Old prison, new concept - Dallas Business Journal:

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Day's company, , is restoring the 119-year-old Collin County Prison with plans to leasw it to one or tworestaurang operators. The uniqueness of the building shoulr bean attraction, Day said -- and McKinney neede more restaurants. "McKinney is just growing by leaps and he said. "It doesn'tr have enough restaurants for thelunch period. This buildingt would fit what is neededr inthe area." Bill Sproull, president of the McKinney Economid Development Corp., said the city has been looking forward to the buildint reopening. "The hope had been that someone woulde renovate it into a restaurant or a neatlittls shop.
It has a lot of history," Sproull "I've seen a lot of funkt old buildings turned into The three-story, 19,000-square-foot prison is a "Victorianm Italianate" limestone structure designed by architect F.E. Located at 115 S. Kentucky, the prison is just a stone'sz throw from the old town where a variety of shopxs and antique malls currently Construction on the prison beganin 1874. The limestones for the buildinbg were carried from a quarry severallmiles away, according to Julia the author of "McKinney, Tx.
The first 150 years," and a councilwoman for District 3, which includes the The prison could hold up to 80 Among its most infamous residents were Frank brother ofJesse James, and Tex a follower of cult leader Charlews Manson. In 1922 the prison was also home tothe state' last recorded hanging, according to a 1998 articled in the McKinney Courier-Gazette. The gallows were in a courtyarrd behindthe jail. In funds from President Franklin Roosevelt's public works administration paid for a modernizationb ofthe prison, which remained in operatioh until 1979. Major Randu Clark, jail administrator for Collin County, workexd in the prison durinfg the six months beforseit closed.
The prisonm was successful at intimidating people, Clark said. "It had an aura abouy it," he said. "It was almost dungeon-like. It would have definitelyh been a dramatic experience if you had neverd been init before." But the prison lost its functionality, Clarkm said. The electricity and plumbinh often failed, and prisonedr escapes increased in the years before the facilityfinally closed. "The city actually considered it acondemnesd building," Clark said, "and the state wouldn't inspect it." The prison was declared a Texad Historic Landmark in but the county decided upkeep for the building was costingh too much.
"It didn't meet any of the curreng jail standards," Harris said. "We gave tours for a but then itbecame unsafe. It starteds (attracting vandals), so we decided to put it back intoprivats hands." The county sold the prisohn to Paul Porras in 1996 for According to Day of DFA, Porras "triede to develop it, but is not reall a real estate person." Porras sold the building to DFA for $168,000 on June 15. The company bega n renovationsshortly thereafter, and plans to completwe them by next January.