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Texaco Building (now The Star) At 1111 Rusk Street


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People have looked for a post fossil fuel world for over 100 years. The problem everyone gets back to is that no fuel source is nearly as fungible as fossil fuels. I think conservation is far and away the most likely outcome, with a place still for oil and gas.

 

That is correct.  However, oil will at some point in the future end.  Not 100%, but as a source used to propel our vehicles and heat our homes.  That is more than likely a long way off.  100 years?  Maybe more, maybe a little less?  But still it is not right around the corner.

 

Houston needs to continue diversifying as much as possible in the interim to avoid any sort of historical collapse eg: Detroit.  We can both avoid and steer directly into that outcome if we're not cautious.

 

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That is correct.  However, oil will at some point in the future end.  Not 100%, but as a source used to propel our vehicles and heat our homes.  That is more than likely a long way off.  100 years?  Maybe more, maybe a little less?  But still it is not right around the corner.

 

Houston needs to continue diversifying as much as possible in the interim to avoid any sort of historical collapse eg: Detroit.  We can both avoid and steer directly into that outcome if we're not cautious.

 

 

We're once again off topic (shocking, I know), but I don't see any meltdown of energy companies coming.  I expect that there will be a repositioning as they adapt to whatever the dominant energy source is at that point.  Shell is interestingly enough projecting that oil will cease to be used as a source of energy for cars around 2070 which is well before the current projected "end of oil" scenarios and well beyond the timeframe that should concern current building trends.

 

I expect that you'll see the predominant energy companies do the exact same thing has happened in technology.  They'll stockpile cash like crazy and start buying any firms that show promise and assimilate them.  They have a lock on the kind of engineering talent that is needed to execute large scale installations and quite honestly, there's no way that a wholesale energy conversion happens in the world without their involvement.

 

I would say that IBM is a better comparison than Kodak.  IBM was nimble, adapted to change and is as strong as ever while doing business in a way that has no resemblance to their original model.

 

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^Agreed.  And apparently I tend to veer conversations towards other areas..?  IBM is indeed a great comparison.

 

Veering back on topic --->  I'm curious whether anyone has gotten a look at any ground-3rd floor floor plans?  While I'm not an advocate for retail in every knew building older towers like this one tend to lend themselves well to a more approrpiately scaled floor space for niche commerical that can latch onto and thrive in this area (thinking coffee shop/sandwich place etc).

 

I also wonder if this building is using any of the new franchise tax incentives for historical properties to cover a % of its reconstruction/renovation?  Would be interesting to know.

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So this is just the one on the left right? What's gonna happen with the building on the right?

 

Go to page 11 of this thread. You'll see they are now starting on the right side and they had crews in there even on Saturday and Sunday this past weekend. The lights are on inside. 

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It was hard to see in my last photo, but they've removed some big chunks out of the historic façade. Hopefully this is to restore them off-site rather than replace them with styrofoam à la 806 Main. Click for a bigger view:

Are you talking about those emblems underneath the windows? Looks like they're removing them selectively.

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I like the older windows on the bottom of the second image. The ones with more wood panes

 

You can see in earlier pictures how they had been boarded over, it is just recently that they took the covering off.  

 

They have a lot of options with how this goes back together during renovation. The window frames around the big glass windows at street level under the arches are completely rusted out. I'd be surprised if anything on the exterior is in much better shape. 

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