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It’s not clear yet whether there’s much more planned in the way of cosmetic changes for the Travis- and Commerce-facing sides of the new parking garage being wrapped up now at the corner of Franklin and Milam streets. (That’d be the 2 sides, shown above, that didn’t get the skirt of fake windows and storefronts along the sidewalk level, meant to help the building “blend in” with its surrounding Main Street Market Square Historical District companions.)  A reader checking up on the structure from a nook in the nearby Bayou Lofts building tells Swamplot that the crane used to construct the garage was removed in the last few weeks; the photo up top was snapped before that happened.
Okay — so the 2 flat concrete sides may blow the garage’s cover for building sleuths peering over from Main St. or Buffalo Bayou. But the lack of disguise does leave very little standing in the way of some kind of later jazzing up, whether that’s commissioned or not.
- Previously on Swamplot: Fake Storefronts Help Downtown Parking Garage Get City’s Historical OK
Images: Michael Partney (photo); Powers & Brown (rendering)
Is it enforceable that these two ugly gray walls be improved? We in the Bayou lofts and other downtown residents are saddened by this blight in our everyday view.
I recently visited Philadelphia, a city of fabulous and interesting art perking many buildings and intersections and it was sad to come home to this.