Swamplot Archives by Category: Neighborhoods: Texas Medical Center

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Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Hanging Around the Old Fire Station, Waiting for the Next Development

May 13, 2009 – 10:17 am

Hunting down information about the abandoned Modern Fire Station at the corner of Fannin and South Braeswood just south of the Med Center, Houston building arch-ivist Lauren Meyers stumbles upon dangling plans for a new development on the huge vacant lot behind it, which was once home to an apartment complex.

The city sold the [fire station] to an entity named Texas SFI Partnership 33 in February of 2007. Texas SFI Partnership 24 owns the Lanesborough Apartments that are to the west of the fire station at 1819 S. Braeswood Blvd. Lanesborough’s parent company is The Richdale Group, and Richdale is a part of Slosburg Co. A representative of Lanesborough via Slosburg informed us that the property, including the large tract of land to the south, is slated to become a large mixed-use development with a medical emphasis.

There is no timeline for the project and it is still in the design phase. An existing sign on the large empty tract advertises a “Better Lifestyle” with Lanesborough apartments and richdale.com, but there is no other information about the future development on it.

What about that cool 1950 fire station?

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10:17 am | 8 Comments | Read more about Neighborhoods: Texas Medical Center, Proposed Developments
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Thursday, March 26, 2009

Rice-Baylor Merger: Yup

March 26, 2009 – 12:50 pm
   

A joint statement just out from the presidents of Rice University and the Baylor College of Medicine: “We are pleased to announce that the governing boards of Rice and BCM this week approved the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that lays out a broad framework for formal negotiations about a possible merger of our two institutions. While no decision on a merger has yet been made and many issues remain to be resolved, our boards have concluded that a closer affiliation has abundant potential benefits for both institutions, as well as for our home city of Houston.” [Swamplot inbox]

12:50 pm | 2 Comments | Read more about Neighborhoods: Rice University, Neighborhoods: Texas Medical Center, Quicklink
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Baylor Hospital: Internal Organ Failure

March 26, 2009 – 10:07 am

Here’s a construction-cam view from this morning showing progress on Baylor College of Medicine’s fancy new Clinic and Hospital on Old Spanish Trail, a stretch south of the main Medical Center campus — and, apparently, too big of a stretch for the financially strained institution. The Chronicle is reporting that BCM has decided to finish building the hospital exterior, but that it’s not gonna build out the building’s innards at all. For a while. Until it gets the money.

Or something changes. The medical school decided to build its own facility after breaking off an association with Methodist Hospital in 2004. A later bad hook-up, with St. Luke’s, ended in 2007. When BCM began serious conversations with Rice University about a merger last year, the new hospital was considered a major obstacle to a deal: Rice didn’t want it. If BCM becomes a part of Rice (which at this point appears quite likely), the hospital will have to be jettisoned somehow.

In an e-mail to faculty, [Baylor interim president William T.] Butler said the temporary suspension buys time to acquire additional capital through philanthropy, federal funds and other sources, gives the markets a chance to settle and provides an opportunity to consider project partners.

Sources said that by not building out the interior, it’s also possible the hospital shell would be more attractive to a buyer wanting to tailor the facility to its own desired specifications.

But in his e-mail to faculty, Butler dismissed such speculation: “Taking this pause will allow us to ultimately fulfill the plan to build the hospital,” he wrote. “The board has made it clear it is committed to this project.”

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10:07 am | 9 Comments | Read more about Cancellations and Delays, Medical Buildings, Neighborhoods: Texas Medical Center, Proposed Developments
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Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Addio, Buon Appetito? Holcombe Home Cooking

January 21, 2009 – 9:21 am

The time-travel vehicle known as the Buon Appetito Restaurant — housed in an old duplex on Holcombe just west of the Medical Center — has been put up for sale.

What could you do with this place?

“Move out the tables and chairs,” reads the mock-Sicilian listing, “and is ready for your signle fam. residence.”

Or . . . take over the restaurant and run it yourself:

This is also an excellent opportunity for someone to step in and start running this already successful business. The owner has been there for 32 years and is retiring. Everything is included in the sale.

