This sounds very cool. The century-old Sunset Coffee Building, looming in disrepair over Allen’s Landing at the north end of downtown, will become Houston’s “front door” with an $8 million public-private renovation set to begin in April. The three-story brick structure is boarded up, marked with graffiti, and has shrubs growing out of some second-floor [...]
Posts Tagged ‘preservation’
Germantown gets historic designation
Congratulations to what may be the last historic district created in the city of Houston. The first historic district created under a stricter rewrite of Houston’s preservation ordinance passed City Council on Wednesday, though conservationists predicted future districts will be scarce even as they cheered the milestone. With council’s 11-5 vote, Germantown Historic District – [...]
Lawsuit filed over historic preservation ordinance
I got an email last week from Kathleen Powell of Responsible Historic Preservation for Houston announcing that the first lawsuit against Houston’s new historic preservation. You can see a copy of the complaint here. What I have not seen is a mention of this on any news-related website. Nothing on the Chron, or Swamplot, or [...]
RIP, Bubba the roach
Another Houston institution bites the dust. For 42 years, a 2-ton sign featuring a neon-lighted cockroach blazed over the Southwest Freeway near Westpark, a garish but iconic advertisement for Holder’s Pest Control. The 8-foot-by-16-foot sign, nicknamed Bubba, was taken down in 2004 and put in storage because Holder’s had moved its offices and a new [...]
What’s to become of the downtown post office?
Lisa Gray writes about the future of the downtown post office on Franklin. In the past couple of years, there have been rumblings that the U.S. Postal Service plans to leave 401 Franklin and sell the 16-acre complex – a prospect that sets developers, architects and planners atremble. It’s not just that the parcel of [...]
More thoughts on the Mayoral election
I think there are two key things to keep in mind when contemplating Tuesday’s election results in Houston and what they may mean for 2013. First and foremost, I believe you have to see the Mayor’s percentage of the vote, which everyone would agree was underwhelming, as a reflection on her level of support and [...]
Interview with Leticia Gutierrez Ablaza
Leticia Gutierrez Ablaza was a deadline day filer for Houston City Council in District I. A resident of Glenbrook Valley, she became politically involved during the fight over the historic preservation ordinance in that neighborhood. She has a degree in finance and has worked in the financial services industry. Here’s our conversation: Download the MP3 [...]
Trader Joe’s makes its move
Alabama Theater, here they come. Trader Joe’s is officially considering the historic Alabama Theatre for its first Houston outpost. The proposal is on the agenda for this week’s meeting of the Houston Archaeological and Historical Commission, which would have to approve changes made to the property. That would be tomorrow. You can see a copy [...]
Trader Joe’s to the Alabama Bookstop?
Maybe. Trader Joe’s is eyeing the old Alabama Theatre on Shepherd and West Alabama, according to a source familiar with the situation. Earlier this year, the grocer said it planned to open stores in Houston and Dallas. Specific locations were not identified. Weingarten Realty, which owns the property, would not comment. Neither would Trader Joe’s. [...]
Meet the new historical districts
Not so different from the old historical districts. After months of petition drives and acrimonious public testimony over the protection of old Houston neighborhoods, the only change to the six historic district maps headed to the City Council on Wednesday is the removal of a single address from a Montrose-area district. The council could end [...]
Historic Houston closing its salvage warehouse
What a shame. LOCAL NONPROFIT Historic Houston is no longer accepting donations of building materials, and is closing its salvage warehouse and ending its salvage program, reports the organization’s founder and executive director, Lynn Edmundson. The organization stored and sold donated historic building materials reclaimed from doomed houses at a leased warehouse and yard at [...]
Historic preservation has been preserved
Swamplot: THE RESULTS ARE in, and it looks like the great campaign todissolve Houston’s historic districts has been a bit of a bust. Houston planning director Marlene Gafrick reports that the “survey period” for Heights East, Heights West, Heights South, Boulevard Oaks, and Avondale West historic districts has closed and that the planning department has [...]
What the Planning Department says about the new preservation ordinance
Via The Heights Life, here are a series of YouTube videos produced by Planning & Development Director Marlene Gafrick to explain what the new preservation ordinance is all about: Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRJrDd6cb7A Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ae5DyFiwuk4 Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tp81p1Yq2HQ Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8X3IpwWfcs Or just go to YouTube and search on “Marlene Gafrick”. If I hear of [...]
Council passes revised historic preservation ordinance
I’m glad to see that City Council finally passed the long-awaited and much-revised historic preservation ordinance, and even more glad to see that the 90-day waiver for demolitions has been excised, so that what we have now is an actual ordinance and not merely a preservation suggestion. But it’s clear that the fight is a [...]
The preservation ordinance fight
The revised preservation ordinance came before Council last week. It got a lot of feedback in addition to being tagged. Mayor Pro Tem Anne Clutterbuck also opposed the changes to the ordinance, which include a provision that would prevent property owners from demolishing historic buildings in historic districts if a city commission has denied their [...]
Public Hearing on Final Draft of Historic Preservation Ordinance
From the Inbox: Final Draft of Proposed Amendments to Historic Preservation Ordinance Released Houstonians, After a two-month process involving public input from stakeholders, I have released the final draft of proposed amendments to the City’s Historic Preservation Ordinance and a specified process for transitioning the existing historic districts to the stronger protections offered by the [...]
