The long-vacant Savoy Hotel at 1616 Main has been sold to a group of investors and will be converted sometime this year into a flagship Holiday Inn, reports the Houston Chronicle’s Erin Mulvaney, adding to Downtown’s stock of both new and renovated hotels. Crews were spotted at the 17-story Savoy last month opening windows and building a wooden chute that was sending dusty innards down into a Dumpster, where the 7-story, pigeon-poop-encrusted original 1906 Savoy Apartments stood until that building was demolished in 2009. Once called the Savoy-Field Hotel, the 1960s-era building stands on the lot bound by Leeland, Main, Travis, and Pease, across from the construction site of the new 24-story SkyHouse apartments.
- Old Savoy Hotel to be Holiday Inn flagship [Houston Chronicle ($)]
- Previously on Swamplot: Airing Out, At Least, the Old Savoy Downtown, Downtown SkyHouse Clearing the Ground First, New Convention Center Hotel Seems a Done Deal, Downtown Landmark Lancaster Hotel To Be Upgraded with ‘Prestigious Plumbing Accouterments’, Apartments in Old Humble Oil Building Downtown To Go the Way of Its Hotel Neighbors, Where Downtown’s New Residential Tower Will Go, Guano with the Wind: Demolishing the Savoy Asbestos Possible, Emergency Demo: The Savoy Hotel’s Final Weekend Stay Downtown, Downtown’s Pigeon Poop Powder Keg Will Not Go Boom
Photo: Swamplot inbox
Now if only that Days Inn could go away.
Glad to hear! I was parked in the lot next to this yesterday and was happy to see that something was being done with the old Savoy. It’s too bad that there was nothing around the ExxonMobil building when I used to work at that office.
I presume the “spider” parking garage will also be repaired? I remember parking in there and hoping the building wouldn’t collapse on my vehicle.
and the greyhound crack terminal…..
Spoonman, the article says it is in the works
Coming soon: biriyani! Hope they keep
the venthood chimney free of grease or
HFD is gonna have a hell of a time.
Central Square, SkyHouse and now the Savoy? Nice to see that area which has been a scab on the face of downtown finally falling off.
Please God, let the bus terminal bite the dust.
Eyesore buildings and naysayers are disappearing fast. Now if we can just get rid of the new Embassy Suites, we’ll be set…
Die, Greyhound, Die!
If you want to get rid of the Greyhound, might as well try to get rid of the Mc Donalds too.
Greyhound block is filthy . . . why can’t
they hose the sidewalks down once a day? (and pick up the trash blowing around)
Randall’s Grocery is also filthy, their
parking lot lights have been burned out for
months . . . even the store interior is
dirty . . . overpriced. Shop elsewhere
people.
Does anyone remember that the Days Inn was a Holiday Inn “Flagship” hotel when built and opened?
Jessie M: For those of us too cheap to pay, what does the article say about the Day’s Inn at 801 St. Joseph Parkway? ;)
It’s easy to hate on that Greyhound station because it’s gross and kind of scary, but that area has become a vital transit hub with the Metrorail station, Downtown Transit Center and Megabus spot nearby.
It’d be in Greyhound’s best interest to clean that station up if they want to draw new riders and the less hardened types that are now going to Megabus.
I’m sorry, what does Greyhound have to do with any of this? It’s not even located in downtown, and excuse me for saying so, but these ain’t the Chron.com forums. Take your completely unrelated mouth-breathing elsewhere.
Are you the new Junior Mod, Nichey? Do you have a little badge and everything? haha
Right on! Nice to see the Savoy getting used for something. It’s a funky little (big? medium-sized?) building with a unique style- I wasn’t so sure about it at first but the architecture’s grown on me. Between the work on the Savoy, Central Square and the Carter Building and the previous restorations of the Magnolia and Rice Hotels and the Great Southwest building, looks like there’s some real interest in saving these old high-rises. Good news for the CBD- more downtown housing means more downtown night life, events, restaurants- good news!
I gotta say though, I’m well tired of hearing folks whining about the Greyhound station. “Die, Greyhound, die”? Well, It sure isn’t going out of business- people of all sorts (not just poor/non-white folks either- I know what the implication is) keep buying bus tickets. Should the city shut it down? I just don’t see the justification for that- the place is financially-solvent, paying taxes and has both private security and HPD around. Funny how Houstonians will go on and on about freedom for private businesses- unless it’s a business that happens to violate their sense of aestetics, then it’s an abdomination and must be shut down immediately. C’mon, people. Getting so worked up about a few blocks where the sidewalks are dirty and dodgy characters hang out makes y’all look petty, pretentious and out-of-touch with the realities of what cities literally everywhere look like. In general, downtown Houston is much more clean and safe than most other big cities. Just stick to the other eight-tenths of downtown that’s up to your standards and if ya can’t handle the knowledge that, somewhere in your city, there are poor folks of color hanging around then y’all can just move out to Sugarland or the Woodlands- and maybe back to the 1950’s while you’re at it. Sheesh.