DOWNTOWN  BUILDING UNDER NEW OWNERSHIP

GALVESTON, TX – Houston attorney and developer Andy Vickery recently acquired the Historic Medical Arts Building located on 21st and Mechanic. Plans call for eighty four luxury apartments to be built in a secure, modernized, hurricane resistant, historic building. Larger Rendering

Acquisition of the building, which had remained dormant for years, closed just days before the Galveston Economic Development Partnership (GEDP) Developer Conference. According to the GEDP Investor Profile ‘choosing to live on Galveston Island affords residents the opportunity of being immersed in history, recreation, nature, and a small town coastal ambience not available in other areas of our region.’ Vickery hopes to fill the need for housing as expressed at the conference by Galveston’s top employers.

Formerly commissioned and built by the Moody family, the building served as an annex for ANICO until completion of their headquarters currently located at 19th and Market St.

Vickery’s explanation for changing the name to the Medical Arts Building is “this building will have a symbiotic relationship to UTMB and its planned expansion. My family also has a history with this building. When my father-in-law, E. Marc Cuenod, Sr., moved from Houston to Galveston to work for ANICO, this building was their headquarters and his office. My wife has childhood memories of dropping him off to work in this very place. “

In response to the change in ownership of the long vacant building, Mayor Joe Jaworski said “We welcome plans to renovate the Historic Medical Arts Building, bringing luxury apartments and retail business to the Downtown/Strand/UTMB Corridor. There is a demand for luxury apartments downtown, and Galveston is excited to see such interest in development on the Island.”   

Plans call for construction to begin summer 2012.