IronTiger

The section between modern-day Buffalo Speedway and 610 was completely removed between 1978 and 1989 with a "stub road" at both ends. Yet when Advenir apartments were built, a section of their parking lot was built directly on the right of way (likely due to the way land was split), and THAT was marked as Old Main Street Loop Road on Google Maps!

"Two separate full-line Macy's" obviously dates the writing of that, considering Macy's at Sage closed in 2014. As for location, it's a 1.79 acre parcel, but the "legal description" dates it back to 2002. We know it's "north of Westheimer"...the plot where Joe's Golf House was is too small (besides, it was still occupied in 2002), another plot a bit south of it is possible but also on the small side (1.57 acres). My guess is a plot just southwest of Post Oak Blvd. and 610, as it has a proper calculated acreage (~1.8 as per Google Earth), north of Westheimer, is wider in the front than back, and never previously occupied (open space in 2002).

The only real missing connection that sticks out immediately is around Uptown, where a true replacement to Post Oak Road is a detriment to the traffic in and around the Galleria area, and even Post Oak Road terminates at Hempstead Road, not 290. Some of the other roads have a problem in that they also function as collector roads (that's a lot of how Wilcrest stacks up on lights) beyond being major thoroughfares. The suburbs are missing key connections, and even urban Houston has problems. There is no Inner Loop road (but one) that has access points to the Loop on both ends. Main did, but a few blocks have been converted into pedestrian malls, besides, driving in downtown with its stoplights and the people around it who throw themselves right into traffic (figuratively, of course...most of the time). 18th/20th/Cavalcade almost does but it's a narrow road for most of the way that doesn't lend well to long commuting. Yale and T.C. Jester don't crack the "Buffalo Bayou gap" (River Oaks/golf course/Memorial Park/etc.), but Shepherd/Greenbriar/Durham does, if there wasn't that two-block gap around Rice...and even then it just merges into Fannin, forced down to one lane for another railroad crossing and the subsequent parallel rail line. Stella Link/Weslayan and Buffalo Speedway don't cross the gap (or Kirby). Only Bellaire/Holcombe/OST even clears downtown, but OST turns north at 45, so by the time it hits 610 as Wayside, it's ineffective at east/west travel. Even the great Westheimer (Elgin) doesn't make it, turning north by 45 as Lockwood. Memorial/Harrisburg/Broadway works, technically, but only eastbound and it still has the direction change problem. Only Scott Street/Hirsch makes it through the Loop unscathed, and just three miles short of making it to the North Belt (but it goes through some of the roughest neighborhoods in Harris County).

I'd like to open this post with a quick chart I made of stoplights comparing Sam Houston Parkway with its parallel roads (from I-69 to I-10), and how even by taking the frontage roads, you save yourself half a dozen stoplights. As for your other comments, the Sam Houston Parkway addresses are correct, as technically the Tollway (just like the Katy Tollway) have no building access at all. Interestingly, the Sam Houston Parkway has developed differently than the other highways because of its toll nature, whereas the other freeways are littered with retail and places to eat, Sam Houston predominantly has commercial and light industrial buildings. The "overpass over 10" isn't really comparable to 290. HCTRA was heavily involved in the Katy Freeway rebuild, and the new overpass roads were made possible only because the railroad that paralleled 10 no longer existed. Over at 290, the frontage roads weren't even continuous until about three years ago! The frontage roads split off, became Senate, turn right at the yield lane, and then three stoplights more until you're on Beltway 8 northbound again. The other factors to keep in mind is that the five-stack isn't being completely rebuilt, the railroad stays put, and they already installed the frontage "bypass lanes" for 290 and things like the Gessner exit. That's the primary reason why the fast food restaurants near Senate and 290 met their demise about five years ago, and you can see how somewhat awkwardly built the bridges are--they're not in a straight lane as they curve around support columns and have a fairly steep grade just to clear Hempstead Road's clearance.

Quick research shows this interesting little snippet: The last increase was in 2012 to 1.75 for the cash cost (from 1.50) with the previous price jump in 2007, therefore it stands to reason that the tolls are to increase again in the near future. How are Gessner and Wilcrest compared to taking the Beltway 8 frontage roads? Unlike the southbound way, you can take the frontage roads northbound for free without having to jump over to the other side.

That sounds actually pretty good if true. It's better than rail, which even the most successful of which only make maybe 50% back, and if HCTRA runs without major tax subsidies, well, that sounds pretty grand for the rest of us that don't use toll roads, no?

Wew, I remember this thread. While unfortunately it was torn down before Street View was making its rounds, 2121 West Loop South appears to have been the Electric Living Center originally, but we don't know if facade changes were made later (probably not, note that in 1/06 Google Earth you can still the inverted L-shaped structures jutting out from the side). It doesn't look like residential (and Gables was supposed to go at the Westcreek Apartments site, the last undeveloped portion, about southeast of here). Trying to guess the square footage based on landmarks says about 13,000 square feet, and based on where the lines are drawn from the Robbin Bros. building, a long and skinny building with no parking access (interestingly, the original building seems to have been connected with the nearby parking garage, the connection having been torn out in 2007). P.S.: There seems to have been another Joe's Golf House near Tidwell/Hollister/290 area in the early 2000s, according to directories).

For what it's worth, according to West Houston Archives' John Williams, a hybrid Church's Chicken/Wienerschnitzel operated on Highway 6 North for a few years, with the Wienerschnitzel menu being removed around 2005.

