List Of Things Demolished For Katy Freeway Expansion

IronTiger · January 8, 2013

Hey! Right now, I'm composing a list of buildings and structures demolished for the Katy Freeway expansion. It's extensive, but currently in a draft form, and I'd like your help in expanding it or making it better somehow. Because HAIF doesn't allow editing of posts after 2 hours, I'll make later updates, possibly including maps of some sort.

major sources: http://www.houstonfreeways.com/modern/2005-04-23_i10_row_clearance.aspx

http://www.texasfreeway.com/houston/photos/i10w/i10_right-of-way.shtml

WESTBOUND INTERSTATE 10

This counts buildings as if heading west on I-10, looking out the right, major roads are marked.

After a warehouse with a section cut in it for an MKT spur, the clearances begin.

first is an office/light industrial building

WIRT ROAD

office building, northwest corner of Wirt Road and I-10 (picture seen in TexasFreeway.com)

two office buildings (or apartments?) to the east of the Key Credit Union building

Key Credit Union Building (northeast corner of Bingle and I-10)

BINGLE ROAD

part of the Westside Family YMCA (may operate under a different name, but a building was lost)

VOSS ROAD

ALL the houses on Cunningham Street, including the road itself.

a cul-de-sac of houses

Ciro's Cibo Italiani and the strip mall next to it

CAMPBELL ROAD

office building at northwest corner of Campbell and I-10

almost everything between Adkins and Anne is demolished, including office buildings, warehouse-like buildings, and St. James Furniture. Calico Corners is actually spared, though still moves out.

just east of Lowe's two office buildings (appear to be office buildings, at least)

two buildings near Lowe's, possibly commercial

BUNKER HILL ROAD

most buildings between Witte Road and Bunker Hill were demolished, if not for the freeway (although some were), became part of a huge shopping center anchored by H-E-B and others

WITTE ROAD

two buildings between the apartment complex and Witte Road

a few units of an apartment complex

gas station at northeast corner of Gessner and I-10 (appears to have Citgo colors, according to the Houston Freeways page)

GESSNER DRIVE

a stand-alone restaurant at the northwest corner of Gessner and I-10 (don't know name)

part of a strip mall at the northwest corner of Gessner and I-10 (the strip mall was completely demolished later, though unrelated to the consruction)

part of a storage-looking building just west of Conrad Sauer Road (rest of building intact)

Bennigan's - just south of Chili's (which survived)

BELTWAY 8

Igloo Manufacturing Facility - turned into retention pond, worth noting it was once connected to the MKT line via spur

some buildings at the northeast corner of Biltmore and I-10

After this point, the only thing that appears to be razed for construction is some apartments near Sherwood Oaks - some units demolished, complex as a whole clipped

---END LIMITS OF WESTBOUND EXPANSION---

This is the Eastbound demolitions.

Although there are some building changes (particularly a strip mall that was partially demolished, and then later demolished, plus some new restaurants), the main clearance starts at Wirt Road.

gas station - though it looks like it could've been spared, on the west side of west side of Wirt Road.

WIRT ROAD

McDonald's - gray mansard roof, became part of National Tree & Shrub later

59 Diner - this too

unknown restaurant - Dewar's? Dexar's? Take a look for yourself

La Quinta Inn - well documented, two-level, motel style

Denny's - next to La Quinta Inn

Memorial 1 Motorcars - warehouse looking thing

REI - Opened in the late 1990s, short lived

INTERNATIONAL BLVD

some kinda office building demolished except for a small chunk hanging off near the Antoine end

Wellesley Inn & Suites - three story hotel with pool

Private Self-Storage - largely still intact, still survives (under a different name, maybe?)

Holiday Inn - big and fancy one. 11 stories.

something that looks like a car dealership - this is the west of the building that survived the expansion

unknown gas station - southwest corner of Silber and I-10

SILBER ROAD

--END OF LIMITS OF EASTBOUND EXPANSION--

Please write in any corrections or something...just a project of mine.

IronTiger · January 9, 2013

First of the screenshots: this represents everything between Wirt Road and International Boulevard. McDonald's is the first red X on the lower left, then 59 Diner next to it, and so on.

