITZPATRICK: 6:46
So, it’s going to keep going.
LANDESS: 6:49
Yeah, the Wilcox. It seems to be the moving along very, very well. What’s the, you have a projected date as to when that may be over?
FITZPATRICK: 6:56
Yes, that’s going to be complete in April.
LANDESS: 6:59 Wow.
FITZPATRICK: 7:01
And it’s 35 units, so that one is coming along really well. And they anticipate starting construction in March on the Lindsay Building, and that’s direct diagonally across Broadway, just north of the parking garage, and that one is going to be 56 units. And the drawings are all done for that, and they’re ready to start construction.
LANDESS: 7:28
Boy, that is quite remarkable. You know you’ve put together quite a team over there. One of your former team members now, Mary Alice Guidry, is someone whom I’ve worked with on the Habitat for Smith County board, and then she got the opportunity to head that whole organization up. I know that was a loss on the one hand, but you still have her husband working for you, right?
FITZPATRICK: 7:49
Right, yeah. We got, we had Mary Alice and Corey, a couple, and we hated to lose Mary Alice, but that is the perfect fit for her.
LANDESS: Oh, yeah.
FITZPATRICK: And when we look back on it, you see things in hindsight. You go OK, well, that’s why that happened. But when Mary Alice was in school at Louisiana Tech, and she came and did a summer internship for us, the first project that we had her do for us was a fundraiser for Habitat for Humanity where we auction, we worked with the TISD, and had the architecture and construction students design and build playhouses.
LANDESS: 8:31
Oh, the playhouses on the square.
FITZPATRICK: 8:35
Right, and we sold, when Fresh opened, they were on display out in the parking lot there, and then they were auctioned off. And that was the first fundraiser like that for Habitat. Well, that was her project as a student intern. And then, when she came back and started working for us, we were amazed that she worked on the food bank, a couple of projects there, the United Way renovation of the Women’s Building and several nonprofit projects, while being a board member on the Habitat for Humanity.
FITZPATRICK: 9:11
And so it was just a natural fit. She had all the experiences of those nonprofits and how they work, and so when that came up, I wasn’t surprised at all.
LANDESS: 9:24 Well, this speaks to your ability to find pretty terrific talent and keep them here in East Texas.
FITZPATRICK: Right, yeah.
LANDESS: So, talking about being in East Texas, I mean when you get the national spotlight on you for so many projects that are going on right now, I mean you’re doing school buildings; you’re doing well, you’re doing the nursing school building, which you walked by today to come to our interview. The medical school. There are so many things that are going on. When you get that kind of national recognition, is there any desire at all in your heart to open an office in another part of the state, or maybe go to another state as well?
FITZPATRICK: 10:01
Well, we never know what the future holds. But not really. We love Tyler and we’re here. And we we’ve done projects in other parts of the state; we’ve done clinics, we’ve done a lot of medical work and we’ve done cath labs in other states and around in the country a little bit. But truly we do, the best projects are where you live, and you’re around them all the time, and you know the community and you really understand how important the project is, and those are the best projects. So, we really want to concentrate on Tyler as it grows in this area, this region. We’re, we’re in Palestine and Longview and other places around here, but we try to stay within a couple- hour drive to a project for the most part, and that way we think we do the best job. So, I really don’t have any desire to open remote offices or anything. We like everybody being together and collaborating.
LANDESS: 11:08
Your plate is full to the overflowing, and yet you keep putting more projects on the top of it. You’re going to keep going at this for another 10, 15, 20 years, or until you drop.
FITZPATRICK: 11:20
Well, I don’t know. I always tell everyone I’m just going to work until I can’t because I love it. I’m excited to go to get up and go to work every day, and it’s a challenge. We’re always working on new ideas and being able to put a project together and make it happen, like there have been several where, really, just our being able to show people through drawings and three-dimensional videos, things like that, what things could be, that projects have actually happened. And that’s really satisfying to show people what could be and then have a project come out of that. And so we spend a lot of time making projects become a reality. Then, the design is exciting. That’s a challenge. And then being able to get it into the budget and make it happen, really, all the way through the entire process is really exciting, and I just love doing that. So I’m going to do it until I can’t. My wife says I wouldn’t be a good person to be at home.
LANDESS: She finds something for you to do.
