The City of Port Arthur received a $2.46 million grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to help revitalize Hotel Sabine, a long-shuttered historic property dating back to 1929, according to the Beaumont Enterprise. The funding will help remove hazardous materials from the property, including asbestos and lead-based paint, to prepare the building for future redevelopment.
Located at 600 Procter St., Hotel Sabine is a 10-story structure—the tallest in the city. The city applied for the grant in January 2026, citing hopes of revitalization for the landmark, which closed in the 1980s after briefly converting to an apartment complex.
“This grant will allow us to address environmental concerns at the former Hotel Sabine, improve public safety and position this historic property for future redevelopment,” Port Arthur City Manager Ron Burton said in a news release, according to Beaumont Enterprise. “Projects like this are critical to our ongoing efforts to revitalize our community and attract new opportunities for growth.”
Earlier this year, the city discussed plans to redevelop the building as a mixed-use hub that could bring a fresh start to the downtown area. At the time, officials said the revitalization of the property could allow for “the creation of desperately [needed] new jobs, new affordable housing options, and removal of blight and contamination” as part of their EPA grant proposal.
The hotel, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, has sat empty for nearly 40 years. It once anchored a bustling commercial district in the 1950s and ’60s, but by the 1970s the property had begun falling into disrepair as refinery job losses and repeated natural disasters eroded the city’s tax base, leaving the city without the funds to revive it.
The city took ownership of the property in 1992, and the hotel has remained a topic of conversation over the last two decades—from talk of blowing it up for Hollywood films to viral exploration videos by abandoned-building enthusiasts and ghost hunters.
“Restoring this building, we believe, would restore or regenerate growth here in downtown Port Arthur, and then bring the city back to a semblance of its historical significance,” Solco Group LLC CEO Kevin Solco, whose consulting firm helped facilitate the grant, told Chron in January.