Center City of Amarillo presented a check for $16,306 to the Innovation Outpost for a façade grant at its downtown location Monday morning. 

The funding was a matching grant for work done to the exterior of the building through the Amarillo College Foundation ,with distinctive mirrored windows and the decorative use of a boiler formerly in the old Amarillo High School. Over $1.4 million in façade grants have been granted since 1996. 

Beth Duke, executive director of Center City, spoke about the facelift done to the exterior of the building and the importance of creating greater curb appeal downtown. 

“The Innovation Outpost not only gives an old building a new life; it also brings exciting educational and training opportunities to our downtown,” Duke said. “The location is the site of the historic Amarillo High School. Now, the Innovation Outpost will take education into the future.” 

Duke said the history of the building makes this façade grant special and the ability for future students to have use of this building will inspire for generations to come 

“This old historic building being given a new life and a new look really meets our center city goals,” Duke said. “While we realize that these grants are only a small part of the investment; we want to encourage and reward downtowners to invest in making their exteriors beautiful. Using the old boiler as an industrial statue and creating the mirrored wall are architecturally stunning. They have taken something old and made something look futuristic and visionary.” 

Denise Skinner, interim president of Amarillo College, said the grant will allow the college to put needed funds back into programs to service its students while still improving the look of the Innovation Outpost. 

“We are all a part of the community in being able to improve the downtown, the economy and the region is important to the city’s future,” Skinner said. “We want students and residents to see our facility as an engaging atmosphere where people want to find out what goes on in our Innovation Outpost.” 

 Joe Bill Sherrod, vice president of Institutional Advancement for Amarillo College, said the improvements to the building were significant aesthetically to represent what the innovation outpost is supposed to be and to build cohesion with the surrounding environment. 

“If we are talking about the future and how we develop the workforce of the future, you have to have a landscape that says here is a place that is looking to the future and helping our community prepare for the future,” Sherrod said. “The difference in the way our downtown looks now compared to when I arrived here in 1989 is night and day. For us at Amarillo College to be a piece in the puzzle of what in 1989 would have looked like ‘Back to the Future,’ we are moving ahead in a very innovative way while bringing the grandeur back to downtown Amarillo.” 

Sherrod said incentives like this are essential to businesses to invest in the look of downtown. 

“When you drive around downtown today and you see the lampposts, new signage and new buildings with the consistency they have, this means we are all in step with improving the downtown,” he said. “We are a community that created a great frontline of attack on being able to move ourselves into the future and be economically viable … This grant allows us to reinvest these dollars back into the future of our community.” 

If any business is interested in applying for a façade grant or wants more information, go to https://centercity.org/facade-grants/