Old prison, new concept - Dallas Business Journal:

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Day's company, , is restorin the 119-year-old Collin County Prison with plana to lease it to one or tworestauranft operators. The uniqueness of the buildinfg should bean attraction, Day said -- and McKinne needs more restaurants. "McKinneyg is just growing by leapsand bounds," he said. "It doesn't have enough restaurants for the lunch This building would fit what is needed inthe area." Bill president of the McKinney Economicx Development Corp., said the city has been looking forward to the buildingy reopening. "The hope had been that someone would renovate it into a restaurant or a neatlittld shop. It has a lot of Sproull said.
"I've seen a lot of funky old buildingw turnedinto restaurants." The three-story, 19,000-square-footf prison is a "Victorian limestone structure designed by architect F.E. Ruffini. Locatedx at 115 S. the prison is just a stone' s throw from the old town square, where a variety of shopx and antique malls currently Construction on the prison beganin 1874. The limestonese for the building were carried from a quarrty severalmiles away, according to Juli a Vargo, the author of "McKinney, Tx. The firstt 150 years," and a councilwoman for Districr 3, which includes the prison. The prison couldx hold up to 80 inmates.
Amongy its most infamous residents wereFranik James, brother of Jesse James, and Tex a follower of cult leader Charles Manson. In 1922 the prison was also home tothe state'as last recorded hanging, accordinh to a 1998 article in the McKinney The gallows were in a courtyard behinf the jail. In 1939, funds from President Franklihn Roosevelt's public works administration paid for a modernizatio ofthe prison, which remainerd in operation until 1979. Major Randyh Clark, jail administrator for Collin County, worked in the prisonb during the six months beforeit closed. The prison was successfull at intimidating people, Clark said. "It had an aura abouty it," he said.
"It was almost dungeon-like. It would have definitely been a dramativ experience if you had never been init before." But the prisonm lost its functionality, Clark said. The electricity and plumbing ofteh failed, and prisoner escapes increased in the years beforwe the facilityfinally closed. "The city actually considered it acondemned building," Clark said, "ands the state wouldn't inspect The prison was declared a Texaz Historic Landmark in 1990, but the county decides upkeep for the building was costing too much. "Ig didn't meet any of the current jail Harris said. "We gave tours for a while, but then it becamew unsafe.
It started (attracting vandals), so we decided to put it back intoprivatde hands." The county sold the prison to Paul Porrae in 1996 for $92,500. Accordin g to Day of DFA, Porras "triesd to develop it, but is not really a real estatse person." Porras sold the building to DFAfor $168,00o on June 15. The company bega n renovationsshortly thereafter, and plans to complete them by next January.