It must be musty in there: “After staring at this building for years,” a reader writes, “workers were spotted today removing drapes and opening windows!” This photo of what was called the Savoy-Field Hotel was taken from the parking lot on Leeland St. between Main and Travis; the original 1906 Savoy Apartments building stood here, too, before it was declared dangerous and torn down in 2009. You can see a few of those open windows and a pair of Dumpsters, already full with some of the hotel’s innards. Adds the reader: “Move out pigeons!”
All that hard work installing new wind turbines and solar panels and employee vegetable gardens at the Houston Permitting Center — or even the talk about building a hot dog stand inside — hasn’t seem to have affected its historic status, since the former Butler Brothers Building on Washington Ave in the Old Sixth Ward was given a protected landmark designation yesterday. And what does the newly historic and well-preserved Permitting Center plan to do with this street cred? Why, host historic preservation fairs, of course!
“If the streets smell like pee it is because of the horse cops. Seriously, walking down Main Street is like walking through a barn, and it isn’t the fault of the homeless — it is the dang horses. Why do we need horse cops anyways? Can’t cops get around on bike, or scooter, or something that doesn’t leave piles of poop in the middle of the street?” [Evan7257, commenting on Bringing the Streets Downtown Right into the Lobbies]
Another win for Komatsu: This vacant 30,000-sq.-ft. office building in the shadow of the Houston House apartmentswas reduced to rubble this week on the Downtown lot bound by Fannin, Main, Leeland, and Pease, where construction on the 24-story, 336-unit residential tower SkyHouse is just beginning. (The parking lot in the foreground of the photo at the top is now a hole in the ground.) The project at 1625 Main was announced in March by Atlanta developer Novare Group, which has put up a similar tower in Austin.
“When I was at school at UH-D, I would take the rail up to campus everyday and see those two buildings there. To best contribute to the urban fabric, I often would imagine that someone would redevelop them as dorms, and the block that is between it and the rail line could be repurposed as a plaza with a few cafes that would link the building to the rail.
The private dorms could serve UH-D, HCC Central, South Texas Law, the medical schools, and even UH and TSU once the University line is complete. Having students commute from the various schools to this central location would add vibrancy to the area and could bring about good academic fellowship.
Not sure of the economic feasibility, but it would wildly popular (if the dorm fees were reasonable). Since it’s college kids, renovations need only consist of low cost furnishings, concrete floors, bare ceilings, and maybe a gym and cafeteria.
How do you move a historic cottage from one location to another? Well, carefully: This video uploaded this week from the Heritage Society chronicles the easy-does-it, steady-as-she-goes relocation of a Fourth Ward cottage from its perch in Sam Houston Park. The Heritage Society says that the house, originally located on Robin St. in Freedman’s Town, dates to at least 1866. It’s been in the collection since 2002, temporarily sited on Dallas St., while the society awaited the funds to move it to its permanent home beside to the Jack Yates House in that architectural promenade on the park grounds along McKinney St.
Central Square Plaza has been sold, and new owner Keeley Megarity, whose LLC closed on the 1-acre Midtown property at 2100 Travis St. about a week ago, says that a decision about how to renovate these buildings — and what to renovate them into — will be made in the next 30-45 days.
Architect John Kirksey has an idea for building a park on 36 blocks in south Downtown — just north of the Pierce Elevated, between Louisiana and Caroline. But he doesn’t own the land, and he’s not proposing to buy it up. So Kirksey’s plan isn’t for a single park space — it’s for a bunch of linear walkways. Okay, call it a series of extra-wide sidewalks on the east-west streets. Here’s how it might look, driving through:
“I am dumbstruck at the sheer genius (or is it audacity?) of a Texas-shaped lazy river. The turns around El Paso and Brownsville might be a little hazardous, but that’s a great analogy of the current state of affairs along the Rio. I’d also expect to encounter armed poachers along the Sabine, and flag-waving tea partiers along the Red, but I’m still pretty sure that by downing 3 beers from a floating cooler, I could not only survive, but conquer that bitch. The hardest part would be commemorating the accomplishment with (another) barbed wire arm tattoo and slapping one more bumper sticker on my pickup about guns, secession or liberals (pick one).” [Superdave, commenting on New Convention Center Hotel Seems a Done Deal] Rendering of proposed Marriott Marquis amenity deck: Morris Architects
Houston Politics’ Mike Morris is reporting that city council will vote today to decide whether it will loan Pearl Real Estate up to $7.4 million toward the $81 million renovation and redevelopment of the 22-story slipcovered 1910 Samuel F. Carter building at Rusk and 806 Main St. What does Pearl have in sight? A JW Marriott. (It’d be across the street from BG Group Place.) Last summer, explains Morris, the city applied for U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development money that would be passed on to Pearl and ultimately paid back with interest — or that’s the idea, anyway. This kind of deal went off without a hitch in 1998, when the Rice Hotel paid back their $4.8 million right on time. But the city’s been kept waiting before: “In early 2005, it came to light that the Magnolia Hotel (which had gotten $9.5 million in 2002) and the Crowne Plaza (which had gotten $5 million in 2000) had never made a full payment to the city on their loans.” Though by 2012, Morris adds, those loans had been repaid. [Houston Politics; previously on Swamplot] Photo of 806 Main St.: Swamplot inbox
This relatively gritty Warehouse District warehouse appears to be the subject of some real estate speculation, reports Hair Balls’ Richard Connelly: A website for the Houston Studios building — home to a 10,000-sq.-ft. soundstage with a 30-ft. ceiling for video shoots, rehearsals, and other creative expressions — features renderings that show it as a cleaned-upcommercial complex:
Swamplot covers real estate, home design and renovation, architecture, and the landscape of Houston, Texas. Swamplot did not flood during Allison — or Ike! Honest! Read more
Downtown District rep Angie Bertinot tells abc13 that the organization counted more than 100 “different unique” parking signs mucking things up for drivers hoping to avoid getting towed or ticketed — and in response 
The last 2 restaurants in the tunnels underneath the 18-story former Houston Club Building on Rusk St. are preparing to get up and out of there, reports Prime Property’s Nancy Sarnoff: 
Why isn’t there more street life Downtown? A recent architectural exhibition suggests that one cause might be the sealed world of a 
“I am dumbstruck at the sheer genius (or is it audacity?) of a Texas-shaped lazy river. The turns around El Paso and Brownsville might be a little hazardous, but that’s a great analogy of the current state of affairs along the Rio. I’d also expect to encounter armed poachers along the Sabine, and flag-waving tea partiers along the Red, but I’m still pretty sure that by downing 3 beers from a floating cooler, I could not only survive, but conquer that bitch. The hardest part would be commemorating the accomplishment with (another) barbed wire arm tattoo and slapping one more bumper sticker on my pickup about guns, secession or liberals (pick one).” [
Houston Politics’ Mike Morris is reporting that city council will vote today to decide whether it will loan Pearl Real Estate up to $7.4 million toward the $81 million renovation and redevelopment of the 22-story 
Comment of the Day Runner-Up: What’s on Sale at the Houston Permitting Center?
“When visiting the permit palace please ask about their red tag specials.” [lhd, commenting on Newly Historic Renovated Permitting Center To Hold Preservation Workshops on Renovating Historic Buildings]