City of Lott hopes hometown best friends’ downtown project will rejuvenate the city

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KWTX
By Ally Kadlubar
Published: Feb. 23, 2023 at 8:46 AM CST

LOTT, Texas (KWTX) - The City of Lott is hopeful that two local best friends’ downtown project will revamp the city and possibly save the city from financial struggles.

“A lot in our town, like I said, had gone down and was in a very bad situation, and so these two young men came back and started doing revitalization on it and stuff,” Mayor of Lott, Sue Tacker, said.

Robert Jones said he purchased the downtown strip of property in Lott in hopes of rejuvenating the city. Jones and Dewayne Luster grew up in Lott as best friends. Jones said the pair and their buddies had many good times and great memeries in the city.

Jones said the city was a bustling small town in Central Texas when he was a kid. He said the Western Fair in Lott would bring a bustling crowd to the downtown area.

“The town used to be flourishing over the weekends, and it had a space called the Western Fair that would be literally hundreds, thousands of people lined up on both sides of the streets,” he said.

When Jones and Luster returned home to visit family members, Jones said they did not have a restaurant or hangout spot to visit with friends and loved ones.

“That boy, when we came home, was not there anymore,” he said. “We would come, and it was a sadness that it was dying and nowhere to go.”

The downtown strip features multiple abandoned storefronts with the original architecture and details; therefore, when Jones said he had the savings to make a big investment, he chose to follow through with this dream he always had.

“Once you get to that point that you realize that you had the dream already, you just needed the capital to get to where you needed to go to,” Joes said. “When we get to those points in life, we sit back and reflect and we think about what’s most important to us.”

What’s important to Jones is revamping the city he loves. His first phase included renovating and opening up Lotts of Events, a restaurant and event center. Jones said they even kept some of the old ceiling tiles and brick walls.

Jones also worked with hair stylists in nearby cities like Austin to bring their business to two of the properties located on the strip. The hair salons are now open.

They are continuing renovations for a new local coffee shop and wing restaurant. He said all three businesses will have outdoor access to an outdoor space for events and live music entertainment. The space will also be open to the public for groups like Jones and his friends to gather and have a good time.

Jones said the loft spaces located on the corner of Gassaway Ave. and Second St. are also in the process of being renovated. There will be an Airbnb available as well as some loft apartments for rent.

He said these new businesses are set to open end of March or early April.

Jones said their next celebration will be Lott’s first chili cook-off on March 18, kickstarting awareness about Lott’s revival. Jones is hoping the EDC will have completed a brand new awning for the downtown strip by that time as well.

Across the street from the project is City Hall. Tacker said the city has been through some financial struggles as the city council voted to disband the police force last year due to financial issues.

“Basically we had we had to dissolve that because all the things that were going on and had to cut a lot of bills and stuff out, and we’re on our way back up as far as money wise is concerned,” Tacker said.

She said a majority of the Lott population are elderly on a fixed income; therefore, the city does not receive tons of funding in residential taxes. She said the lack of businesses also does not provide sales tax revenue for the city, leaving the city with tough financial choices.

However, she said because of Jones’ new businesses, the sales tax revenue could increase for the city.

“Until Robert came in and started with this business stuff that he’s got going, it has helped their sales tax up,” Tacker said.

She said, with the increase in sales tax set to come in, it could provide opportunities to bring back city services, especially the police department.

“I’ll say maybe in a year-and-a-half or something like that, we could be able to have another police department,” she said.

Jones said there is still a lot of work to be done on the property, but he and Luster are excited to share their love of the Lott community with others by bringing new opportunities and things to do to the community and surrounding areas while also maintaining the culture and small-town nature of Lott.

“We’re diving in, doing different projects, different things, and we are hoping that everybody will see this,” he said. “They’ll come down and enjoy what we’re seeing about Lott, the quiet, peaceful setting, but at the same time, you get away and still have a city comfort.”

“It is that thing that I believe that people will, when they get through running the crazy race in the cities and things, they want to come somewhere like this, take their shoes off, take their hat off, sit back, have a good meal, have a nice conversation with some locals,” Luster said.”