9:21 am | 6 Comments | Read more about Homes for Sale, Neighborhoods: Texas Medical Center, Restaurants
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Thursday, January 8, 2009

Imagined History of that Med Center Fountain Plaza

January 8, 2009 – 1:16 pm

As a prelude to the extended narrative of his and John Nova Lomax’s latest grand pedestrian effort — a 14-hour walk from IAH to Downtown — Marfa city councilmember and Houston bingo scofflaw David Beebe describes his first encounter with the Gus and Lyndall Wortham Park at the southwest corner of Holcombe and Main. It’s the walkway and fountain assembly that replaced the Shamrock Hotel:

On this day, as on many days, the fountain is actively spouting water columns to nobody, as the fountain downtown on the light rail line is supposed to do (but is always messed up). This bizarre guilt trip tribute to the concept of public space mixes elements of a grand promenade with Vegas style accents contrasting with the feel of a confined and secluded corridor. Its out of the way entrance and low visibility from Holcombe is probably why I had never seen it before. This is a very good park to go to if you don’t want anyone to find you. I couldn’t help but picture Nixon and Kissinger walking side by side alongside the fountain and columns planning the next offensive maneuver in Vietnam.

Photo: David W. Beebe

1:16 pm | 2 Comments | Read more about Attractions, Neighborhoods: Texas Medical Center, Parks
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Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Just When You Thought It Was Already Long Gone: A Second Demolition for the Shamrock Hotel

November 5, 2008 – 2:51 pm

Interior of Edwin Hornberger Conference Center, Former Shamrock Hotel, Houston

The last remaining building associated with Houston’s 1950s-era glam-magnet Shamrock Hotel is slated to be torn down, reports Cynthia Lescalleet in the West U. Examiner. The Shamrock’s former ballroom facility at 2151 W. Holcombe became the Edwin Hornberger Conference Center in 1996, nine years after the Shamrock itself was famously axed.

The Texas Medical Center has more building plans for the site:

TMC will build 250,000 square feet of office space in three floors to be added atop the Bell building, which also houses the existing parking garage, said TMC’s John Kajander. The added space is to support TMC institutions, he said.

The building housing the Hornberger’s foyer and ballroom “is nearing the end of its useful life,” he said, and will be taken down.

A little Hornberger history:

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2:51 pm | 2 Comments | Read more about Demolitions, Historic Preservation, Houston History, Neighborhoods: Texas Medical Center, Proposed Developments
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Monday, July 7, 2008

New Short-Term Housing for 40 Veterans, South of the Med Center

July 7, 2008 – 10:24 am
   

There are an estimated 3,600 homeless veterans in the Houston area, and only 250 available beds. “Eight veterans already have moved into their new quarters in the previously vacant apartment complex in the 7300 block of Fannin. Applications to fill up the 14 units still are being accepted.” [Houston Chronicle]

10:24 am | Add a Comment | Read more about Neighborhoods: Texas Medical Center, Quicklink, Temporary Housing
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Monday, June 23, 2008

The Modigliani: Gated, and Very Close to the Med Center

June 23, 2008 – 10:36 am

The Modigliani, Townhouses on South MacGregor Way, Houston

Nancy Sarnoff reports that construction is about to begin on a new gated 52-townhouse development on South MacGregor, east of 288. The developer, Joseph Casimir of Cypresswood Capital, reports on the project’s website that the development

bears three distinctive yet integrated architectural flavors: Florentine, Venetian, and Romanesque, affording you a lifestyle of unparalleled comfort and understated sophistication.

The townhouse development is called The Modigliani, after an Italian artist who spent most of his adult life in Paris, and who died of TB at the age of 35, aggravated by persistent alcoholism and drug abuse.

The 4.3-acre site at 3028 S. MacGregor Way is next door to the University of Texas Harris County Psychiatric Center and across the street from Brays Bayou. Casimir bought it in 2006 for $4.6 million, then demolished the 1936 Wright Morrow estate on the property. The previous owner, the UT Health Science Center at Houston, had intended to build a mental health outpatient facility on the site, but put it up for sale after encountering vocal opposition from neighborhood residents and State Rep. Al Edwards.

Below: Elevations and a site plan!

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10:36 am | 10 Comments | Read more about Art, Neighborhoods: Riverside Terrace, Neighborhoods: Texas Medical Center, Proposed Developments, Real Estate Marketing, Townhomes
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Thursday, June 5, 2008

Twist and Whisper: Texas Children’s Neurological Secret

June 5, 2008 – 10:57 am

Rendering of Dan & Jan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children’s HospitalIt sure looks like there’s been a dramatic twist in the plans for the new Dan & Jan Duncan Neurological Research Institute that Texas Children’s Hospital is building in the heart of the Med Center Campus, right behind the waterfall parking garage on Moursund St. Renderings of the building looked a little different at the groundbreaking ceremony last December. A construction permit for the superstructure of the 14-story, 370,000-sq.-ft. tower was approved yesterday.

