Note: We’ve added a long-form aerial demolition video (our first ever) to the bottom of this story.
A few days before demo crews began tearing down the strip center at 2905 Travis St., the lone encroachment on the Midtown Superblock’s otherwise longstanding perfect record of vacancy, reader and neighboring property owner Adam Brackman captured this aerial tour of the site, which never veers from the Downtown (north) view.
What’s happened to Superblock since? Pics sent in from another reader show last week’s demo in progress:
***
Plus the arrival of chain link, to fill out those empty poles.
and more crews:
Update, 12:45: Hot off the drone (Brackman took the footage last Friday), here’s 15 minutes or so of the strip center demolition, as seen from above:
- Previously on Swamplot: Stuff Is Happening Now on the Midtown Superblock
Videos: Adam Brackman. Photos:Â Brent Kyle Higgins
Cool video Adam.
The site plan for this block, where the apartment complex stands like J..J. Watt blocking the retail from the park for which it should have been the activity generator, stands as a symbol of a city at a pivot point in its urbanization, where all the lessons it has learned the past ten years still can’t make up for the decades it snoozed in urban neglect and public space amnesia. Imagine if you took the George R. Brown and dropped it halfway across Discovery Green, splitting the park’s integral components and killing its interaction with surrounding elements – that is the Superblock in a nutshell. Midtown will still benefit from a central greenspace, and the little pocket park at the north end might turn out to be something nice. But however modestly successful this becomes will only be a painful reminder of what could have been.
I agree Mike, they should never have split the park in half. Blah.
In the meantime, a giant pit will be dug there, temporarily creating Lake McGowan, Midtown’s largest mosquito hatchery.
When did they decided to change it from Apartments on one end retail on the other? anyone have plans available?
Why isn’t the whole block going to be a park again?? What was the reasoning in having anything other than park? Get Campo to cancel this one and go build his Downtown buildings with his DLI incentive before that expires first.
Wonderful… the pullback to the Texas flag (a la gone with the wind’s famous pullback shot), made me laugh out loud.
Here is the original 2004 Houston Tomorrow proposal for McGowen Green that y’all mind find interesting considering Mike’s comment: http://mcgowengreen.org
Yeah, I pulled the drone up to fly over the HCC building, but when I lost sight of it, I got nervous and pulled it back . It wasnt until I reviewed the footage that I saw the flag and realized how close I came to losing the drone on the top of their building (about 1 min 30 seconds in). Great shot though!
I have waited on this for 5 years now and now I wish it would go away. They had a real chance to create an anchor for midtown similar to what Post Midtown Square did and they have squandered it. It could have been the link between Midmain and Midtown Square. It would have created a walkable neighborhood that we see in the great cities. Now, the park will be dead of life besides bums. May as well make it a dog park so the smell of human crap blends with the dog smell.