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Sunset Coffee Building At 1019 Commerce St.


Lowbrow

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Oh wow that is fantastic! I asked about the downtown stretch of the southern bayou trail in the buffalo bayou master plan thread. That Chase drive thru bank property catty corner to Market Square is now for sale and the bayou runs under one corner of the site, making for additional potential for the site now that this trail is being filled in below..

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God I hope they tear do something to fix the old Kryptonite/Pink Monkey Club. They have major plumbing issues, and the back patio facing the bayou should be totally redone. Imagine this as some cool restaurant with a cleaned up view of the Bayou, and not a mega roach infested, sewer smelling, dump.

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I am not "crying" about this building as I could care less if they bulldozed it, historically renovated it, or simply gutted it like they did. What I care about is calling something in the press a "historic renovation" (as I recall) when it is not.

 

 

Can you provide a source, other than your own recollection? Everything I remember called it a revamp or a rehabilitation, not a "historic renovation". 

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Historic or not, this thing is going to be a great addition to the Main Street Market Square Park Historic district.

16353827047_d6351e92ce_c.jpg

Think of how great this is going to look with the landscaping done, and the bayou trailed cleared.

Remember that they are doing work to connect this spot to the Buffalo Bayou Park Trails on the south bank of the bayou via Sesquicentennial Park.

16352041728_9b2f6cda47_c.jpg

How's that construction going? Glad you asked. Here's the poured bridge under Milam.

16352260070_3df90446fe_c.jpg

Still dirt on the stretch behind/below the Magnolia Brewery building.

16353828687_741921cd0e_c.jpg

Imagine how great this patio for Kryptonite (?) could be if the space were used differently. Patio view of the trail and the bayou.

16352043658_fa2faa4f4d_c.jpg

Bridge going under Franklin and Louisiana is framed out.

16538021741_432187f4c8_c.jpg

BAYOU DUCKS DGAF!

16538657882_b317d978e1_c.jpg

Crossing under Louisiana, Capital, Smith like its NBD.

16538654992_610cf540f0_c.jpg

Then finally hooking up with the Long Climb To Kiss the Ring of Baker.

16538019601_89bf370fce_c.jpg

One of the better posts of our era.

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Historic or not, this thing is going to be a great addition to the Main Street Market Square Park Historic district.

16353827047_d6351e92ce_c.jpg

Think of how great this is going to look with the landscaping done, and the bayou trailed cleared.

Remember that they are doing work to connect this spot to the Buffalo Bayou Park Trails on the south bank of the bayou via Sesquicentennial Park.

16352041728_9b2f6cda47_c.jpg

How's that construction going? Glad you asked. Here's the poured bridge under Milam.

16352260070_3df90446fe_c.jpg

Still dirt on the stretch behind/below the Magnolia Brewery building.

16353828687_741921cd0e_c.jpg

Imagine how great this patio for Kryptonite (?) could be if the space were used differently. Patio view of the trail and the bayou.

16352043658_fa2faa4f4d_c.jpg

Bridge going under Franklin and Louisiana is framed out.

16538021741_432187f4c8_c.jpg

BAYOU DUCKS DGAF!

16538657882_b317d978e1_c.jpg

Crossing under Louisiana, Capital, Smith like its NBD.

16538654992_610cf540f0_c.jpg

Then finally hooking up with the Long Climb To Kiss the Ring of Baker.

16538019601_89bf370fce_c.jpg

I'm tellin you, we could have our own version of San Antonio's riverwalk down there. The potential is already there, people just have to build.

The Houston Bayouwalk.

Has a nice ring to it, a very "Houston" ring to it...

All we need to kick it off is the fancy little boat that goes up and down the bayou, and some restaurants overlooking the bayou, along with a crap load of pretty landscaping and trees, flowers,palms, cactus, etc...

Hey, it could happen...

Edited by Howard Huge
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That Chase drive thru bank property catty corner to Market Square is now for sale and the bayou runs under one corner of the site, making for additional potential for the site now that this trail is being filled in below..

 

That could make for some interesting ideas. I never really thought about how much of that block was a effectively a bridge/pier over the bayou.

 

Waterfront dining with a tie in to Market Square sounds cool.

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for everyone complaining that it doesn't look historic, I'd like to give a little perspective. when the building was initially erected the common sentiment at that time was that the building didn't look historic.

 

so I think how it looks now fits with the history of the building quite well.

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To address the discussion on the "renovation", I heard from an inside source that the original plan was to not completely gut the building, but due to the deterioration discovered once the process began, there was no other way to do it but to gut it. This is partly the reason the project has taken longer than expected to complete. 

