What Interfaith Ministries Is Planning To Do in Midtown

In the middle of last summer, Interfaith Ministries closed on almost 76,000 sq. ft. of Midtown property spanning 2 catty-corner blocks just north of HCC, including the PrimeWay Federal Credit Union building shown here at 3303 Main St.; the organization says it’s closing in on the $12.5 million needed to fund the renovation of the 39,000-sq.-ft. bank into its headquarters and the construction of a new 14,000-sq.-ft. Meals on Wheels distribution center at Elgin and Fannin.

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This rendering shows the Main St. bank’s conversion into the so-called Herzstein Building, where Interfaith will relocate its headquarters from 3217 Montrose Blvd. (That’s a 17,000-sq.-ft. office building near Westheimer Rd. that sold earlier this month to Braun Enterprises, a real estate development and management company.)

Inside, the bank vault will be converted into a conference room:

Here are the floor plans for the renovations:

That’s the first floor. What Interfaith is calling the Great Hall is planned for the area labeled 1A; a veranda for 1B. Offices, meeting rooms, waiting areas, and storage fill up the rest of the space.

The second floor’s more of the same:

And catty-corner from this on the lot bound by Fannin, San Jacinto, Stuart, and Elgin will be new construction of the Meals on Wheels distribution center:

The distribution center’s supposed to have the capacity to prepare and truck out 10,000 meals a day. Here’s a rendering of the interior:

The 13,750 sq. ft. of land purchased for the distribution center is vacant. This view shows it from the corner of Elgin and Fannin:

And this view is from the corner of Elgin and San Jacinto St.:

Though a map on Interfaith’s website suggests that the distribution center will occupy the entire block, you can see in the photo directly above the side of Nationwide Nail Supply. Owner Hanh Nguyen of Nationwide Nail Supply at 3215 Fannin and neighbor Dr. Nghiem Nguyen Pham of MC Eye Center & Optical at 3221 Fannin both say that that’s not the case. In fact, Nguyen says that Interfaith agreed to “trade land” with his nail supply, which is planning to build a warehouse of its own here.

A floor plan for the distribution center illustrates what he means:

That box labeled 6A is described as the loading dock; it will be accessible via Stuart St., in the middle of the block, running behind the nail supply and eye center.

And here’s the second floor:

Images: Interfaith Ministries (renderings and floor plans); Allyn West (others)

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