[Ben2009]

Compass Bank Building on 2200 Post oak will be imploding on 03/15/09 at around 7:45 am. It'll be interesting to watch! Some streets will be closed, look in the attachment.

Attached File(s)

•  Implosion_1.pdf (109.38K)
  Number of downloads: 276

[kylejack]

Beware the Ides of March, Compass Bank.

[memebag]

Ho hum. Another bank imploding.

Oh wait, this is a bank building. That's more fun.

[Boris]

Adios,

I got this shot of it some time ago. I'll be there for this one.

[houstonartstudent]

Any reason they're imploding it?...I haven't heard of anything that's supposed to replace it

[ChannelTwoNews]

Oh darn and I wanted to set up directly across the street.

Sunday morning is of the few times during any part of the week that Post Oak isn't littered with traffic or people for that matter. I'm kinda curious where viewing areas, if any, would be.

BTW, maybe this should be merged with the thread about the building/potential development: http://www.houstonarchitecture.info/haif/i...showtopic=16292

[Highway6]

ChannelTwoNews, on Thursday, February 26th, 2009 @ 10:34am, said:

Oh darn and I wanted to set up directly across the street.

Looks like there is a good parking garage to set up at across guilford... should be a great vantage point if it's not closed off.

[sevfiv]

Putting a call in to Stan Watkins might help identify viewing areas. I'll try if I get a chance.

[Highway6]

Called Cherry.
The official viewing area is the parking lot in front of Sports Authority, however the person i talked to said the parking garage just north of Guilford is not in the secure area and will not be closed down by them. I don't know how secure that garage normally is, but even if you can't get your car up there, walking to the roof shouldn't be a problem.

[InTheLoop]

REDSTONE IS KILLING "MY" BUILDING!

Until our mandatory Nov. move-out, I had a corner office with a beautiful view of Post Oak - our "Rodeo Drive", for seven years.

This was a good building - it thrived when there was little else but the strip mall across the street as The Post Oak Bank Building (circa 1965)

There was SERIOUS net worth officing there: 3 or 4 big family trusts had space (names you've probably heard), probably several million $ inventory of watches/jewelry for sale at 3-4 businesses. I saw George Foreman and Elvin Hayes visiting their estate planners up the hall.

My favorite memory is probably helping innumerable blond, blue-eyed baffled folks find their country's Houston embassy up on 6.
That would be the Dutch embassy; the travelers were always worried, and grateful for the guide.

Yes, that land is far too valuable for a 7 story building with a giant drive-thru bank eating up space. Yes, the bank was robbed at gunpoint in daylight,
and yes, 2" of rain caused ankle+ deep water in the motley garage, but it was well-built and I thought the sidewalks and interior were very attractive.
Even the exterior was mildly attractive, in my view.

I will miss it. It was just too well-located for its survival.

This post has been edited by InTheLoop: Wednesday, March 11, 2009 at 12:39 PM

[sevfiv]

InTheLoop, on Wednesday, March 11th, 2009 @ 12:37pm, said:

I will miss it. It was just too well-located for its survival.

That should be a new quote for Houston buildings and architecture. Or, buildings are damned if they do, damned if they don't.

[sevfiv]

I'm glad this one isn't so early as some others, although I can't decide if it's worth it to hear all the hillbilly type cheers and "yeeehaws" when it goes down..

[stjnky]

sevfiv, on Friday, March 13th, 2009 @ 11:18am, said:

I'm glad this one isn't so early as some others, although I can't decide if it's worth it to hear all the hillbilly type cheers and "yeeehaws" when it goes down..

Considering the neighborhood, I would expect more of a bravo/splendid response.

[Highway6]

caught the end of it..

This post has been edited by Highway6: Monday, March 16, 2009 at 9:18 AM

[jmancuso]

[Houston Retail]

Thanks for the viewing tip! There was only 10 people on top of the garage and it looked like a few hundred at the "official" viewing area. My camera buffer filled up on all of the "pre-blasts" before it fell down, but I got a few good shots.
You can see all of them here

This post has been edited by Houston Retail: Sunday, March 15, 2009 at 8:39 AM

[kplo]

Great photos, Houston Retail. That seems like it was best vantage point, for sure.

