First on Linbeck’s docket for the block across Prairie St. from the slowly dissolving former Chronicle building: the 11-story parking garage rendered above. The structure is planned for the southern half of the block between Prairie St. and Market Square, which means the restaurant space depicted in the rendering will face Travis St. (presuming the retail spot is not just part of a clever disguise). The garage is being branded as One Market Square until such time as something a little taller goes up next to it and takes the name, joining Market Square Tower and Aris Market Square along Preston St. to either side.
Back across Prairie St., the wrapped-together collection of buildings formerly housing the Houston Chronicle‘s operations has been getting slowly disassembled since a judge ruled over the summer that Hines could carefully demo the structures. A couple of high-up shot from this morning (above, and below) shows the current state of affairs inside the rubble-in-progress:
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Another reader scoped out the area from ground level over the weekend, snapping some closer portraits of the construction and deconstruction in progress:
- Previously on Swamplot: Houston Chronicle Building Opens Up To Passers-By During Downtown Breakdown; Still Life of Downtown Chronicle Building Rubble, and Other Masterworks of Deconstruction; Best Demolition: The 2016 Official Ballot; Lawsuit-Limboed Chronicle Building Now Dressing in Black, Slowly Going to Pieces Downtown; Former Chronicle Building Tunnel Back Open During Demo Limbo; Digging Into the Downtown Tunnel Tussle That Spurred the Hines-Hearst Lawsuit; Hines and Hearst Get Sued Over Planned Demo of Former Houston Chronicle Building
Images: Gensler (rendering), Henry Chapman (top 2 photos), Brie Kelman (all other photos)
Thank goodness . The ugliness that was the Houston Comical building ( actually three buildings disguised as one ) is finally getting destroyed. Anything in its place is WAY better than this nondescript pile is welcomed.