FITZPATRICK: Right.
LANDESS: 12:31
Well, tell me a little bit about where your faith fits in all of this. You have got a long record of being involved with the church, your church and with church-related activities and that sort of thing. How does that fit in your total worldview of what you do?
FITZPATRICK: 12:49
Well, it’s everything, really. I believe that I was given the opportunity and the ability and some talent and put in this place by God to be able to do what we’re doing. And so, we take it very seriously. I’ve done a lot of church projects, and every time we work with the church, we’re trying to find out what is going to help them accomplish their mission and be the good stewards of the funds that they have and the resources they’ve been given. So, I feel like that’s why I say it’s a miracle. Well, I would have never, ever, envisioned myself in this position, but I feel like we’ve just been faithful and try to follow God’s plan, and it’s led to this. And the biggest thing we’ve learned out of all of this is that it’s relational. It’s relationships that matter, and those lead to the next relationship, and it’s building trust, and it’s taking time to do that. But once you do that, then that just opens up more doors and leads to new things.
LANDESS: 14:07
Well, it is biblical that when you rely on your faith in times of, rough times, and celebrate and give thanks when you have some great successes, that’s the cycle of life that it was intended.
FITZPATRICK: That’s right.
LANDESS: And so what’s the next big thing for you? What are you looking forward to next?
FITZPATRICK: 14:32
I don’t know, honestly. We’re constantly working on things. For instance, we’re going to help, work on a plan for the city for Midtown, which includes the two hospital complexes, Beckham Avenue, all the properties along there over to TJC, Tyler Junior College, and the sort of like we put together a three-dimensional model of Broadway in the square and showed did an illustration of here’s what it could be like if we made these changes. We’re going to come up with the same type of plan that fits the Midtown area over there and what might happen in the future there and how that might develop. And so we’re beginning on that project, and we’re excited about that. We’re excited about things that are about to happen at Tyler Junior College. And we’re excited about things that are about to happen at UT Tyler on this campus. So, we updated a master plan for UT Tyler last year for Dr. Calhoun to present to the Board of Regents, and there’s a lot of projects coming in the future. So, I guess if I had to say what’s exciting next big thing for us, it would be to do a project here on the main campus and work for the university.
LANDESS: 16:00
Let me ask you a question about the downtown plan. Will they always blame the roundabouts on Don Warren, or are you going to get some of that too?
FITZPATRICK: 16:09
Well, the city actually hired a traffic engineer that did a study of the traffic in the downtown area. And they were the ones that suggested the roundabouts. You know, for the last year and a half or so, I’m not sure when it started, they’ve had all the red lights blinking. You know, as if they were just stop signs, and that’s worked well. People really love that. You don’t have to wait, you just keep going. And the only two lights down there are north and south of square on Broadway, and they suggested roundabouts would just keep the traffic moving, and you never have to stop and wait and it would actually improve flow. So, I get that, and I understand that. What we’re really thinking is that downtown is a destination. People are going there to be downtown, and it’s not a cut through, and it won’t be as convenient for cutting through north-south for heavy traffic, but it will be more of a walkable downtown. That is better for businesses and pedestrians and people coming down there as a destination to stop and stay. It’ll provide more opportunities for retail, and I think that it’s going to be great once people get used to it.
LANDESS: 17:41
Any final thoughts you’d like to share before we go?
FITZPATRICK: 17:47
Well, I guess really that I’m just grateful to Tyler and the people who have hired us and that we’ve been able to work for. And I’m so thankful to be here working and trying to make a difference and trying to improve the city and trying to improve the quality of life here and everywhere we can, whether it be downtown or out in the south, wherever it is churches, homes — anything we’re working on. What we’re trying to do is help people realize what their environment could be.
LANDESS: 18:27
Thanks for listening as UT Tyler Radio Connects with Steve Fitzpatrick, managing partner of Fitzpatrick Architects. To share, listen again or for a transcript of this interview, visit our website uttylerradio.org. To be notified about future episodes, subscribe to UT Tyler Radio Connects on your favorite podcast platform. For UT Tyler Radio News, I’m Mike Landess.
(Transcripts are automatically generated and may contain phonetic spellings and other spelling and punctuation errors. Grammar errors contained in the original recording are not typically corrected.)