Texas Children’s doesn’t seem to be putting out a huge amount of detail about the new structure on its website, which is probably understandable for a building that will be housing hundreds of thousands of lab mice. Any knowledgeable readers want to share a little more about the plans . . . and that new twisting corner?

10:57 am | Add a Comment | Read more about Institutional Buildings, Medical Buildings, Neighborhoods: Texas Medical Center
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Friday, March 14, 2008

Med Center Houstonian: No Condo

March 14, 2008 – 10:10 am

Screen Shot from Planning Commission Meeting Showing Proposed Houstonian Hotel in Texas Medical Center from Main St.

Nope, no condos in the planned Houstonian Medical Center hotel — but there will be 100 apartments. Medistar consultant Doug Williams gave a few more details about the planned 40-story Main St. tower at the edge of Southgate in yesterday’s Planning Commission hearing:

  • Parking-structure base will be 12 stories, with a green space on top, and contain 14,000 sq. ft. of meeting and ballroom space.
  • Building will have 303 guest rooms, plus 100 apartments for longer-term stays, 70 of them furnished.
  • This is a Redstone project.
  • The developers are also buying the Baylor Clinic building next door, which Baylor rents from St. Luke’s.
  • The plans include a new skybridge that will connect the new tower to the Baylor Clinic next door, so hotel guests can use the existing Baylor Clinic skybridge to cross Main St. Representatives of Rice have expressed interest in connecting the university’s new Collaborative Research Center one block to the north to the new building by skybridge as well.

The commission approved a revised version of the variance request but attached several conditions having to do with landscaping and parking spaces.

After the jump, the view from Southgate!

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10:10 am | Add a Comment | Read more about Apartments, Highrises, Hotels, Neighborhood Disputes, Neighborhoods: Southgate, Neighborhoods: Texas Medical Center, Proposed Developments
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Thursday, March 13, 2008

Houstonian Texas Medical Center: Slow Multimedia Reveal

March 13, 2008 – 10:23 am

View from Main St. of New Houstonian Hotel and Condominiums, Texas Medical Center, Houston

From fuzzy video stills to washed-out photocopies: In the agenda handout for today’s Planning Commission hearing are hazy images that provide even more details about the new 40-story hotel and condo tower Medistar wants to build on Main St. in the Medical Center, at the eastern boundary of Southgate.

The drawing labels identify the hotel as the Houstonian Texas Medical Center, or Houstonian TMC for short. The architect is the Hill Glazier Studio of HKS, out of California. And a section drawing gives an actual height for the tower.

After the jump: It’s very tall!

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10:23 am | Add a Comment | Read more about Commercial Real Estate, Condos, Highrises, Hotels, Neighborhood Associations, Neighborhood Disputes, Neighborhoods: Southgate, Neighborhoods: Texas Medical Center, Proposed Developments
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Friday, February 29, 2008

Live on TV: New Med Center Hotel-Condo Tower

February 29, 2008 – 3:30 pm

Screen Capture of Planning Commission Discussion of New Medistar 40-Story Condo and Hotel Tower at Dryden and Main St., near Southgate, Texas Medical Center, Houston

Thanks to some intrepid reporting lazy online-video scanning over here at Swamplot, we now have more information about Medistar’s 40-story hotel and condominium tower planned for the corner of Dryden and Main St. in the Medical Center.

Yesterday, the Planning Commission voted to defer any consideration of Medistar’s request for a lot-line variance along Main St. But the president of the Southgate Civic Club voiced his objections to the variance — and other aspects of the project — anyway.

After the jump, more stills from the civic-club president’s presentation to the Planning Commission, plus a few bits of armchair analysis from our crack crew of expert TV watchers.

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3:30 pm | Read more about Condos, Highrises, Hotels, Neighborhood Associations, Neighborhood Disputes, Neighborhoods: Southgate, Neighborhoods: Texas Medical Center, Proposed Developments
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Thursday, February 28, 2008

Newest and Tallest: The Texas Medical Center Goes Condo

February 28, 2008 – 10:26 am

Here’s what we know so far about the new 40-story hotel-and-condo tower Medistar Corporation is planning for the corner of Main St. and Dryden, between Rice’s new Collaborative Research Center and the Baylor Clinic on the west side of Main: not a whole lot.

