Uncertain when beauty meets abuse? Torn Curtin reveals another real estate play:
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Tag: Demolitions
HOW TO DEMOLISH THE ASTRODOME: NO DYNAMITE, PLEASE 
“. . . the Dome is also a mess right now, full of deadly asbestos, molds, a whole geological stratum’s worth of dust and who knows what else. But that nasty stew, ironically, may be its ultimate salvation. Although they blew up Texas Stadium for about $7 million, the figure for leveling the Dome is said to be in excess of $100 million . . .
Why so much? Even after the asbestos is removed, the tremors caused by imploding it could damage Reliant Stadium, so a ‘piece by piece dismantling’ will be required, explains Narendra Gosain, a senior principal with Walter P. Moore, the firm originally responsible for the Dome’s structural design. Walter P. Moore also consulted when San Antonio took apart the Hemisfair Arena, which Gosain calls a ‘mini-Astrodome.’
Explosives couldn’t be used on that venue, either, because of how close it stood to the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center.
‘The frame was the same, just much smaller,’ Gosain said, ‘and it required a very slow, painstaking process.’” [Houston Chronicle, via Off the Kuff; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Candace Garcia
Some action near the Main St. exit on the North Freeway, plus more farther afield.
Three houses, a garage, and 2 sheds? That makes it.
COMMENT OF THE DAY: ROCK ON, PRUDENTIAL DEMO 
“Although I am a huge proponent of keeping architecturally significant buildings intact and committing to their re-use, this building is an exception. I worked on some interior spaces in this building and although it was beautiful on the outside (as beautiful as a limestone monolith can be) the interior, with the exception of the first floor was awful. Low ceilings, large thick structural walls and narrow passageways gave it a feeling somewhere between a habitrail and a cave. It is also loaded with asbestos. MD Anderson is committed to keeping functional buildings, as they showed by adding to to top of the existing Alkek tower last year, rather than tearing it down. Houston Main Building really did have to go.” [LISA, commenting on Report: M.D. Anderson Begins Demolishing Med Center Icon; more recently on Swamplot]
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
If each of you can pitch in with a whack or two, these places will be down in no time:
Yes, it’s probably been a while since the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center’s 18-story Houston Main Building — the former Prudential Tower at 1100 Holcombe St. designed by Kenneth Franzheim — has had its windows washed. But that’s not what these guys on the gondolas are doing to the 59-year-old building. Off with the limestone! Hey, how’d that fresco come out?
- Previously on Swamplot: Will M.D. Anderson’s Contractor Bungle the Largest Fresco Rescue Ever?, The Prudential Tower’s Grand Entrance, Before Its Not-so-Grand Exit, Update: M.D. Anderson Not Demolishing Former Prudential Tower Yet, Just Hacking Away at It a Bit, Report: M.D. Anderson Begins Demolishing Med Center Icon
Photo: Candace Garcia
Five cell sites end their transmissions, along with a Heights fishery and a smattering of other structures:
Some fracturing fluid removals, plus the run of these houses:
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
Plenty of structures are coming down by George:
The reader who sent in these photos of what appears to him to be the impending demolition of the house at 252 Piney Point Rd. tells Swamplot he can’t tell from the markings which trees are scheduled to come down with it — the ones with the red ribbons or the ones with the green: “There are too many to count and are almost all over 50′ tall.” The 5,022-sq.-ft. house on the almost-an-acre lot dates from 1955. The new owner bought the property last December for north of $1 million, but less than the $1,240,000 asking price. The listing included several photos of the “park like setting” just a couple of blocks north of Memorial Dr. but none of the home.
Jacquelyn was 1717. Sometimes these eyes forget the house they’re peering from, when the house they peer upon — well, you, know . . .
