Thomas Burton recalls a time more than a decade ago when he and other members of the Threefoot Preservation Society cleaned up interior spaces in the 16-story, long-vacant Threefoot office tower at the heart of downtown Meridian. They were pushing back against those who saw the landmark as a giant eyesore that needed razing.

 

“We were just wanting to make sure people knew that this place matters,” said Burton, a photographer and social media specialist. “We were trying to keep everything intact.”

He is among observers today who couldn’t be more pleased about repercussions from the Threefoot, meticulously restored and repurposed as a boutique hotel that had its soft opening in late 2021. Housed in a distinctive Art Deco structure long called the tallest building in east Mississippi, the Tribute Portfolio Marriott hotel attracts a steady stream of visitors, many from far away, as well as corporate and private gatherings. And the activity has helped to propel the growth of cultural tourism locally.

 

The Threefoot’s sales director, Kayla Cabaniss, declined to release numbers but said the 131-room hotel has seen business growth every year as it developed partnerships with other local attractions and gained traction with national marketing. The hotel recorded at least four room sellout dates in the first quarter of 2025, as well as a near-sellout during the recent Sipp & Savor festival of the Mississippi Arts & Entertainment Experience, she said.

 

While standard room rates that typically range between $139 and $299 might deter many looking for a Meridian stopover, it’s acceptable to those looking for an “experience” stay, with a location within a short walk of shops and museums, Cabaniss said. Among recent visitors, she noted, was a documentary film crew from London “who practically lived here” during their project. “We knew them all by name.”

 

John Tampa, president and CEO of Georgia-based Ascent Hospitality Management, which carried out the Threefoot’s redevelopment, said he visits Meridian nearly every month and likes what he sees. “I’m fascinated to see people on the street, people from Washington D.C. and California, who are staying at that property.”

 

The hotel features the 6:01 Local restaurant and a Starbucks on its ground floor, with an added special attraction on the 11th floor – a rooftop lounge, The Boxcar, that alludes to Meridian’s railroading history and offers spectacular views. I’d call it one of the coolest gathering spots in the region.

 

Completed in 1929 by the German-Jewish Dreyfus family (Threefoot is an Anglicized treatment of their name), who were among Meridian’s leading merchants, the tower served as an office building through most of its life, with easy elevator access to lawyers, doctors and dentists. A commemorative directory in the first-floor hallway today lists many of these former tenants, who no doubt considered it a prestige address. Nearly everyone around Meridian has some kind of personal connection to the Threefoot’s office-tower past.

 

The Threefoot became downtown’s center of gravity, in many ways.

 

But the building fell on hard times as professional offices moved elsewhere. The Threefoot’s placement on the National Register of Historic Places and its designation as a Mississippi Landmark in past decades, as well as the activism of locals like Burton, helped write a revival story that included former Mayor Percy Bland’s backing for the restoration.

 

This is clearly a story about how historic preservation – while often costly and difficult – can pay big dividends. Just ask Meridian architect Bob Luke, whose extensive building restoration work in a nearby block was directly influenced by the visionary Threefoot project. “Downtown didn’t really catch on fire until the Threefoot Hotel opened,” Luke said.

 

Warner is a veteran journalist and cultural historian, and can be contacted at legacypress.warner@gmail.com.