Materene · January 9, 2013

It seems all this freeway expansion will be one that never ever gets finished, it's like 45 south to Galveston, I'm 64 pusing 65 and have never seen that 45 south not under construction or improvement. What a shame the city planners were not visionaries and had purchased those early monorails systems in the 50's, the infastructure would have already been established and a lot of commerce could have been saved.

billyf · January 9, 2013

Cool. Unfortunately I moved to the west side after the construction began and don't remember too much about what was there before. I remember driving through there just before the expansion began. It looked like NYC back in the 1970s with graffiti everywhere. US 290 is about to look the same way. TDOT has already bought several properties near 290 and Beltway 8 for Hempstead Tollway and 290 expansion. All of the fast food restaurants near Senate are closed. http://www.h-gac.com/taq/commitees/TPC/2009/11-nov/docs/ITEM%2011%20--%20BG%20Attachment%20Prop%2012%20Recommended%20List.pdf

IronTiger · January 9, 2013

Oh geez, I didn't realize that! I thought they were goners, but I also thought the Hempstead Tollway was cancelled. Ah well, there goes another Mansard Roof McDonald's...

I created another map, it looks east of the last area. Blue circles are the ones that were partially demolished but mostly intact, starting with the office building and moving onto the hotels. Antoine is to the west (but fully in the picture), the original IKEA is to the north.

SpaceGhost · January 21, 2013

"some kinda office building demolished except for a small chunk hanging off near the Antoine end"

I believe this was a strip mall? I think this is where Memorial Grocery was located.

detached · January 30, 2013

It is interesting to note that many of these buildings were newly built in the 1980's onwards, only to be promptly demolished for Houston's freeway expansion addiction. That ridiculous freeway even ate up the old K-T rail line which would have better been developed as a commuter rail corridor out to Katy and San Antonio.

Before the REI, that plot of land was a car dealership during the 1970's. Crown Plumbing is the building on the right side, you have circled blue. There was also a Howard Johnson's Motor Lodge just to the west of your photo edge. It had one of those HoJo restaurant buildings out front, with the 2 story motel behind. A photo of the 59 Diner and the freeway, just to the west of your image: http://media.beta.photobucket.com/user/marmer01/media/10w_59_diner_19_2004-08-08_800.jpg.html?filters[term]=59%20diner%20katy%20freeway&filters[primary]=images

Unknown restaurant = Dexter's. My friend's family owned Continental Finer Foods in the 1970's, which I think was located in the area you thought was some kinda office building. It was a strip mall. They also had a Continental Foods in Town & Country Shopping Village, facing west on West Belt, between Memorial Drive and Kimberley, just to the west of the long-gone Sakowitz store.

.

You may refer to HIstoircaerials.com to get better ideas of what has been there since the early 1950's. A fabulous resource.

Ross · January 30, 2013

SW corner of Voss and the freeway was the building with Red Adair's offices.

detached · January 30, 2013

The north side of the freeway... Oh, yes! Ciro's Italian. That strip center was another one that was relatively recently built in the 1980's. We used to go eat at the Great Charcoal Chicken restaurant that was next to Ciro's, to the east. Best King Ranch Chicken around! There was also a fitness center in this shopping center.

Spring Branch Honda used to sit just in a triangle shaped property to the east of Bunker Hill. I believe there is a bank there, now, just behind Best Buy. The area that was developed into the HEB and other shops was a vast industrial property, that I think made oil field equipment. Which reminds me, Cameron Iron Works used to sit on the large Edwards IMAX property, closer to 610.

I also remember a lovely old (Circa 1900) 2 story white, wood-sided house that sat on large grounds, facing eastwards towards Witte on the north side of the freeway. Its property was surrounded by large, old Live Oaks. The house was torn down and developed into single story commercial buildings in the very late 1970's. At that time, they left the great old Live Oak trees and some of the pecan trees in what was once a big orchard. I was sorry to see the trees razed when the plot of land recently was redeveloped, once again, as The Room Store. Totally concreted, now.

TEC · February 2, 2013

GESSNER DRIVE
a stand-alone restaurant at the northwest corner of Gessner and I-10 (don't know name)
part of a strip mall at the northwest corner of Gessner and I-10 (the strip mall was completely demolished later, though unrelated to the consruction)
part of a storage-looking building just west of Conrad Sauer Road (rest of building intact)
Bennigan's - just south of Chili's (which survived)

"a stand-alone restaurant at the northwest corner of Gessner and I-10 (don't know name)" - Luther's Bar-B-Q

"part of a strip mall at the northwest corner of Gessner and I-10 (the strip mall was completely demolished later, though unrelated to the consruction)" - included Cornbread Billiards & Bar, Cici's Pizza, a Chinese restaurant, and a Casual Male XL Big & Tall

"Bennigan's - just south of Chili's (which survived)" - Demolition unrelated to I-10 construction. Bennigans/Steak & Ale went bankrupt and closed most of their locations. The building was demolished to serve as parking for the HCC campus whose parking lot it occupied.