But at 40 stories, the new building would likely be the tallest tower in the Texas Medical Center. (The new Memorial Hermann Medical Plaza is only 31.) That’s taller than those twin hypodermics, too.

A lot-line variance for the project is item number 111 before the Planning Commission this afternoon. And the request provides a few clues. Medistar wants the same 10-foot setback along Main St. that the Baylor Clinic has, so the new building can have a similar passenger dropoff and a “pedestrian friendly” entry on that side. The building’s longer axis will be perpendicular to Main. The arguments imply Medistar intends to have “ornamental decorations and balconies” on the Main St. side, and that the tower will be linked by skybridge to the Medical Center main campus across the street.

According to the Southgate Neighborhood Newsletter, the tower will include a 1200-car parking facility.

This isn’t the only new building type Medistar is planning to stir into the Medical Center mix. A block down the street, just south of the company’s Best Western Hotel at 6700 Main St., Medistar is planning a 600,000-sq.-ft. medical mall. The Houston Business Journal reported on that project late last month:

The high-rise would house offices and showrooms for companies that sell equipment, supplies and pharmaceuticals to Texas Medical Center institutions. Tenants could also include organizations working to develop new medical technologies and treatments.

10:26 am | Read more about Commercial Real Estate, Condos, Highrises, Hotels, Malls, Medical Buildings, Neighborhoods: Southgate, Neighborhoods: Texas Medical Center, Proposed Developments
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Thursday, November 15, 2007

CSI YouTube: The Sliding Door, the Elusive Shadow, the Last-Minute Runner, and Other Clues from the Crowne Plaza Demo

November 15, 2007 – 12:42 pm

Sliding Door Closeup from Crowne Plaza Hotel Demolition, Texas Medical Center, Houston

So professional and amateur detectives have huddled over the Crowne Plaza demolition videos and what have they come up with? Here are the rumors . . . er, clues!

First, mysterious Flickr member txrice123 writes:

the police are investigating a report that there may have been someone inside the structure on the fifth floor in the middle. a video taken from the face of your side (from St. Luke’s) apparently shows this person run to the edge, then run back. if you have any shots from before, you may like to look closely and send them to hpd.

The photo txrice123 is commenting on was taken from the west side of the building, and St. Luke’s is to the north, so the comment is a little confusing, no? And, uh . . . which fifth floor? The hotel had a podium.

Next, KPRC-TV keeps talking about a “shadow,” but isn’t shedding any light on the subject:

The home video showed a shadow inside the building moments before it was destroyed on Sunday.

Who knows what lurked in there?

And of course there’s the mysterious sliding door, shown enlarged above from the video in Swamplot’s earlier post. ABC13 hypes this part of the video, but neglects to point out that several gust-inducing dynamite blasts have taken place and the building has already started to rumble by the time the door starts “sliding.” Hey, isn’t a fire door supposed to close in a case like this?

After the jump, the door slides shut!

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12:42 pm | Read more about Attractions, Crime, Demolitions, Neighborhoods: Texas Medical Center
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Remaking Blow-Up, or Was Everybody Out When the Crowne Went Down?

November 15, 2007 – 12:05 am

You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video

Watch this video very closely. Do you see someone entering the building before the demolition begins? Maybe on the left side of the screen?

No? Well, keep looking. How about enlarging the video — or breaking it down frame by frame — so you can examine it more carefully?

Apparently someone who shot a video of the same event from the same angle saw something in it so disturbing that he brought the footage to the attention of the Houston Police Department. And officers found the evidence credible enough that they spent the greater part of Wednesday searching through rubble to see if maybe someone got into the Crowne Plaza Hotel in the Texas Medical Center shortly before it was imploded Sunday morning.

KHOU-TV reports that police are focusing their search on the Fannin side of the building, which would be the street on the left. The station also says that the video used as evidence was in fact taken from the St. Luke’s Medical Tower — the same vantage point as the YouTube video above.

So is the video above the same one the police are studying?

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12:05 am | Read more about Attractions, Crime, Demolitions, Hazards, Hotels, Neighborhoods: Texas Medical Center
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