Holiday/Days/Heaven On Earth Inn At 801 St. Joseph Parkway

[txtiger]

^Elevated views via drone, around 12/22:

 

https://youtu.be/Bzj3_M8YXvQ

Edited December 31, 2017 by txtiger

[mkultra25]

Apparently the Jedi and the Sith have taken an interest in this building:

 

Watching a lightsaber fight from the balcony.

[kbates2]

That is fantastic.

[corbs315]

http://swamplot.com/cleanup-crews-now-polishing-downtown-houstons-most-famous-abandoned-building/2018-04-19/#comments

[htownbro]

2 hours ago, corbs315 said:

http://swamplot.com/cleanup-crews-now-polishing-downtown-houstons-most-famous-abandoned-building/2018-04-19/#comments

 

 

Someone may have already asked this but what will become of this building?

[cspwal]

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[bobruss]

Since the building was originally  plumbed  for hotel rooms  why couldn't they make this into a lower cost apartment building. That way the city could have available units for lower cost housing in downtown. Maybe combine some rooms for larger inexpensive downtown housing units. I hear people talking about some form of a more affordable market downtown maybe the city, state or federal govt. could help fund the conversion. This seems to be a growing problem throughout this country. Its on the rail line so it would afford inexpensive transportation and a link to so many valuable assets.

[cspwal]

I think this could work if the current owners could both be convinced to do it and get the capital necessary to make the conversion.

[htownbro]

1 hour ago, bobruss said:

Since the building was originally  plumbed  for hotel rooms  why couldn't they make this into a lower cost apartment building. That way the city could have available units for lower cost housing in downtown. Maybe combine some rooms for larger inexpensive downtown housing units. I hear people talking about some form of a more affordable market downtown maybe the city, state or federal govt. could help fund the conversion. This seems to be a growing problem throughout this country. Its on the rail line so it would afford inexpensive transportation and a link to so many valuable assets.

Yes I agree .  Affordable condos for sale or apartments for rent.  Everything downtown doesn't have to be for the uber rich.

[Specwriter]

52 minutes ago, htownbro said:

Yes I agree .  Affordable condos for sale or apartments for rent.  Everything downtown doesn't have to be for the uber rich.

+1 on htownbro's comment. The people who work in the hotels, restaurants, and bars downtown probably cannot afford the rents for most of the apartments there. I ride the train each weekday from the medical center to downtown and I see who gets on the train in mid-town (office workers) and who gets off (service workers).

 

I'm not a social scientist but I do believe there is a need for a range of housing options, in term of cost, in a given area. I also believe these different options need to be somewhat dispersed and not concentrated in discrete parts. Consider how the mews (former stables and workshops) behind the stately houses in London were repurposed as housing for those with lower wage jobs.

 

One big problem existing today for the former Holiday/Days/Heaven on Earth Inn is that it is in a food desert. Of course, proximity to public transportation will mitigate that somewhat.

[rechlin]

32 minutes ago, Specwriter said:

One big problem existing today for the former Holiday/Days/Heaven on Earth Inn is that it is in a food desert. Of course, proximity to public transportation will mitigate that somewhat.

 

A food desert?  There's a Randall's just three blocks from it.  Sure, it isn't fashionable now that H-E-B has (thankfully) taken over Houston, but it's still a full grocery store.

[mollusk]

Another former Holiday Inn (Memorial and Silver) was converted into senior apartments, and seemed to be doing pretty OK until Harvey flooded it.

[cspwal]

The Days Inn isn't in too bad of shape, food desert wise - Randall's is 3 blocks away from it, down Milam.  The bigger issue is more just the capital to renovate the building (how much of that old plumbing and electrical wiring is even there, much less works?) and a matter of will.

 

Edit: took to long to type, rechlin beat me to it

Edited April 20, 2018 by cspwal

[htownbro]

46 minutes ago, Specwriter said:

+1 on htownbro's comment. The people who work in the hotels, restaurants, and bars downtown probably cannot afford the rents for most of the apartments there. I ride the train each weekday from the medical center to downtown and I see who gets on the train in mid-town (office workers) and who gets off (service workers).

 

I'm not a social scientist but I do believe there is a need for a range of housing options, in term of cost, in a given area. I also believe these different options need to be somewhat dispersed and not concentrated in discrete parts. Consider how the mews (former stables and workshops) behind the stately houses in London were repurposed as housing for those with lower wage jobs.

