Welcome back: A mid-sized employer returned to the island last week, a year after storm surge damaged a building it leases downtown.
United Fire Group’s 60 employees returned to offices at 2115 Winnie St. after working in cramped, temporary offices in Webster since the storm.
The first floor of the building in which the property and casualty insurance company leases space took in about 5 feet of storm surge. Island employees are happy to be back at their own desks, using their own phones in their own cubicles, Lori Kline, assistant vice president of human resources, reports.
The group’s offices are in what’s known as the American Indemnity Building. The structure that housed the original Ball High School, founded in 1884, is part of the building.
In 1954, the school board sold the property to American Indemnity, founded by members of the Seinsheimer family. American Indemnity hired architect Charles Zwiener to design an office space that would incorporate the old school.
Zwiener’s addition is the building with the bowed front, which spans the three-story buildings that are the old parts of Ball High School.
A seven-story annex was added in 1979, designed by architect Louis Oliver, according to the Galveston Historical Foundation.
In 1999, the Seinsheimer family sold American Indemnity and the building to Cedar Rapids, Iowa-based insurer United Fire & Casualty Co. for about $30 million in common stock.
In 2004, United Fire announced it would cut expenses by making the island home its regional office. United Fire Group employs about 130 people in Texas and Louisiana.
“We’re glad to be back,” Kline said.
$2 million question: In other downtown island news, rumors are making the rounds that developers have plunked down $2 million for the long vacant Jean Lafitte Hotel, 2101 Church St.
City planning officials, who are not spreading the rumors, earlier this year confirmed predevelopment meetings with a group considering some kind of senior housing venture at the 10-story building.
Built in 1927, the once-grand hotel has fallen into severe disrepair. The most recent plans by developers to morph the property into luxury residential units failed. The property has made the Galveston Historical Foundation Heritage At Risk list. Stay tuned.
Good Times: In belated buzz, Texas City has a new eatery. Good Times Cafe, 2520 state Highway 146, serves up American fare and daily specials for $5.99. The cafe, which opened in June, serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. For information, call 409-945-7300.
Sunny-side up: It’s nearly hatching time for The Egg and I, a new restaurant in Webster. Franchise owner Chris Osborne is planning to open the restaurant, 557 W. Bay Area Blvd., on Monday.
The Egg and I is billed as an upscale breakfast and lunch concept. Along with the eggs Benedict, omelets and other breakfast staples, The Egg and I also serves such lunch fare as Chicken Apple Walnut Salad and Reuben sandwiches.
The restaurant, open from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily (7 a.m. Sundays), serves its entire menu all day, allowing diners to eat omelets for lunch and sandwiches for breakfast, a policy that accommodates shift workers in Webster’s fast-growing medical center.
The Egg and I is part of a Colorado-based franchise company. In 2006, Osborne opened his first The Egg and I in The Woodlands, introducing the concept to Texas. The Webster restaurant will be his fourth in the Houston area. Before opening to the public, The Egg and I is planning a “practice day” by invitation only to raise money for E.A. Smith Family YMCA in Webster and the Perry Family YMCA in League City.
