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Sheraton-Lincoln Hotel At 711 Polk St.


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I'd be willing to bet that no skyscraper is built here for decades, so there would be no point in designing a garage around a potential future building design.

EDIT: nm, I thought they were building an underground parking garage, but I just found out there already is one and they're preserving it. my bad

Edited by lockmat
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I'd be willing to bet that no skyscraper is built here for decades, so there would be no point in designing a garage around a potential future building design.

Given the dominance of parking, both surface lot and in garages, in the southern part of downtown, I think that the city should designate the area as the "Parking District". Then they could disseminate lots of bogus statistics, like "This is the largest designated parking district in the United States," or "The Parking District has more parking places than any other American city except Los Angeles." They could even erect special Parking District street signs with illustrations of local car parks, so tourists would know where they were.

Hahahahaha The Parking District idea, even though its ridiculous, I can actually see. But I beg to differ on the idea that no skyscrapers would be built here for decades. If the right types of development are orchestrated around the city, enough to shift population and business to Houston, more companies would be willing to lease office space in the CBD. But it will take some years, but decades, as in 40+ years, I dont think so. Not if the right people step up to change the way the city if perceived across the country and the world.

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Hahahahaha The Parking District idea, even though its ridiculous, I can actually see. But I beg to differ on the idea that no skyscrapers would be built here for decades. If the right types of development are orchestrated around the city, enough to shift population and business to Houston, more companies would be willing to lease office space in the CBD. But it will take some years, but decades, as in 40+ years, I dont think so. Not if the right people step up to change the way the city if perceived across the country and the world.

I don't think there's anything particularly wrong with the way that Houston is perceived across the country, but I do think that decades is the right time span to look for development of a lot of space downtown. Many blocks used for street parking have already been vacant for decades. The Sheraton itself has been empty for almost a quarter century.

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Maybe we should start identifying downtown eye sores and START SPECULATING!!! ;)

"We can now raise rents there because 1201 Louisiana has a view now," Paul Layne, an executive with Brookfield, told an industry group earlier this week.

He also said Brookfield is working with the city on getting incentives to tear down and redevelop other abandoned eyesores downtown.

He was light on specifics, but in a follow up interview he said that financial assistance from the city would be welcome.

"We're hoping this will part of the first of a number of opportunities that the city would have to rid itself of derelict properties," he said.

While the city hasn't made any commitments yet, the discussions are ongoing, said Andy Icken, the city's chief development officer.

"We're exploring ideas of what's been done in other cities, but we don't have a plan yet," Icken said.

http://blogs.chron.com/primeproperty/2011/01/demolition_of_downtown_eyesore.html

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Was this building ever considered for residential conversion? It seems the narrow floorplates and operable windows would have made it a good apartment/condo tower (especially if there was attached parking).

Edited by dfwcre8tive
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Was this building ever considered for residential conversion? It seems the narrow floorplates and operable windows would have made it a good apartment/condo tower (especially if there was attached parking).

I believe the vast majority of the building had low ceilings.

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The building was re-planned as a hotel on a few occasions, but never as condos as far as I'm aware. The lower ceilings were in the hotel section on the upper floors. The lower floors were offices and had higher ceilings.

Interesting. I didn't know about the different ceiling heights, but now looking at the photo the difference is clear. Low ceiling heights are one issue with converting the Dallas Statler-Hilton into apartments/condos.But not everyone wants/needs a very high ceiling.

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They have a crane up now and most all of the windows are out. The lower concrete floors are exposed through the hole they punched in it to install the tower crane.

It will be interesting to see how fast it comes down.

I hope very fast... it is causing a nightmare on Louisiana street (one of the main roads in downtown)

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bceebddd75d429086c47d7c672ddd301_large.jpg

I think I'll post a picture every two weeks.... This one is from 3.31.11... They have cut off everything above where the safety nets were- I think that's five floors in a month's time.

So, it 3 or 4 months, no more Sheraton Lincoln.

( j need to get a flikr acct... the people I'm using is more of a photoblag, so they kill hotlinks after a while...)

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Great to see downtown is getting another parking lot YAY

Actually, it's going to be a landscaped park, if I understand correctly. They are going to be using the existing underground parking that the hotel had.

they're almost to the point where they can throw the debris in the Dumpster now :)

Given how gravity works, if they had someone with really good aim, they could've done that this whole time. ;)

Edited by Golyadkin
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Another one becomes just a memory. This is just sad. What are my children going to have to remember when they are grown? Parking lots!

This in particular is going to be landscaped on the surface, as I understand it. The parking is underneath the former hotel and has been utilized consistently up until the demo started. That will be used again after they complete the tear down.

This was an empty shell of a building for the better part of 20 years that is most vividly remembered by those who had to be near it for the strongest urine stench in all of downtown.

Sometimes, it's just an old building.

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This in particular is going to be landscaped on the surface, as I understand it. The parking is underneath the former hotel and has been utilized consistently up until the demo started. That will be used again after they complete the tear down.

This was an empty shell of a building for the better part of 20 years that is most vividly remembered by those who had to be near it for the strongest urine stench in all of downtown.

Sometimes, it's just an old building.

20 years? Are you sure? I had a friend who worked in this building I think... was this the Amerikana Building towards the end?

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20 years? Are you sure? I had a friend who worked in this building I think... was this the Amerikana Building towards the end?

The hotel closed in 1986, but I believe the office section of the building continued to be used for a while thereafter.

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Seems like the whole process was quite fast.

Indeed. I found it fascinating enough to stand out in 100* temps and take pics.

It also looks like the surface lot across Polk from the Sheraton site is getting at least repaved, if not some other construction going on.

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Indeed. I found it fascinating enough to stand out in 100* temps and take pics.

It also looks like the surface lot across Polk from the Sheraton site is getting at least repaved, if not some other construction going on.

let's hope it's new building that is under everyone's radar. :)

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