Local developers want to breathe new life into distinctive downtown buildings that once housed one of Texarkana’s longtime retailers until closing in mid-August.

George Dodson, Dave Jones and Tony Clowers have divvied up the buildings where Hopkins Feed & Seed and an adjoining pet store did business for decades.

Dodson and Jones aim to open an icehouse bar in half of the property at Third and Wood streets, while in the other half Clowers wants to run a pub and a Creole restaurant.

They’ve begun some of the initial work of drafting plans and talking with an architect and believe these businesses could open within the next six months to a year.

The idea of an icehouse bar, said Dodson, is inspired by the old-time bars where blocks of ice would keep the beer cold until workers, once they finished up their day’s labor, would come down to enjoy a beer.

Icehouses where the ice blocks were sold were often near railroad tracks, he said. And this property where he and Jones intend to run the bar is just blocks from downtown Texarkana’s railroad lines that still chug with traffic.