Public meeting regarding Koehler Street Development
From the inbox: Public Meeting Regarding Koehler Street Development Mayor Annise Parker Cordially invites you to attend A public meeting regarding the Koehler Street Development Wednesday, August 25, 2010 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. George R. Brown Convention Center 1001 Avenida de las Americas Room 370 Houston, TX 77010 You are cordially invited to attend [...]
Signs, signs, everywhere there’s signs
I mentioned there were pro-preservation ordinance signs out there, so I thought I’d show what they look like: The link is to http://www.preservehouston.org/, the Houston Historic Districts Coalition. It’s a busy little website, especially in contrast to the Responsible Historic Preservation folks. As I said before, I’ve seen a lot more of the RHP signs [...]
The preservationists make their case
Ramona Davis of the Greater Houston Preservation Alliance has a long and detailed op-ed in the Sunday paper that makes the case for the new preservation ordinance currently working its way through Council. Here’s a sample of the bullet points: • Houston’s preservation ordinance does not govern interiors. Section 33-202(c) of the ordinance specifically states, [...]
Pushback on the historic preservation ordinance
I’m seeing a few of these signs in my neighborhood: The first ones I spotted were in front of houses on Heights Blvd; this one and a couple of others were on Studewood on an empty commercial lot. I’ve since seen a few on Yale and 6th Street. The ResponsibleHistoricPreservation.org site says it is a [...]
The new Historic Preservation ordinance
From Swamplot: The mayor’s office is out with a “public comment draft” of proposed changes to Houston’s Historic Preservation Ordinance. The biggest (and most expected) change: There’ll be no more 90-day “compliance waivers” issued for historic-district properties. Under the previous ordinance, owners of contributing properties in historic districts whose plans for new construction, demolition, or [...]
Do we really want to save the Dome?
According to the Department of Anecdotal Evidence, we do. Respondents to an online survey run by Reliant Park’s landlord “overwhelmingly” support saving the Astrodome, according to the official in charge of the survey. Willie Loston, executive director of the Harris County Sports & Convention Corporation, declined to release a detailed breakdown of the 5,800 votes [...]
More on the three options for the Dome
As promised last week, we now have more information on the three options for the Dome. The Sports & Convention Corporation hosted a news conference Monday to present the broad outlines of three possible plans for the 45-year-old Astrodome and 35-year-old Reliant Arena: • Reliant Park Plaza plan: Raze the Dome for $128 million; replace [...]
Council passes demolition moratorium for historic properties
Houston City Council has taken a step forward to providing stronger protection for historic properties. City Council passed a temporary law today that puts a moratorium on demolitions in Houston’s 15 historic districts. The city’s 15-year-old preservation ordinance has allowed a property owner to proceed with a renovation, demolition or relocation in one of the [...]
Council may vote today to strengthen preservation ordinance
Last week, we heard that Houston City Council was considering a change to the historic preservation ordinance that would actually prevent structures from being torn down or moved if the Houston Archeological and Historic Commission denied the request to do so. Right now, all that the owner of such a property needs to do is [...]
Changes coming to the preservation ordinance?
Swamplot has a scoop. Some major changes to the implementation of Houston’s long-ridiculed historic preservation ordinance may be coming very soon, if a proposal supported by Mayor Annise Parker passes a city council vote that could occur as early as next Wednesday, Swamplot has learned. Under the current ordinance (for all designated historic districts except [...]
Still trying to save the Dome
Nancy Sarnoff reports. A new page has sprung up on Facebook called Save the Astrodome. It was created by the Houstonian behind www.AmnesiaHouston.org, a Web site aimed at bringing attention to the city’s disappearing landmarks. The creator compares the Astrodome to the Eiffel Tower and wonders, “what else it could be.” That’s the question, isn’t [...]
One last time for the Dome and the Dynamo
I suppose now that the Dynamo have finally gotten an official commitment from all relevant parties to go forward with their downtown stadium idea that it was inevitable the question of why didn’t they just use the Astrodome came up again one last time. The answers really should be obvious, but let’s go over them [...]
Weingarten’s whining
Apparently, the folks at Weingarten are a wee bit sensitive about the negative reactions they’ve gotten since their plans to demolish the interior of the Alabama Theater became public knowledge. They’ve been keeping their PR people busy with a continued barrage of ever-denser statements about what may or may not be happening at that location. [...]
The state of the city 2010
Mayor Parker gave her first State of the City address today before the Greater Houston Partnership. Here are a few highlights from her address, which you can read as written here. We don’t know everything that lies ahead. The pressures are immense. The economy and budget constraints may cause fees for some vital and essential [...]
Staples confirms it is not looking at the Alabama Theater
Swamplot noted this last week when one of its readers sent an email to Staples, and now the company has written a letter to the Chron to confirm that they are not seeking to redevelop the Alabama Theater. Staples was invited by the owner to consider leasing the Alabama Theatre location. We showed interest because [...]
Whose job is it anyway?
This Chron editorial reviews the Weingarten/Alabama BookStop situation, and raises a pertinent issue: Most cities aggressively protect the handful of places that make them special. Houston doesn’t. We offer incentives to make stadium deals work for sports teams. Why not make historic preservation more attractive to business? So far, Houston has taken only tentative steps [...]
No Staples for the Alabama Theater
Some news from Swamplot, from a commenter there named Andrea: “After writing to Staples PR this is their canned response: ‘While there has been speculation about Staples in connection with the historic Alabama Theater, we do not have a lease agreement at this location. Staples will continue to be a good neighbor that supports the [...]