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To address the discussion on the "renovation", I heard from an inside source that the original plan was to not completely gut the building, but due to the deterioration discovered once the process began, there was no other way to do it but to gut it. This is partly the reason the project has taken longer than expected to complete. 

 

I heard similar things.  It is what it is.

 

I REALLY wish they'd gotten closer to the original brick color, though. 4

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To address the discussion on the "renovation", I heard from an inside source that the original plan was to not completely gut the building, but due to the deterioration discovered once the process began, there was no other way to do it but to gut it. This is partly the reason the project has taken longer than expected to complete. 

 

Well this at least proves both my initial hypothesis and analysis.

 

I heard similar things.  It is what it is.

 

I REALLY wish they'd gotten closer to the original brick color, though. 4

 

Sure it would have been nice, but they would have had to really pile back a lot of layers just to get to the "original color" and like most buildings it's very very difficult to get 'as builts' or the original drawings of the building that would have specified the kind of brick which...lets be reasonable wouldn't even exist anymore. Most if not all the current major brick companies wouldn't have catalogs that even go back that far! In fact my firm had a very major brick company come here for a short after hour thing and even they have only been around for 50 years with old paper catalogs going back maybe MAYBE another 20. It's not as simple as just looking at the color or even the original brick and just making it. There's a lot more too it. They did the best they could. 

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I am well aware of Love Street Light Circus Feel Good Machine, but what is this Rio Posada restaurant also at the site?

 

http://www.chron.com/neighborhood/heights-news/article/Rio-Posada-to-close-its-doors-mid-June-2129470.php

 

 

 

In Spanish the restaurant's name means "the river in." It is named after the Morenos' other venture, the Rio Posada Nightclub, Houston's first private Hispanic nightclub with a mixed beverage permit located on Allen's Landing on Market Square from 1968-1980.
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Know a little something about concrete companies - the guys who are pouring this job would equal shoping for fresh produce at a gas station somewhere off Wallisville, Rd at about 1 in the morning.

Don't get me wrong - great project and I'm happy it's being done but wanted to let you know how much we are scraping the bottom of the barrell.

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Know a little something about concrete companies - the guys who are pouring this job would equal shoping for fresh produce at a gas station somewhere off Wallisville, Rd at about 1 in the morning.

Don't get me wrong - great project and I'm happy it's being done but wanted to let you know how much we are scraping the bottom of the barrell.

 

Wut?

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Know a little something about concrete companies - the guys who are pouring this job would equal shoping for fresh produce at a gas station somewhere off Wallisville, Rd at about 1 in the morning.

Don't get me wrong - great project and I'm happy it's being done but wanted to let you know how much we are scraping the bottom of the barrell.

 

Otherwise known as: the concrete company with the lowest bid. Maybe you see this as a bad thing, but people take the lowest bid for most things on the project all the time unless it's something they are comfortable taking at a higher price on (which isn't a lot). I'm more of a best value guy because you might sacrifice quality (not always) if the lowest bid is taken instead of best value, but clients will more often than not choose the lowest bid. For concrete, unless they are going to do something special with it that needs the concrete to be super high end then taken the lowest bid you can get is completely acceptable. That's not scraping the bottom of the barrell, that's simply trying to keep your project around your budget. Now if you are talking about the actual labor doing the job? Maybe that is the case, but when taking the bid price you aren't exactly evaluating labor unless you need a specialized craft that is a major element to your project. In this case they aren't. Concrete mixers are concrete mixers and brick masons are brick masons, etc....

Edited by Luminare
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Looking good. I really hope they do some pressure washing on that concrete.

 

Actually, I really worry about that wall. It appears to be leaning over and there is now a giant crack there at the corner. I checked older photos and I don't really see the crack there like I do not.... It's almost like their construction equipment was too much for the wall....

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...

Does anyone know how much water this place took during the Labor Day flood?  

 

I was on the scene the next morning.  There was quite a bit of debris on the walkway railing on top of the foundation slab, which indicated to me that it took on several feet.

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  • 1 month later...

Yeah I knew about the history of the boats coming up the bayou, I just don't remember ever seeing a boat in downtown except for the occasional kayak.  I'd like to imagine that the canoe rental is similar to a log flume into the bayou, but that sadly won't be the case

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a few weeks ago I saw what appeared to be a river tour, a big flat pontoon boat idling up the river with lots of passengers sitting on the deck.

 

I saw the boat once out by the police memorial, then again as they were approaching Preston street bridge. I know about the button that makes the bayou bubble and gave them an extra show since they were right there.

 

I can't wait for more boats in the bayou, as I enjoy pushing that button at every possible opportunity, it's just a bonus if someone else is there, especially if they don't know what's going on.

Edited by samagon
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  • The title was changed to Sunset Coffee Building At 1019 Commerce St.

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