 

One big problem existing today for the former Holiday/Days/Heaven on Earth Inn is that it is in a food desert. Of course, proximity to public transportation will mitigate that somewhat.

 

I don't mean government housing when I say affordable housing.  I mean for working people or middle class who can afford to buy a home but want to live downtown instead of out in the burbs.  It's more affordable to buy homes further out as opposed to downtown.  There are single people and couples who dont have children but want to live downtown...or even empty nesters.  People whose income is probably less than 100k annually.

Edited April 20, 2018 by htownbro
typo

[bobruss]

As far as the plumbing goes my point is that the building was designed for plumbing to every room throughout so it wouldn't be nearly as expensive as say taking an old office building which doesn't have a bathroom and shower in each room and converting it to a hotel or apartments. This is already set up with space for new piping or whatever was necessary to bring it up to todays needs. My thought was an Ivy kind of solution in a structure already built. Smaller 1 and 2 bedroom units. Maybe take out every other unit to make them each a little larger adding a small kitchen and maybe even more.

I understand the need for a more useful efficient space designed for the worker bees that make the engines run downtown. There's already plenty of new expensive living downtown so why not? It would add to the neighborhood developing around Main with the Sky Houses and Houston House etc.

Everyone should have the option of living downtown especially if they work there.

[cspwal]

Example of affordable housing that's not government housing: Houston House downtown right now has relatively reasonable rents - $980/mo for a 1 bedroom last I checked.  By the standard 30% of income going to housing metric, that should be affordable to anyone making $35k or more.

[cspwal]

Also I spotted this on Swamplot:

 

Quote

“Before I left work, a guy was at the very top pulling a long rope he had tied to a wooden structure hanging on the corner of the building. It looks like a homemade trebuchet. I’ll keep posting updates if anything major happens; hell, it’s in my sight line all day.” [Kim, commenting on Cleanup Crews Now Polishing Downtown Houston’s Most Famous Abandoned Building]

 

[htownbro]

Make them condos where people can buy or investors can buy units and rent them out like 2016 Main.  

[bobruss]

I think I'll send Bob Eury an email, and suggest this as a solution to downtowns low-cost housing problem while resolving an eyesore issue that has plagued downtown for over 30 years.

 

[bobruss]

Just sent it and I'll let you hear what his response is if any.

[IronTiger]

10 hours ago, mollusk said:

Another former Holiday Inn (Memorial and Silver) was converted into senior apartments, and seemed to be doing pretty OK until Harvey flooded it.

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.
 

[Specwriter]

16 hours ago, htownbro said:

 

I don't mean government housing when I say affordable housing.  I mean for working people or middle class who can afford to buy a home but want to live downtown instead of out in the burbs.  It's more affordable to buy homes further out as opposed to downtown.  There are single people and couples who dont have children but want to live downtown...or even empty nesters.  People whose income is probably less than 100k annually.

I also wasn't thinking government subsidized house either but, like cspwal mentioned, something a family making $40-60k a year could afford. Yes, I overlooked the Randall's. I should stop in there one day and see how it compares to those I am familiar with. Another HEB near by like the one at Alabama and Dunlavy would be great, or maybe an Aldi.

Heck, I'm just grateful something positive may be happening with this building after all these years.

Edited April 21, 2018 by Specwriter
add comment

[IronTiger]

3 hours ago, Specwriter said:

I also wasn't thinking government subsidized house either but, like cspwal mentioned, something a family making $40-60k a year could afford. Yes, I overlooked the Randall's. I should stop in there one day and see how it compares to those I am familiar with. Another HEB near by like the one at Alabama and Dunlavy would be great, or maybe an Aldi.

Heck, I'm just grateful something positive may be happening with this building after all these years.

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).

[Ross]

13 hours ago, Specwriter said:

I also wasn't thinking government subsidized house either but, like cspwal mentioned, something a family making $40-60k a year could afford. Yes, I overlooked the Randall's. I should stop in there one day and see how it compares to those I am familiar with. Another HEB near by like the one at Alabama and Dunlavy would be great, or maybe an Aldi.

Heck, I'm just grateful something positive may be happening with this building after all these years.

I stop there sometimes on weekends if I drop my family at church. It's a decent store, with lots of stuff. The pharmacy was removed a while back, but it's full service other wise. The aisles are not as wide as a larger store, but it has everything you could want.

[cspwal]

Pharmacy is still there. It’s wedged in the corner instead of being its own area, but everything is there grocery wise. It does tend to have a small selection of produce sometimes, especially right before the trucks get in. 