It appears one of the demolition company's 18-wheelers got creamed in the process:

http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/20...post_oak_in.php

[TJones]

I'll bet the folks in that Sheraton were shaken out of their beds. Nice wake up call.

[Subdude]

Great pictures, thanks for posting. I take it this time there were no last minute sightings of people running around inside immediately before the blast?

[lockmat]

I was there this morning and it was my first demo experience. I had no expectations at all. It was pretty cool, but at the same time frightening because it brought back memories of 9/11. For some reason, that popped into my head as I saw it crumbling and then I looked over and imagined two buildings taller than Transco going down just like today's building.

Sorry for the downer story, but that was my experience.

Was anyone part of the Cherry VIP? Looks like those people got some cool goodies.

[Implosion]

Houston Retail, on Sunday, March 15th, 2009 @ 8:29am, said:

Thanks for the viewing tip! There was only 10 people on top of the garage and it looked like a few hundred at the "official" viewing area. My camera buffer filled up on all of the "pre-blasts" before it fell down, but I got a few good shots.
You can see all of them here

Awesome! Count me in as one of the 10. Which one of the 10 were you? BTW excellent pics! I'm the guy with the camcorder. I've uploaded all the video and photos to:

http://www.chksum.com

[20thStDad]

Thanks for the video, and welcome to HAIF!

Did the dust cloud make it to the top of the garage y'all were on? I wonder if it all settled before the rain came through, or if some nearby locations got some nasty coatings.

[Highway6]

awesome video and good job with the editing

[Implosion]

20thStDad, on Sunday, March 15th, 2009 @ 4:27pm, said:

Thanks for the video, and welcome to HAIF!

Did the dust cloud make it to the top of the garage y'all were on? I wonder if it all settled before the rain came through, or if some nearby locations got some nasty coatings.

Hey thanks!

The dust cloud was just about hit us when one of the building security guards shoed all of us on the garage roof away. Here's Mr. Party Pooper:



BTW, the photo link is at http://www.chksum.com/observation-deck

See if you can pick out Houston Retailer. He's there somewhere lol.

[Pumapayam]

I found out about this via Facebook

Sad I missed it this morning considering I was just blocks away.

[Houston19514]

kplo, on Sunday, March 15th, 2009 @ 9:29am, said:

Great photos, Houston Retail. That seems like it was best vantage point, for sure.

It appears one of the demolition company's 18-wheelers got creamed in the process:

http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/20...post_oak_in.php

Looks more like maybe dumpster parked behind the neighboring shopping center. The bigger story in that picture is the amount of building material piled up on the walls of that adjoining shopping center. I'm surprised by that.

[Implosion]

Highway6, on Sunday, March 15th, 2009 @ 4:37pm, said:

awesome video and good job with the editing

Thanks.

I've just put up another video one from a video taken directly north of the bank. It's taken from behind glass and is not edited but it shows a different view.

I intend on getting a video from directly west and hope that I can solicit ones from the Magiannos parking lot as it was the "official" viewing location.

[Houston Retail]

Yep, Im in those pics.
My girlfriend and I showed up late to the party. We had gotten in from the bars/Tacos a gogo around 4am, so waking her up at 6:30 was not fun! I don't think she actually woke up until the explosions went off.

[Gooch]

I think I saw someone walking around inside just before they blew it up! Look reaaaallllly close!



Just kiddin!

[Implosion]

Houston Retail, on Monday, March 16th, 2009 @ 9:31pm, said:

Yep, Im in those pics.
My girlfriend and I showed up late to the party. We had gotten in from the bars/Tacos a gogo around 4am, so waking her up at 6:30 was not fun! I don't think she actually woke up until the explosions went off.

Cool, how did you guys know to go to the top of the parking garage?

[citykid09]

whats going in the place of that building?

[Implosion]

citykid09, on Monday, March 16th, 2009 @ 11:45pm, said:

whats going in the place of that building?

drum roll....

wait for it....

another compass bank.

[Houston Retail]

Implosion, on Monday, March 16th, 2009 @ 9:50pm, said:

Cool, how did you guys know to go to the top of the parking garage?

From this thread of course! Thats how I heard about it also.

You should put the building demo video to Koyaanisqatsi soundtrack! (great movie if you haven't seen it)
Youtube video

This post has been edited by Houston Retail: Wednesday, March 18, 2009 at 3:17 AM