By james art Editor’s Note: Jack Becker is the editor of the Caprock Chronicles and is Librarian Emeritus at Texas Tech University. He can be reached at [email protected]. Today’s Great Plains Life Building article is the second of a two-part series by regular contributor Chuck Leinhart, a Lubbock attorney and award-winning writer of western history.
When the devastating Lubbock tornado struck the Great Plains Life Building in 1970, it was perhaps the tallest building to survive an EF5 tornado, and there was great concern that the tower would remain intact. For years after the disaster, the 20-story monolith was the subject of studies by meteorologists and engineers.
Researchers used damage data from the building and surrounding area to help establish the Fujita scale, introduced in 1971 to rate tornado intensity on a scale between F0 (winds of less than 73 miles per hour with minor damage) to F5 (winds of 261-315 mph with “extreme” damage). The Lubbock tornado was retroactively rated an F5. (In 2007, the improved Fujita scale replaced the original, and the highest rating is now EF5, with winds over 200 mph accompanied by incredible damage.)
Dr. Kishore Mehta, professor of civil engineering at Texas Tech University, confirmed that the structure sustained damage. “The structural system of the building is set up in such a way that on the north side, where there is a staircase, it is rigid. On the south side it is not so hard. So when the wind came from the west and pushed it would twist more or deflect more on the south side compared to the north side and as a result it twisted,” Mehta said. “The south side of the building has since been braced and it’s stronger now than it was before the tornado.”
Mehta continued, “You can’t really see it with the eye, but if you measure it, you’ll find that at the top it’s about 12 inches from the vertical. It is one of the unique steel buildings that has been demolished and is still in use.” He said that describing the building as ‘twisted’ was not scientifically accurate, but the building was not ‘vertical’, which would not be acceptable for a new structure .
In 1974, Amarillo real estate investors Gout and Gout, convinced that the abandoned building was sound, purchased the monolith for $115,000 in unpaid taxes and an undisclosed amount of cash. They renamed it Metro Tower. After removing thousands of pigeons and their droppings, graffiti and other vandal damage, the Gauts “rehabilitated” nearly 100,000 square feet of rental space, installed new exterior glazed reflective glass and rebuilt the north side of the structure. They hoped to have 60 percent of the space occupied by early 1976.
Soon, customers began to repopulate the 20-year-old building. By the mid-1980s, 85 percent of Metro Tower was occupied. The Continental Room, a very popular upscale restaurant and bar, used the entire 20th floor. During strong winds, visitors to the Continental Room and other offices on the upper floors witnessed swinging lamps and swaying hanging baskets of flowers. (Civil engineers say such movement is harmless and necessary for tall buildings.)
Another longtime tenant was NTS Communications, which acquired the building in 1997. However, in 2014, Lubbock fire officials informed the new owners that floors 7-20 were no longer suitable for human activity under the fire code because there was no secondary fire escape. different from the northern staircase. The upper floors were then used for telecommunications equipment.
In 2020, Kansas City-based MRE Capital and Austin partner Structure Development purchased the building from NTS Communications. With private equity and government grant funding, developers completed a $20 million renovation — including a secondary fire exit — in 2022. Meanwhile, the building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2021.
In cooperation with the city of Lubbock, the project received historic and housing tax credits as part of its financing. Metro Tower Lofts now offers 89 residential units – a mix of efficiency, one bedroom and two bedroom lofts.
In the 55 years since the 1970 tornado hit, downtown Lubbock has struggled to recover from the disaster’s devastation. The Great Plains Life Building — once described as a cornerstone of the downtown “glamorous neighborhood” — was derisively dubbed the “Loose Tower” and worse, symbolized a declining urban area. But the new Metro Tower Lofts joins other major projects nearby — Pioneer Pocket Hotel, Lubbock City Hall/Citizen’s
Tower, the Lubbock Police Department headquarters, the Buddy Holly Hall of Performing Arts and Sciences, the Cotton Court Hotel, the Lubbock Arts District, the Depot Entertainment District—and countless building renovations for office space, restaurants and bars—to breathe new life into resurgent downtown Lubbock.