[kbates2]

I went to that Randall’s on 04/15.  Most of the milk in stock  had expired on 04/09, the rest expired the next day.  Their management could use some work.

[mattyt36]

Listed for sale, with conceptual renderings

 

http://swamplot.com/downtown-houstons-foremost-abandoned-building-now-listed-for-sale/2018-04-25/

[Triton]

8 minutes ago, mattyt36 said:

Listed for sale, with conceptual renderings

 

http://swamplot.com/downtown-houstons-foremost-abandoned-building-now-listed-for-sale/2018-04-25/

 

Ok, now I'm wondering if I'm living in a simulation. This good news... then Kinder donates $70 million to the Memorial Park... then TMC3... then innovation tech hub in Midtown. It's been a good month for Houston, guys.

[Naviguessor]

...Jones Plaza, Barbara Bush Literary Plaza at the Main Library to name a couple more of this week's simulation. 

[UtterlyUrban]

It’s only good news if it sells to a new owner who has immediate plans to do something with this property.  

 

Hopefully, a new owner with vision can make it into something great.

 

 

[invisibletrees]

1 minute ago, UtterlyUrban said:

It’s only good news if it sells to a new owner who has immediate plans to do something with this property.  

 

Hopefully, a new owner with vision can make it into something great.

 

 

 

Make it our next building implosion.

[UtterlyUrban]

3 minutes ago, invisibletrees said:

 

Make it our next building implosion.

Even that would be preferable, in my opinion, to what exists there now.

[wilcal]

Surely whoever buys this would renovate, right?

 

Is this lot really good enough to demo and build something else?

[Triton]

31 minutes ago, Naviguessor said:

...Jones Plaza, Barbara Bush Literary Plaza at the Main Library to name a couple more of this week's simulation. 

Ah, I knew I was forgetting something. All in one month!!! 

[htownbro]

59 minutes ago, mattyt36 said:

Listed for sale, with conceptual renderings

 

http://swamplot.com/downtown-houstons-foremost-abandoned-building-now-listed-for-sale/2018-04-25/

 

The rendering looks good.  Let's do it!  Any buyers???  

[Triton]

20 minutes ago, htownbro said:

 

The rendering looks good.  Let's do it!  Any buyers???  

Contacting the HAIF Relief Fund! Let's show Houston what we got! Lol

[cspwal]

On 4/20/2018 at 2:57 PM, bobruss said:

Just sent it and I'll let you hear what his response is if any.

 

bobruss looks like with this sale you got your response

[hindesky]

Police had the whole area around the building cordoned off late Sunday morning, I asked one of them what was going on? He said there was a situation going on inside the building. Not sure what.

[infinite_jim]

Last night prior to the rain storm there was some strong winds that blew glass and metal debris over the block south of it. The portion of St. Joseph Pkwy. in front of the bldg was covered in broken safety glass with crumpled mullions littering the sidewalk in front of the Lonestar bar's parking lot. 

[cspwal]

Oh wow hopefully no one was hurt

[j_cuevas713]

On 5/27/2018 at 2:34 PM, infinite_jim said:

Last night prior to the rain storm there was some strong winds that blew glass and metal debris over the block south of it. The portion of St. Joseph Pkwy. in front of the bldg was covered in broken safety glass with crumpled mullions littering the sidewalk in front of the Lonestar bar's parking lot. 

Damn this is completely unacceptable by the COH. Well overdue in mandating that the property owners maintain their property. 

[Texasota]

Eminent domain it and make it affordable housing...

[dbigtex56]

Re: Midtown Randall's 
 

On ‎4‎/‎21‎/‎2018 at 8:52 PM, Ross said:

It's a decent store, with lots of stuff.

 

On ‎4‎/‎22‎/‎2018 at 10:52 AM, cspwal said:

It does tend to have a small selection of produce sometimes, especially right before the trucks get in. 

 

On ‎4‎/‎22‎/‎2018 at 2:23 PM, kbates2 said:

I went to that Randall’s on 04/15.  Most of the milk in stock  had expired on 04/09, the rest expired the next day.  Their management could use some work.

