j_cuevas713 Posted June 17, 2014 Share Posted June 17, 2014 Ok I don't know what plans the city has for the stretch of 59 from Buffalo Speedway to Kirby, but there are two eyesores that stick out badly. Has anyone seen that tagged up motel that shut down a couple months ago and that old Egyptian themed building that has sat vacant for years now? If there is any part of the inner loop I wish they would redevelop, it would be this small stretch simply because it's visible to so many people. I know they have been repaving the feeder roads but there has to be some sort of plan to beautify our highways more, maybe even add a few coats of paint or something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Montrose1100 Posted June 17, 2014 Share Posted June 17, 2014 Ok I don't know what plans the city has for the stretch of 59 from Buffalo Speedway to Kirby, but there are two eyesores that stick out badly. Has anyone seen that tagged up motel that shut down a couple months ago and that old Egyptian themed building that has sat vacant for years now? If there is any part of the inner loop I wish they would redevelop, it would be this small stretch simply because it's visible to so many people. I know they have been repaving the feeder roads but there has to be some sort of plan to beautify our highways more, maybe even add a few coats of paint or something.The southern side of 59 in that stretch isn't generally attractive anyways. A few small office buildings, strip centers, nothing spectacular. The old Magic Island has been there for quite some time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronTiger Posted June 17, 2014 Share Posted June 17, 2014 Magic Island's building is probably unusable at this point without major renovations: it was closed in 2008 after Hurricane Ike and any dates for planned reopenings have long since come and gone. One of the things I've wondered about is if Magic Island wasn't doing particularly well before Ike and the owner just took the insurance money and ran (I believe there was a small fire inside as well?) I don't know what hotel you refer to either. Of course, while 2008 holds as the year I really got to know and love Houston, it does get farther and farther away every year now, and Ike starts to become a distant memory. Time marches on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahkelly Posted June 17, 2014 Share Posted June 17, 2014 The old Greenway Inn is currently being held by a long term ground lease with a restaurant group.. Can't saw who though. However, there is a Transwestern listing sign and I hear that it may be up for grabs in upwards of $12M. That place really looks rough now that it is not operating. However, it definitely isn't vacant ill tell you that much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sevfiv Posted June 17, 2014 Share Posted June 17, 2014 That's too bad - the Greenway Inn used to be the Colonel Sanders/Houstonaire: ...and, well, at least the old Magic Island building is being maintained? A little bit? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronTiger Posted June 17, 2014 Share Posted June 17, 2014 It looks like he's just mowing the little strip of ROW between the curb and the road signs, which (presumably) TxDOT holds. However, someone has painted over some graffiti near the entrance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkylineView Posted June 18, 2014 Share Posted June 18, 2014 Good lord... the Colonel Sanders Inn. Quite literally made my night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronTiger Posted June 18, 2014 Share Posted June 18, 2014 Looking into the "Colonel Sanders Inn", it seems to be a failed diversification that KFC did back in the 1970s, with at least one other known location (Louisville, their headquarters). I would be disappointed if the hotel restaurant didn't serve up the flagship fried chicken. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronTiger Posted September 9, 2014 Share Posted September 9, 2014 Update: Greenway was demolished last week, thought you guys might like to know. http://arch-ive.org/archive/houstonaire/ I find it a bit odd that it used the Ramada Inn name (Swamplot says it was built in 1965) but it's not actually mentioned in the text of the post that's there. By the way, because of the low resolution it's a bit hard to see, but that post card does say 1978, yes? I wonder if it had any other names. (If this post seems a bit disjointed, it started out as a PM) Anyway, the hotel's gone now, so...one eyesore gone, one to go? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdude Posted September 14, 2014 Share Posted September 14, 2014 Update: Greenway was demolished last week, thought you guys might like to know. http://arch-ive.org/archive/houstonaire/ I find it a bit odd that it used the Ramada Inn name (Swamplot says it was built in 1965) but it's not actually mentioned in the text of the post that's there. By the way, because of the low resolution it's a bit hard to see, but that post card does say 1978, yes? I wonder if it had any other names. (If this post seems a bit disjointed, it started out as a PM) Anyway, the hotel's gone now, so...one eyesore gone, one to go? The hotel was also known as the Houstonaire for a period. As for Magic Island, I'm a huge fan of themed architecture, including Egypto-styled. It's really so kitschy that one has to love it. I would really hate to see it torn down or remodeled. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronTiger Posted September 14, 2014 Share Posted September 14, 2014 So was it Houstonaire -> Ramada > Colonel Sanders > Greenway, or am I missing something? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NenaE Posted September 16, 2014 Share Posted September 16, 2014 That hotel wasn't a bad design. I remember it as a colorful sort. It was just hard to get a good look at it, stood too close to 59. Reminds me of similar styled, sixties hotels at Galveston. I never heard of the chicken story before sevfiv's post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdude Posted September 16, 2014 Share Posted September 16, 2014 Didn't that hotel operate as the 'Easy 8' for a while in the 1990s? For a while it was the voting location for my precinct. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronTiger Posted September 16, 2014 Share Posted September 16, 2014 Didn't that hotel operate as the 'Easy 8' for a while in the 1990s? For a while it was the voting location for my precinct. It may have. Usually hotels of that age go through at least 3-4 rebrandings beyond its original one. A lot of hotels in general change names on an average of every 10 years or so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purpledevil Posted September 16, 2014 Share Posted September 16, 2014 It may have. Usually hotels of that age go through at least 3-4 rebrandings beyond its original one. A lot of hotels in general change names on an average of every 10 years or so.That's not accurate, IronTiger. The ones that change names frequently are usually those that can't (or won't) meet the standards of the flag that their hotel represents. Of course, as with most everything, there are exceptions to the rule, but if a specific hotel is changing flags every few years, there is something drastically wrong within. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronTiger Posted September 16, 2014 Share Posted September 16, 2014 That's not accurate, IronTiger. The ones that change names frequently are usually those that can't (or won't) meet the standards of the flag that their hotel represents. Of course, as with most everything, there are exceptions to the rule, but if a specific hotel is changing flags every few years, there is something drastically wrong within. Well, on average, and older hotels, and I do take that back. Usually by the time it's changing names to things you've never heard of, it's in trouble, or if it changes names to hide a bad reputation (Southwest Inn, nee Roadrunner Inn, was a hellhole and the name change did little to change that) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdude Posted September 17, 2014 Share Posted September 17, 2014 That's not accurate, IronTiger. The ones that change names frequently are usually those that can't (or won't) meet the standards of the flag that their hotel represents. One suspects that the standards of the Easy 8 flag weren't particularly high... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
de la rosa Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 Hourly rates not advertised on the website. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asubrt Posted April 15, 2015 Share Posted April 15, 2015 The old Greenway Inn is now... an Olive Garden. http://swamplot.com/new-olive-garden-now-in-bloom-on-the-south-side-of-59-near-buffalo-speedway/2015-04-15/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naviguessor Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 I'll go up to Kirby, turn north and eat at Carrabba's about a mile away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luminare Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 The old Greenway Inn is now... an Olive Garden. http://swamplot.com/new-olive-garden-now-in-bloom-on-the-south-side-of-59-near-buffalo-speedway/2015-04-15/ whew...I actually thought they might build something worth while there! We dodged a bullet folks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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