Jump to content

The Americana: Mixed-Use Redevelopment At 811 Dallas St.


Triton

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 77
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Has anyone heard any rumblings about the Americana being demolished with mixed-used going in its place?

 

It looked like they had a plan at one point. I think they ran everyone out of there other than Subway and the Downtown District guys.  They shut down Popeye's for Pete's sake.

 

I foggily recall something about Hillcorp owning that block too, but don't quote me on that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It looked like they had a plan at one point. I think they ran everyone out of there other than Subway and the Downtown District guys. They shut down Popeye's for Pete's sake.

I foggily recall something about Hillcorp owning that block too, but don't quote me on that.

Correct. 1110 Main Partners LP owns both the Americana & Hilcorp Tower blocks. Last I heard, the building was to be renovated, that's why all of the existing businesses were forced out. But that was a while back ...surprised Subway is still open.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

Not sure if this deserves a new thread, but I spoke to a construction worker at the Americana Building site (Block 257), and they are going to be demolishing the tower from the top down. There's barricades out on Dallas Street, so it seems like things will be progressing quickly. 

 

Also, the Downtown District operations is moving its office from 1119 Milam to 1102 Travis, which is the SW corner of Travis and Lamar. 

 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was going to post something about this as well. Subway closed at the end of 2016. There has been what appears to be an active construction dumpster at on of the entrances on Dallas. Additionally today you can see where some of the windows at the top of the tower are being taken out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

so who is paying for this demolition....

 

I might be stupid here... but the cost of demolishing this is high, I'm sure. What kind of firm would demo without plans to build something? We don't need another office tower... we don't need more apartments (wish we did), so is this Kinder? Anyone know what the long term plan is?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

20 minutes ago, urbanize713 said:

Unless something has changed Jeffrey Hildebrand owns this property. In fact Hilcorp had offices in this building while it was still functional.

 

Did we hear a rumor that they were going to build a second tower? Or Parking garage?

 

Second question - why is that weird brick garage not being torn down too!?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was told by a construction worker that even the Downtown District operations offices (which are moving around the block to the other side of the building) are temporary, so I anticipate that everything will be coming down eventually. Perhaps they'll just continue to have the parking garages operate until something is decided to place on the site. This way they're paying less in taxes by not having a big vacant building, but still making money on the old Macy's garage. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Nole23 said:

 

This quote is from 2 years ago. Maybe these are the plans?

 

I am not quite sure. I heard some rumors of a demolition but nothing much after that. Who knows, maybe this is a renovation?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The cost to upkeep an office building is pretty high. If you have no future plans for the building, it's generally cheaper to demolish it, in lieu of sitting on a building with low occupancy and/or rents. Fortunately, they can collect some high margin income as a parking lot/garage while they plan out the future development. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was just looking at the building the other night and thinking this would make a great mod-themed hotel. Not often you find such a well-preserved period piece. But maybe the Meridien has already filled that niche? If this building were in downtown Austin or somewhere on the West Coast, it would get restored in a heartbeat.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
On 2/9/2017 at 10:47 PM, HNathoo said:

The cost to upkeep an office building is pretty high. If you have no future plans for the building, it's generally cheaper to demolish it, in lieu of sitting on a building with low occupancy and/or rents. Fortunately, they can collect some high margin income as a parking lot/garage while they plan out the future development. 

So why does the old Holiday Inn continue to stand?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Downtown Americana building to be demolished

Quote

Hilcorp Ventures, the real estate and investment company owned by Houston's Hildebrand family, is demolishing one of its downtown properties, a worn-out office tower across from the Hilcorp headquarters.

Demolition work has started on the 10-story Americana Building at 811 Dallas. The tower will be removed floor-by-floor, but the garage beneath it will stay, the company said Tuesday. There are no immediate plans to redevelop the site.

The property is across Travis from the Hilcorp tower, which was built on the site of the former Foley's department store. The building is the headquarters for Hilcorp Energy, a private exploration and production company founded by Jeffery D. Hildebrand.

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/real-estate/article/Downtown-Americana-building-to-be-demolished-10949019.php?t=d2940d48af438d9cbb&cmpid=twitter-premium

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't think its going to happen for a while. Theres just too much unleased and sub leasable space available. 

A lot of that space has to be absorbed before there will be another tower coming out of either one of those two lots.

Skanska might go ahead with their tower due to a possible deal with Wells Fargo but I wouldn't hold my breath on that one either.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"The 550-car garage spans both sides of the block, but the office building sits atop just the southern half. The north half of the garage will remain open during construction. "

-- This has me a little confused.  Does this mean their garage is a part of (and connected to) the old Foley's garage?  I know the Foley's garage is on the northern half (or maybe the northern third) of the block.  I remember using the Foley's garage but it seemed to be just that top part of the block.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...