This store seems to be geared for a specific demographic: young, single, conventional, with a fairly high disposable income. There are definitely fewer choices of products and they tend to skew towards the higher priced brands, with an emphasis on convenience. They stopped carrying the brand of espresso I've been using for years but have alternatives at twice the price (and identical quality, IMHO). Don't count on being able to find tomatillos or lemon grass in the produce department.
An entire aisle is dedicated to nothing but bottled sports drinks.
I agree with kbates2 that they tend to be careless or indifferent about expiration dates, also about posting prices. If it's not listed, I'm not buying.
It's not altogether a bad store, but I doubt that it's anyone's favorite.

[tigereye]

3 hours ago, dbigtex56 said:

Re: Midtown Randall's 
 

 

 

This store seems to be geared for a specific demographic: young, single, conventional, with a fairly high disposable income. There are definitely fewer choices of products and they tend to skew towards the higher priced brands, with an emphasis on convenience. They stopped carrying the brand of espresso I've been using for years but have alternatives at twice the price (and identical quality, IMHO). Don't count on being able to find tomatillos or lemon grass in the produce department.
An entire aisle is dedicated to nothing but bottled sports drinks.
I agree with kbates2 that they tend to be careless or indifferent about expiration dates, also about posting prices. If it's not listed, I'm not buying.
It's not altogether a bad store, but I doubt that it's anyone's favorite.

 

As a Midtown resident, I don’t have any issues with Randall’s. Conveniently located for me, especially when it rains (underground parking garage).

 

We’ll see how my opinion changes once Whole Foods opens (across the street from my residence) 

Edited May 30, 2018 by tigereye

[terra002]

On 5/30/2018 at 9:51 AM, dbigtex56 said:

Re: Midtown Randall's 
 

 

 

This store seems to be geared for a specific demographic: young, single, conventional, with a fairly high disposable income. There are definitely fewer choices of products and they tend to skew towards the higher priced brands, with an emphasis on convenience. They stopped carrying the brand of espresso I've been using for years but have alternatives at twice the price (and identical quality, IMHO). Don't count on being able to find tomatillos or lemon grass in the produce department.
An entire aisle is dedicated to nothing but bottled sports drinks.
I agree with kbates2 that they tend to be careless or indifferent about expiration dates, also about posting prices. If it's not listed, I'm not buying.
It's not altogether a bad store, but I doubt that it's anyone's favorite.

 

I checked on friday, they had tomatillos.

 

[htownbro]

On 6/4/2018 at 0:15 PM, terra002 said:

 

I checked on friday, they had tomatillos.

 

Ok back on subject, what is the news with this building.  Residiential is great for this area.  

[Reefmonkey]

How has this eyesore been allowed to remain in this condition for so long? From what I have read, the current owner has owned it since 2012, and last I read they claimed in 2016 they had plans to make it back into a hotel, but it's been two years, and at least from the Pierce Elevated, it looks like no progress has been made. More than just an eyesore, this building has been a dangerous haven for the homeless, and I don't just mean that there is probably a lot of drug use and other crime going on in it, it looks to me structurally unsafe for homeless people to be in. It amazes me that someone would sit on such an expensive piece of property for so long, paying taxes on it while generating no revenue from it, not to mention exposing themselves to liability from it. Is there any remedy the City can take to put a lien on the property and/or otherwise take it over and demolish it?

[Nate99]

On ‎9‎/‎14‎/‎2018 at 9:23 AM, Reefmonkey said:

How has this eyesore been allowed to remain in this condition for so long? From what I have read, the current owner has owned it since 2012, and last I read they claimed in 2016 they had plans to make it back into a hotel, but it's been two years, and at least from the Pierce Elevated, it looks like no progress has been made. More than just an eyesore, this building has been a dangerous haven for the homeless, and I don't just mean that there is probably a lot of drug use and other crime going on in it, it looks to me structurally unsafe for homeless people to be in. It amazes me that someone would sit on such an expensive piece of property for so long, paying taxes on it while generating no revenue from it, not to mention exposing themselves to liability from it. Is there any remedy the City can take to put a lien on the property and/or otherwise take it over and demolish it?

 

Here's a 14 year old thread from the Downtown subforum. This thing's infamy is pretty legendary.

 

https://www.houstonarchitecture.com/haif/topic/2503-holiday-days-heaven-on-earth-inn-801-calhoun/

[EllenOlenska]

I have an idea. Wash it all down, invite people people to spray it, like the factory just off 45 to the south, and then when every part of it is covered with whatever the artists' want, then glass facade it up. It'd be a great historical object. 

[bobruss]

Why not get Christo to wrap it, as an artwork.

Monolith to the twentieth century excess.