Supposedly, Spaghetti Warehouse will reopen elsewhere in Houston but I haven't heard anything since fall of last year.

A bit late on the draw for this one, but @SpaceGhost and I did find mention of it in the Houston Post in 1981, but we didn't find any more information on it other than it really was planned at one time, and that it would be co-developed with the developer of NorthPark Center in Dallas and designed by the same people.

Gosh, I could've sworn there was this entire city east of downtown (beyond where Westheimer ends), a bit worse for the wear looking, but it seemed to stretch almost the way out to Baytown. I guess it must have been my imagination.

Oh, so FedMart was at Bellaire and Hillcroft? Makes sense...it looks like Fiesta has been there since 1984, which would put it after Globe for years but still leaves room for FedMart.

So Sears really DID own the Fiesta. I don't believe the Sears was part of the shut down, it shut down early and wasn't on closing lists. They are selling off what locations they can if the price is reasonable, for all I know, the Midtown Sears was actually profitable (just not as profitable as selling back the lease). So I'm guessing Sears sold back their 99-year lease AND the Fiesta in one fell swoop, which is probably why Fiesta is still operational and Sears isn't. The Sears building is of course the more interesting but less profitable building.

I don't see why it NEEDS to be a train station or anything like that. It has parking and a tower component, maybe a supermarket that the residential component could access without even the need to go outside, and/or a bunch of similar tenants, like trying to build a more-city center version of what MARQ*E was supposed to be, or a top-notch indoor farmer's market, with eclectic places to eat inside and handmade goods.

Yeah, the Sears was built in 1939 while Fiesta came in-line 50 years later, and looks very similar to how it did from that period, including that track marquee lighting. What I'm confused about is the actual lease agreements. An article from the time that Fiesta opened says that Sears sub-leased to Fiesta, and prior to Fiesta there was a parking lot there. Sears, on the other hand, was a 99-year lease from Rice that Rice bought back early. However, in the 1940s and 1950s, Sears only had half of the block bounded by San Jacinto/Eagle/Caroline/Wheeler, the other half was houses, and in the late 1970s aerial you could see the difference in the paving where those houses were cleared for additional parking (this "additional parking" didn't last long, by 1989 it was the Fiesta). So....did Rice always own those houses, and then lease that land to Sears later on a different lease, or did Sears buy out that land itself? If the former is true, then Rice had to have made one more purchase, and if the latter is true, then there's nothing Rice can do since Sears is still sub-leasing Fiesta, unless Rice bought that too. But if Rice bought the Fiesta out, then why is it still operating and Sears isn't? You could argue that Sears is not doing well, but Fiesta has shown to empty out quickly if there's a better commercial interest waiting in the wings, and if the land Fiesta sits on is too valuable to continue operating as a grocery store, Rice wouldn't hesitate to bump it out as part of their "Innovation District" plan.

I didn't say that La Coqueta was on the transit center lot, but nearby. I just remember driving by and seeing just total darkness except the red neon border of La Coqueta. The 2015 abandonment makes sense, from Google Maps it looks like it was abandoned in the mid-2010s, and 2015 was when the bus routes were revamped.

Should be the Sam Houston Coliseum and the Houston Music Hall.

There's more buildings in the "modern" shot, but I'm a bit surprised how relatively-filled out downtown Houston was in the 1970s and how few relatively few buildings have been demolished, with the only really noticeable ones are the ones at the bottom of the picture, north of Washington.

Sawyer Heights is a bit different, it has a pretty big draw (The Heights, the upper parts of Montrose, Washington Avenue corridor, etc.) but it's also one of only three Target stores in the entire Inner Loop, and the only one that's not less than a mile from 610. Given how dense the Inner Loop is, it's not THAT packed to the gills that a second one, at least in downtown, would be justified. Then again, I mostly go in the evening, but even still...

It's been covered up for years, and probably slightly damaged--I know the facade on 806 Main ruined the original brickwork.

I visited sometime late last year, no pics, but I got to see it at least! I don't know, in Pearland they had the ramps all torn up and even started to take down part of the outside retaining wall.

288's mainlanes look like they're being rebuilt anyway, so "designed for 55" isn't an issue. If it was just the toll roads, the main lanes wouldn't be a mess at all, save for some nightly closures on the inner lanes, at best. The original 610/288 interchange, which is being rebuilt as well, had some ramps "stubbed out" for future connections.

I stopped at the Randalls a year or two ago after the renovation. Partially due to how the Houston blocks are shaped, it's a very small store, feeling like an H-E-B Pantry but with full service departments (and at least the deli can cook you a hamburger per the signage I saw last time, something they haven't done in nearly the last twenty years).

That's not a good comparison. In the link below, I show an article that says the hotel in 1986. The city had planned it for elderly housing as early as the late 1980s, but it didn't open until 1998. Plus, according an article from 1997, there were actually new appliances, fixtures, and flooring in rooms from an attempt in the mid-1990s. Price to clean it up in 1997 dollars? About $3 million. Here, not only is the "structurally sound" part dubious (allegedly, there's problems in that department... ) but it deteriorated for far longer than the Memorial Holiday Inn ever did.

A few years ago during a rainy day I decided to roll down the window despite the weather and the somewhat sketchy neighborhood to get a wisp of the coffee smell, but instead I got this nasty burnt smell (the same sort of thing I got when I visited Houston for a weekend a few years back and left the coffee maker on the entire time) and rolled the window back up.