IronTiger · February 2, 2013

Actually, Bennigan's was demolished due to the highway construction. Evidence is on Google Earth.

As for the MKT rail line, it could have worked as a line to Austin, but not Houston. Following the line, the MKT goes north to Bastrop (going under the highway), and eventually up Temple to Waco. A better line would be taken advantage of the Eagle Lake line, but that was largely dismantled for the Westpark Tollway.

IronTiger · February 3, 2013

UPDATED LIST

major sources (besides this thread): http://www.houstonfreeways.com/modern/2005-04-23_i10_row_clearance.aspx
http://www.texasfreeway.com/houston/photos/i10w/i10_right-of-way.shtml

From left to right (far left is International Road):

- a strip mall, anchored by Continental Finer Foods (and later Memorial Grocery)
- the building from this strip mall that WASN'T demolished
- two buildings I don't know much about
- Wellesley Inn & Suites - three story hotel with pool
- Private Self-Storage - largely still intact, still survives (under a different name, maybe?)
- Holiday Inn - big and fancy one. 11 stories.
- something that looks like a car dealership - large warehouse

- Crown Plumbing - had storage units in the back? Partially demolished.
- unknown gas station - southwest corner of Silber and I-10

This is just west of that. From left to right, but not counting the industrial building on the north side:
- McDonald's - gray mansard roof, built late 1980s or early 1990s. No playground.
- 59 Diner - cool looking local place, other locations in Houston
- Dexter's - a restaurant: this is seen in the background of this shot, though TBH I don't see how two letters hid behind that power pole
- La Quinta Inn - well documented, two-level, motel style
- Denny's - next to La Quinta Inn, of course
- Whataburger - 24 hour location!
- Memorial 1 Motorcars - warehouse looking thing
- REI - Opened in the late 1990s, short lived

OTHER BUILDINGS

WESTBOUND INTERSTATE 10
This counts buildings as if heading west on I-10, looking out the right, major roads are marked.

WIRT ROAD

office building, northwest corner of Wirt Road and I-10 (picture seen in TexasFreeway.com)
two office buildings (or apartments?) to the east of the Key Credit Union building
Key Credit Union Building (northeast corner of Bingle and I-10)

BINGLE ROAD

The original building of the Westside Family YMCA (renamed to Dad's Club Aquatic & Fitness Center)

VOSS ROAD

ALL the houses on Cunningham Street, including the road itself.
a cul-de-sac of houses
Ciro's Cibo Italiani and the strip mall next to it

CAMPBELL ROAD

office building at northwest corner of Campbell and I-10
almost everything between Adkins and Anne is demolished, including office buildings, warehouse-like buildings, and St. James Furniture. Calico Corners is actually spared, though still moves out.
just east of Lowe's two office buildings (appear to be office buildings, at least)
two buildings near Lowe's, possibly commercial

BUNKER HILL ROAD

most buildings between Witte Road and Bunker Hill were demolished, if not for the freeway (although some were), became part of a huge shopping center anchored by H-E-B and others

WITTE ROAD

two buildings between the apartment complex and Witte Road
a few units of an apartment complex
gas station at northeast corner of Gessner and I-10 (appears to have Citgo colors, according to the Houston Freeways page)

GESSNER DRIVE

Luther's Bar-B-Q - Thanks, TEC!
part of a strip mall at the northwest corner of Gessner and I-10 (the strip mall was completely demolished later, though unrelated to the consruction)
part of a storage-looking building just west of Conrad Sauer Road (rest of building intact)
Bennigan's - just south of Chili's, which managed to survive

BELTWAY 8

Igloo Manufacturing Facility - turned into retention pond, worth noting it was once connected to the MKT line via spur
some buildings at the northeast corner of Biltmore and I-10

After this point, the only thing that appears to be razed for construction is some apartments near Sherwood Oaks - some units demolished, complex as a whole clipped

---END LIMITS OF WESTBOUND EXPANSION---

As for Eastbound demolitions (south side), there are some building changes (particularly a strip mall that was partially demolished, and then later demolished, plus some new restaurants), the main clearance starts at Wirt Road.

gas station - though it looks like it could've been spared, on the west side of west side of Wirt Road.

More pictures soon, and a more cleaned up list. Some of them I had forgotten the first time around.

