Aaron Chimbel / WFAA.com

The old Baker Hotel in Mineral Wells.

MINERAL WELLS - Fourteen majestic stories - 230,000 square feet - of the historic Baker Hotel tower above downtown Mineral Wells, but for more than 35 years the building has been a vacant icon 48 miles west of Fort Worth.

Now, there is a focused effort to bring life back to what was once one of the country's most glamorous vacation spots.

Aaron Chimbel / WFAA.com

The guest list included celebrities from every walk of life: Will Rogers, Roy Rogers, Judy Garland, The Three Stooges, Clark Gable, Lyndon Johnson, Ronald Reagan, Audie Murphy and Helen Keller.

Built in 1929, the Baker Hotel became one of the country's most alluring hotels. With 450 rooms, it was the place to come to drink and bathe in the town's mineral water, said to have medicinal qualities.

By 1972, the hotel closed and the vibrant days of the 30s, 40s and 50s slowly began to fade.

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The lobby of the Baker Hotel.

A change in state law last year allows the Mineral Wells Independent School District to participate in a Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone to support the restoration of the hotel, according to Steve Butcher, the director of economic development for the Mineral Wells/Palo Pinto County Area Growth Council. The change doubles the incentives that can be offered to developers of the project.

In addition, because the building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the project would receive other tax credits and incentives.

"These incentives, coupled with the changing demographics of the metroplex, should make the project feasible and profitable for the successful development group," according to the development analysis of the property.

Even with help from the tax zone, renovating the hotel won't be cheap. Butcher estimates it will cost $50 million to transform the building into a mix of retail, restaurants, hotel rooms and apartments or retirement living. An expanded spa would also return the second floor.

The building itself is on sale for $2.2 million.

Aaron Chimbel / WFAA.com

Butcher says a restoration would help reinvigorate downtown Mineral Wells.

"I think it'd be a definite feel good initially," Butcher said. "The town would just feel better having that building restored."

Butcher says there are already two serious prospective developers, who are both convinced they will be able to make the deal work financially.

"By the end of the year we will have gotten to where we can do the project… or it will never happen," he said.

Despite the years of neglect, there has been one guest of the old hotel: A rumored ghost on the seventh floor, thought to be the mistress of the hotel's former owner.

Soon she may not be alone anymore.