HoustonIsHome Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 Apart from that hideous glass monkey wrench, that is a nice shot. The different color architecture is interesting. Even the parking garage is more appealing to me than that glass monster. Hmmm, I guess 609 main will make the monkey wrench fit in better and push all these intersesting buildings closer to the wrecking ball as New will be what fits in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rechlin Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 The top floor is now gone, and yesterday afternoon they carried away most of the metal structure (click for higher resolution): It looks like they have two large pieces of destruction equipment on the roof, one with a shovel (not seen in this photo) and one with a jackhammer (in the middle below the beam that's about to be removed). 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
democide Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Thanks for the update! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Houston19514 Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Very interesting. Does anyone know why they chose this method of demolition rather than an implosion? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nate99 Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Very interesting. Does anyone know why they chose this method of demolition rather than an implosion? The speculation was that teh proximity to the church across the intersection and the Magnolia across Fannin precluded implosion. I'm not sure what the minimum setback needs to be for a building of this size. The way they are going about it looks quite expensive, but I guess it is all in the project economics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tumbleweed_Tx Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 takes the same anount of time to gut, implode, and clean up a building as it does to disassemble it, plus, you can do other things on site while disassembling the building. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobruss Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 More opportunities for recycling of materials I would imagine also, but very interesting technique. I've never seen it done quite like this, however they did take the tower down on the southern end of downtown just a couple of years ago in somewhat similar fashion, I think Cherry did that one, one floor at a time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nate99 Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 More opportunities for recycling of materials I would imagine also, but very interesting technique. I've never seen it done quite like this, however they did take the tower down on the southern end of downtown just a couple of years ago in somewhat similar fashion, I think Cherry did that one, one floor at a time. The Sheraton came down from the top. There is a thread on it in the crater Houston subforum. Cost was $8 million according to an article, which probably included the modifications to use the top as a surface lot and keep the underground parking functional. It had another building < 50' away, so imploding it was probably never going to happen, even if they did not want to retain the garage underneath. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobruss Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Thanks for reminding me of the name. Thats the one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rechlin Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 And another floor is gone (took this photo Friday afternoon; click for higher resolution): 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
infinite_jim Posted February 11, 2014 Share Posted February 11, 2014 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purdueenginerd Posted February 11, 2014 Share Posted February 11, 2014 I wish they had a timelapse on this thing. Deconstruction! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H-Town Man Posted February 11, 2014 Share Posted February 11, 2014 Correct me if I'm wrong, but it looks like they're removing about a floor a week. I wonder if this delays the March excavation start. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nate99 Posted February 11, 2014 Share Posted February 11, 2014 Correct me if I'm wrong, but it looks like they're removing about a floor a week. I wonder if this delays the March excavation start. Seems about right. Maybe they'll pick up speed as they get better at it and, once they get down to the last 3 or 4, they'll probably be able to pick it apart with heavy equipment from the ground. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClutchCity Posted February 11, 2014 Share Posted February 11, 2014 Seems about right. Maybe they'll pick up speed as they get better at it and, once they get down to the last 3 or 4, they'll probably be able to pick it apart with heavy equipment from the ground.They already seem to be picking up speed after taking a little while to take the roof off. I was also thinking that once they ground it down and got it closer to the base that they can get some more equipment in there to finish it quickly. Also any chance that since the Texas Tower is where a portion of the garage will be(guessing that would require less excavation/prep) that they can start excavation of the core office section even if there's still 10 or so floors left to dismantle by March? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nativehoustonion Posted February 11, 2014 Share Posted February 11, 2014 The excitement is coming! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nate99 Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 I walked by there today and you could hear big crashes of what sounded like debris falling inside the building. I wonder if they punched a hole through the interior floors that they are now dumping stuff down through as they go. The excavator stationed by the hole on the south side of the building seems to be the only thing capable of taking the debris away, that is, none of it seems to be taken out by the scaffolvators. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purdueenginerd Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Mast climbers (or scaffolvators lol) load ratings arent that high. If i remember correctly, heavy mast climbers can get you around 8000-10,000 lbs. of rated load capacity ---Thats not a lot. 66 cubic feet of concrete is 10,000 lbs. Mast climbers arent that fast either; It would be faster to load debris by demoing it and shoveling into a dumpster, fly it out (with the crane) or dump it into a premade hole... (like an elevator shaft) with a dumpster at the bottom. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post rechlin Posted February 12, 2014 Popular Post Share Posted February 12, 2014 (edited) Yes, Nate99, it appears that they are just pushing everything down the elevator shaft. They cut a hole in the side of the building by that excavator, and they have water jets spraying down on it (which increase in intensity when debris comes down) to minimize the dust cloud. They are using a wheeled Bobcat loader (built in the state where I grew up, North Dakota!) on the top of the building to carry the debris to the shaft, where it's dropped down and then moved to a dump truck by the excavator. Here's a photo of the loader that they are using, when they were using the crane to lift it: Edited February 12, 2014 by rechlin 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nate99 Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Cool picture rechlin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mollusk Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 @ rechlin: (Tim Allen grunting noises...) 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urbannizer Posted February 15, 2014 Share Posted February 15, 2014 From Friday by me. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ctaf Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 In the first picture, what is the building across from the Texas tower? It's very pretty, but it looks like some of the windows are boarded up. Is it abandoned? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjmalek Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 Magnolia Hotel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nate99 Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 In the first picture, what is the building across from the Texas tower? It's very pretty, but it looks like some of the windows are boarded up. Is it abandoned? Magnolia Hotel I think he must be seeing the reflection of the Texas Tower in the windows. The Magnolia is open and in good shape. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triton Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 I think he must be seeing the reflection of the Texas Tower in the windows. The Magnolia is open and in good shape. Yes, it's actually quite amazing inside: http://www.magnoliahotels.com/houston/hotel-photos.php 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nate99 Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H-Town Man Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 Looks like there's 18 floors left, from 21 floors on Jan. 30th. At this rate it looks like they should be done by July or so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rechlin Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 Yes, it looks like they've cut a couple more floors of it since my last update. They've experimented with different tools on the Bobcat; for a while this week they were using the jackhammer instead of the shovel. Also it's been amusing to see a porta-potty on the roof of the building. Here's a photo of them hard at work on Wednesday (click for full size): And here's a photo (again, click for high resolution) of what it looked like late Friday afternoon: 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
democide Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 Looks like there's 18 floors left, from 21 floors on Jan. 30th. At this rate it looks like they should be done by July or so. I sure hope not. It's going to be 3 years before this one goes up once they start. Perhaps if they start working overtime (have 3 shifts going) and weekends, they can have this one down by the end of March. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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