IronTiger · June 15, 2013

So I was a bit glum about the impending demolition of many places I've seen along the 290 corridor--I had published some awesome photos of McDonald's, Taco Bell, and Wendy's, which all sat near 290 and 8 (they have since been razed, I've been informed), and besides maybe a new list of "Things Demolished for the 290 Expansion", I read an article that http://impactnews.com/houston-metro/northwest-houston/hwy.-290-project-to-cause-future-business-displacement/'>gives off some numbers for displacement. Besides being depressed from that number, my ears perked up at the exact number of that. Perhaps there's records (beyond aerial photos, forum postings, and a few forum pages) of things that existed along Interstate 10?

august948 · June 16, 2013

The Fiesta at Blalock and I-10 lost a large chunk of it's parking lot. They moved out and 99 Ranch Market moved in.

Slick Vik · June 16, 2013

Sad

IronTiger · June 16, 2013

Here's my updated list. Unfortunately, I've forgotten what exactly I wanted to add, but here goes. I'm also tend to leave out some buildings that met their demise not because of construction directly, but from economic harm.

Major sources (besides this thread): http://www.houstonfreeways.com/modern/2005-04-23_i10_row_clearance.aspx

http://www.texasfreeway.com/houston/photos/i10w/i10_right-of-way.shtml

The building demolition begins at Silber Road (some warehouse-looking things had been demolished in 2002 for the Helfman Dodge dealership, they weren't related). There was also a warehouse near Awty International School that had an industrial purpose (some rail can still be seen embedded in the parking lot), but that wasn't demolished and (even then?) incorporated into the school.

From left to right (the road to the very far left is International Road, the road in the center is Antoine):

- a strip mall, anchored by Continental Finer Foods (and later Memorial Grocery)

- the building from this strip mall that WASN'T demolished. This is circled in blue, and is now (only?) a UPS store.

- two buildings I don't know much about.

- Wellesley Inn & Suites - three story hotel with pool

- Private Self-Storage - largely still intact, still survives (under a different name, maybe?)

- Holiday Inn - big and fancy one. 11 stories, according to a hotel directory I have at the time. It's address was 7787 Katy Freeway, the only such building on this list that I have an address for.

- something that looks like a car dealership - large warehouse

- Crown Plumbing - had storage units in the back? Partially demolished.

- unknown gas station - southwest corner of Silber and I-10. The scars remain today.

To the north you can see a bit from the original IKEA/old STØR. The demolition of the original store had nothing to do with the widening, IKEA wanted more parking and more store.

This is just west of that. From left to right, but not counting the industrial building on the north side (marked with an X, I don't know what it was):

- McDonald's - gray mansard roof, built late 1980s or early 1990s. No playground.

- 59 Diner - cool looking local place, other locations in Houston

- Dexter's - a restaurant which "detached" mentioned: this is seen in the background of this shot, though TBH I don't see how two letters hid behind that power pole

- La Quinta Inn - well documented, two-level, motel style

- Denny's - next to La Quinta Inn, of course

- Whataburger - 24 hour location!

- Memorial 1 Motorcars - warehouse looking thing

- REI - Opened in the late 1990s, short lived

The road to the very far left is Wirt Road.

Next down the line is a picture I created a while back.

The blue Xs were things I weren't sure were demolished because of Interstate 10 or not. That gas station had its canopy awfully close to the frontage road, and because of discrepancies in Google Earth aerial positioning, I can't tell if it was demolished because of the demo. By October 2005, it was already gone and replaced with a CVS, with the McDonald's abandoned (and everything to the east gone).

The other blue X is an apartment complex. At the corner of Wirt and Katy Freeway is an office building, 1003 Wirt. It can be seen in this shot.

Notice the blobs of asphalt where the railroad ran, in the lower left hand corner.

After demolition, it appeared to be temporary buildings related to the construction.

--

While I don't have pictures for these, here are others down the road. I may be missing some.

At Hunters Creek and the eastbound frontage, there appears to be a bank later demo'd for something else. This was not related to the construction.

If heading west on I-10, looking out the right, this is the buildings demolished. After passing Wirt, you'll see these (major roads in capital letters). I know I'm missing stuff though in the lists below...at the southwest corner of Interstate 10 and Beltway 8, for instance, there was a garden center (seasonal?) and a long-abandoned building (Sage?)

