Will The Coffee Cup Be Filled Again?
A Beloved Perry Gathering Spot May Rise From the Ashes

By Jon Suggs, HHJ Staff Writer

Jeffrey Moredock, Houston Springs managing director, kneels beside a sign for The Coffee Cup, which was uncovered in the second story of the building as workers renovate that area for office space.

PERRY – At the corner of Carroll and Ball streets rests the site of a former icon of the town, a beloved and well-remembered little place to sit down, have a cup and a conversation.

Rep. Larry Walker, D-Perry, has mentioned it from time to time in his column.

Perry Mayor James Worrall occasionally spins a yarn or two about it.

Find any group of Perryans who’ve been around. Likely as not, they’ll have a story or two about this place.

Although the building is about a century old and has held a variety of businesses – including dentists, lawyers and accountants, drug stores, a church and the forerunner of the Perry Library – everyone seems to remember it as The Coffee Cup.

Local historian Charles Shelton has a stack of old photos that show the building and how it’s changed over the years, from its one-story beginnings around the turn of the century to its glory days in the ’70s.

The next chapter of its history is being written now.

Today, workers busily clear the second floor of structure, where a fire scorched much of the place.

They do so under the direction of Houston Springs, the active retirement resort going up at U.S. 341 and Airport Road, which has purchased the building and is set on restoring it.

“It’s a wonderful old building,” construction manager Bud Beakes said. “It has all the problems of a 100-year-old building, but what’s underneath that is good. It’s a lovely building with high visibility.”

Putting things back in order and establishing primary offices here are important to Houston Springs, Beakes said.

“What’s very important for us is to be a part of the community,” he said. “We can help downtown by getting an eyesore renovated, prettied up to its former glory.”

Upstairs, the building will be brought around to 21st Century specs. It will house the company’s information technology department and its hardware. An IP phone system for the entire company will run from one room on this floor. From here the company’s executives will manage the development of the 2,200-home project.

Downstairs?

The drop ceiling in place now will be removed, and the original 11-foot span restored.

The front walk will be slightly reworked to incorporate a wheelchair ramp.

The rest of the space will restored, ready to take on a new business.

But The Coffee Cup?

“That’s the $63 question,” says Jeffrey Moredock, managing director of Houston Springs.

An artist’s rendering of the restored building shows a brightly restored exterior with deep green canopies on the windows, but there is only one sign – a small marker for the Houston Springs offices upstairs.

The space for a first-floor business sign is still blank. “We definitely want it to be a restaurant,” Moredock said. “That’s what our plan calls for. But whether that will be The Coffee Cup or something else depends on what proposals we get. I would love to see it.”

Houston Springs won’t operate a business itself; the company is looking for someone to lease the space.

“We would love for someone to come in with a proposal to bring back The Coffee Cup,” Moredock said.

So would a lot of Perryans.

Next door, at 902 Carroll St., Nadine Weems, proprietor of the Card Carousel Hallmark Shop, remembers The Coffee Cup.

“It would be nice if they brought it back,” Weems said.

Any investors listening?

View original article posted on the Houston Home Journal web site

Last updated 4/26/2005