COMMENT OF THE DAY: YOU’LL GET YOURS, YOU OLD DEMO-HAPPY POSTMODERNISTS! “What a waste of asbestos abatement. More deep seeded envy of MCM by the prevalence of the baby boomer Post Modernists. When my generation comes to power we will be sure to demo the Williams Tower or the Pennzoil Place just to spite them while they raise their fists at the clouds in their beige geriatric care centers.” [Unemployed Architect, commenting on Old Sheraton-Lincoln Hotel To Be Torn Down for the Views and Parking Spots]
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Tag: Demolitions
Brookfield Office Properties announced giddily yesterday that the real-estate company has bought the 28-story long-vacant former Sheraton-Lincoln Hotel at 711 Polk St. Downtown — just so it can tear the property down. The once-swank hotel achieved a small measure of fame as the Beatles’ Houston crashpad . . . and was also apparently graced with an overnight stay by Kennedy avenger Jack Ruby. But the building has sat vacant for the last 24 years. Brookfield owns the 35-story office building directly to the northeast (at 1201 Louisiana), which has long offered tenants closeup views of the decaying structure. But it looks like only the building’s underground features will remain:
“Our tenants in Total Plaza will experience views of downtown that they never had before,” announced Brookfield’s Paul Layne, “and access to three levels of below-grade parking.” The company says it has no particular plans for further development of the site once the building is demolished.
In 2007, Omni Hotels and an Atlanta company called Songy Partners announced plans to create an all-suites hotel in the structure, which had been cleared of asbestos in the late nineties. The development was meant to include meeting space, restaurants, and a wellness and fitness center. But the project stalled. More recently, the property was put on the market for more than $8 million.
A few scenes from the hotel’s earlier days:
At last we’re seeing a spell of weather conditions conducive to demolition. Prime conditions to pulverize these:
What can you say about a ninety-year-old house that died? That it was beautiful and brilliant?
Some of that Oak Farms Dairy action — and more:
Swamplot’s Daily Demolition Report lists buildings that received City of Houston demolition permits the previous weekday.
Here’s the day’s takeaway:
Mayor Parker, after a stint behind the controls of JTB Services’ excavator at yesterday’s demolition of the Candlelight Trails condominium complex north of Tidwell:
My most fun day yet as Mayor. Make all the jokes you want. I operated a giant backhoe as we demolished an abandoned property off Antoine!
A quick look at the stuff we find smashing:
CANDLELIGHT TRAILS IS GOING DOWN 
The demolition of the 11-acre Candlelight Trails empty-condos-and-crime site could begin as early as today. Officials at city hall tell 11 News reporter Sherry Williams that a judge approved the demolition of the abandoned complex — in the 5500 and 5600 blocks of DeSoto, off Antoine north of Tidwell — this morning: “The city recently sued about 150 of the condo owners to get them to sign off on the demolition. Some of those lawsuits added up to hundreds of thousands of dollars in penalties. . . . ‘As long as they agree to sign over their title to the city, then we’re not going after them for money,’ said Houston City Councilwoman Jolanda Jones. ‘It’s really sad that they bought into a place where the people who ran it absconded with their money, but I’m thankful that we are not further, I don’t know, kicking them while they’re down.’” Update: The demolition is now scheduled to begin at 1:30 pm, according to the Near Northwest Management District. [KHOU; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Matt Stiles
The following homes will not be available, on account of their being indisposed:
Another day, another few places to deliver fill dirt:
Where will the children go?
COMMENT OF THE DAY: APPRECIATING ARCHITECTURE IN A STATE OF DISTRACTION “Sad to see the area lose some of its deco history. That being said, I shop at the Walgreen’s next door once weekly, and I’ve never even noticed this building.” [Superdave, commenting on Daily Demolition Report: MiniMax Axe]