So here's the list from west of the pictures:

two office buildings (or apartments?) to the east of the Key Credit Union building

Key Credit Union Building (northeast corner of Bingle and I-10)

BINGLE ROAD

The original building of the Westside Family YMCA (renamed to Dad's Club Aquatic & Fitness Center)

VOSS ROAD

ALL the houses on Cunningham Street, including the road itself.

a cul-de-sac of houses

Ciro's Cibo Italiani and the strip mall next to it

CAMPBELL ROAD

office building at northwest corner of Campbell and I-10

almost everything between Adkins and Anne is demolished, including office buildings, warehouse-like buildings, and St. James Furniture. Calico Corners is actually spared, though still moves out.

just east of Lowe's two office buildings (appear to be office buildings, at least)

two buildings near Lowe's, possibly commercial

BUNKER HILL ROAD

most buildings between Witte Road and Bunker Hill were demolished, if not for the freeway (although some were), became part of a huge shopping center anchored by H-E-B and others

WITTE ROAD

two buildings between the apartment complex and Witte Road

a few units of an apartment complex

gas station at northeast corner of Gessner and I-10 (appears to have Citgo colors, according to the Houston Freeways page)

GESSNER DRIVE

Luther's Bar-B-Q - Thanks, TEC!

part of a strip mall at the northwest corner of Gessner and I-10 (the strip mall was completely demolished later, though unrelated to the consruction)

part of a storage-looking building just west of Conrad Sauer Road (rest of building intact)

Bennigan's - just south of Chili's, which managed to survive

BELTWAY 8

Igloo Manufacturing Facility - turned into retention pond, worth noting it was once connected to the MKT line via spur

some buildings at the northeast corner of Biltmore and I-10

After this point, the only thing that appears to be razed for construction is some apartments near Sherwood Oaks - some units demolished, complex as a whole clipped

---END LIMITS OF WESTBOUND EXPANSION---

As for Eastbound demolitions (south side), there are some building changes (particularly a strip mall that was partially demolished, and then later demolished, plus some new restaurants), the main clearance starts at Wirt Road.

gas station - though it looks like it could've been spared, on the west side of west side of Wirt Road.

More pictures soon, and a more cleaned up list. Some of them I had forgotten the first time around.

Finally, a word of note: although I feel bad at what was lost in the expansion (I get nostalgic just from looking at the pictures, even though I'm pretty sure I never drove out that way), I don't regret the freeway was built. All too often I hear whining about how the rail could've been used somehow, but the fact was, it couldn't. The only alternative would it be built in the median of the freeway (which it is in west Interstate 10, far west Interstate 10, that is), which would've necessitated even more ROW acquisitions then before.

RedScare · June 16, 2013

Sad

Stores that only existed because of the freeway in front of them are demolished to expand the freeway that allowed the stores to exist.

Is that sad? Is it?

livincinco · June 17, 2013

Stores that only existed because of the freeway in front of them are demolished to expand the freeway that allowed the stores to exist.

Is that sad? Is it?

It's very sad. I mean look at that list. A McDonalds??? A Whataburger??? A self-storage facility??? Those are irreplaceable architectural gems! Galveston would have never allowed this kind of history to be destroyed.

IronTiger · June 17, 2013

There are no real tragedies of this list, I mean, I do enjoy older stoplights and the like that gives these types of things a certain feel, but RedScare is right. In the grand scheme of things, nothing was demolished that was a historic landmark. It did reflect a certain time in the lifespan of Houston, though, and thus invoke a bit of nostalgia, but nothing to lose to sleep over.

Remember, though, that none of the buildings that were demolished were particularly old, all having dated from the 1980s. The purpose of this thread is not to blame TxDOT for demolition of all these buildings or to promote them as lost masterpieces that were too close to a freeway--it's a little side project that just catalogs what was demolished before it's completely forgotten.

august948 · June 17, 2013

Sad

Maybe sad for folks who sit in their basements living in a fantasy world, but for those of us who actually live and work in this city the Katy Freeway expansion was a project well worth the cost.

Slick Vik · June 17, 2013

Maybe sad for folks who sit in their basements living in a fantasy world, but for those of us who actually live and work in this city the Katy Freeway expansion was a project well worth the cost.

I must be in a fantasy world as I walk through downtown vancouver after taking a skytrain.

editor · June 17, 2013

Keep it on topic, people.

And Vik, don't pretend you live in Vancouver. You're just visiting relatives.

KinkaidAlum · June 18, 2013

What about the Dad's Club and the old roller skating rink? I remember swim meets at the Dad's Club and many a birthday party at the old rink. Didn't they come down due to I-10 expansion?

Ross · June 18, 2013

Part of Dad's Club was torn down. There's still a pool there, bu the facility isn't as large.

IronTiger · June 18, 2013

That's part of the next image update. The old YMCA building (brown brick) was indeed torn down.

IronTiger · June 18, 2013