Brothers Peel into 23,000-SF historic Waco building

WACO – A downtown building with an illustrious history as a luxury car dealership, a National Guard armory and a warplane assembly plant is becoming a home for entrepreneurs.

The McDermott Motors building at 1125 Washington Ave. is being renovated for two growing businesses known for making promotional merchandise.

The 23,000-sf building was most recently the Caritas Thrift Store, but it has been vacant since a 2000 fire.

Joel Peel, owner of Hole in the Roof Marketing, and his brother, John Peel, owner of Sticker Universe, plan to move their businesses to the building by late February.

Sticker Universe now has 60 licensing agreements and is the biggest producer of Baylor stickers.

Joel Peel has 22 employees at Hole in the Roof, which designs and makes promotional apparel and does print and Web promotions.

Built in 1928, the building was designed by celebrated Waco architect Milton Scott, whose work also included the old Waco High School building, the Dr Pepper Museum building, First Baptist Church and the Louey Migel mansion.