Main Food Store At 1101 Main St.

[GovernorAggie]

Saw some people doing work on this place today. The blank yellow wall between the entrance and the Sakowitz was opened revealing the empty space inside, and the workers seemed to be putting up some newer type of tile in some places. Maybe it's something...but chances are, it's nothing.

[Daniepwils]

First thing they need to do is get rid the urine and chicken smell on that corner. GROSS!

I visited Portland recently! wow their downtown is really developing. I was very very impressed with their use of using existing buildings and building stores in them, rather than tear them down. I think Houston downtown developers should go take a look!

[GovernorAggie]

Work continues to be done on the back half of this place. It looks to be home to a new retail spot. Frames are up for a new store front. I hope it's not Super Stop relocating, though--or worse yet a pawn shop or check-cashing place. I really can't think of any other type of business wanting to share a building with the Main Food Mart...then again, it IS Houston and juxtaposition is the order of the day. With that in mind it may be a Tiffany's

[Jax]

Haha you've got that Right. Houston is a city of contrasts! It would be hilarious if it was a Tiffany's!

Anybody got any photos? What is the exact corner? I might be able to take a photo of it this evening and post it here.

[Daniepwils]

Main Street, between Dallas and Lamar (Across from Macy's) -- I live near this and see it everyday! That corner is awful!

Edited September 24, 2007 by Daniepwils

[roadrunner]

It's a marble looking frame that they are putting up. It looks like it will be a good looking retail spot, which is funny being right next to that disgusting corner store. This is great, though. The retail holes are starting to fill in on Main St.

Edited September 24, 2007 by roadrunner

[talltexan83]

Nothing new to report unfortunately.  Just a general impression of the 1100 block of Main St. on the lightrail and across from the soon-to-be demolished Macy's. 

 

The current tenants -  Main Food Store, a beauty supply store, and the 1st floor of a parking garage -  seem to be a real impediment to growth and a quality pedestrian experience along the Main St. corridor.  Walking through the Houston Pavilions today was actually pleasant in spite of the heat and there are pockets of improvement all around downtown, but this block was full of pigeons, homeless, and lots of litter.  It just struck me a such a shame for an otherwise well shaded and central location.  Too many female office workers (walking alone) would simply take an alternate route.  Given that many pedestrians were being approached by homeless or flying birds, it’s hard to blame them.

 

Do the owners of the Main Food Store have a lease that cannot be altered?  Are there any plans to bring in a new series of tenants along that block? 

 

It may be simple minded, but I truly think that a revitilization of that one side of one block would help so much in terms of the continuity of Main St.  It would also feed nicely into planned upgrades to the Houston Pavilions and eventual development of the Macy's site.

[Chi-Char-Hou-Dal]

+1

[kylejack]

Pavilions is a far more hostile pedestrian experience than that corner. There are no exterior businesses at all. If you choose to walk down the center area, there is no way to cross the street without jaywalking unless you walk back to the corner. You have to zig zag your way through the complex like this if you wish to walk past the open businesses.

 

I don't condone street harassment of a "hey baby" manner, but asking for money is just free speech at work. I believe there is still a sign next to the tree on that corner saying not to feed the pigeons. Anyway, a little bit of perhaps not ideal walking retail is better than none!

[H-Town Man]

Having the old Sakowitz building turned into a parking garage didn't help much - nor did losing the old First City banking hall to a parking garage a block north, or the old Milam Hotel/movie palaces to a parking lot and then garage a block northwest of that, or the old San Jacinto hotel to a parking garage a block north of that. Main Street averages one parking garage per block along here, and making a pedestrian experience out of that is not easy.

There is apparently some kind of historic facade under the upper story panels of the Main Food Store, and some speculation a while back that they could renovate it and make it look nice, but most likely if anything were to happens there it would be a sale for land value and high rise construction. The Sakowitz could conceivably be turned back into a retail store if Greenstreet somehow took off.

[H-Town Man]

Have to correct my post above... it was the Lamar Hotel/movie palaces across from First City that gave way to a parking lot, and that's now an office tower and garage. A block north of that the Woolworth building was demo'd for a parking garage, and a block north of that the San Jacinto Hotel demo'd for another parking garage, with also the BG Group parking garage across the street where the West Building was. Average is one garage per block on Main St. from Texas Ave. to Clay.

[rechlin]

Found on reddit today from /u/creation88, it looks like the original façade is largely intact under the cladding, at least on the second floor.  Let's hope they are taking the cladding off to restore the original appearance, rather than to put it back up again:

 

[HNathoo]

Wow - that building had some serious inner beauty. 

[cspwal]

Oh wow

That facade looks so much better

[H-Town Man]

1 hour ago, rechlin said:

Found on reddit today from /u/creation88, it looks like the original façade is largely intact under the cladding, at least on the second floor.  Let's hope they are taking the cladding off to restore the original appearance, rather than to put it back up again:

 

 

Fantastic! This is why I HAIF!

 

[bobruss]

Good find Rechlin! This is great. I can't wait to see what it looks like with the first floor reclaimed.

Did someone purchase the building and restoring it. Does anyone know who is responsible?

[Avossos]

Bad news guys. Went over there just now. Owner plans to update the pannels to more of a modern look. Likely further destroying what is there now.

 

You won't see this view for long.

 

 

Edited October 15, 2019 by Avossos

[jermh]

Another angle 

[H-Town Man]

2 hours ago, Avossos said:

Bad news guys. Went over there just now. Owner plans to update the pannels to more of a modern look. Likely further destroying what is there now.

 

You won't see this view for long.

 

 

 

Unfortunately downtown still has these remnants of the people who made it a 1980's hellhole and would do so again if given the chance.

 

Next post I'll tell you what I really think.

 

 

Edited October 16, 2019 by H-Town Man

[jermh]

[dbigtex56]

3 hours ago, Avossos said:

Bad news guys. Went over there just now. Owner plans to update the pannels to more of a modern look. Likely further destroying what is there now.

 

You won't see this view for long.

Easily 10 times greater a revelation than when Sears lost its cladding.  This is already breathtaking, and even if it wasn't perfectly restored right away, it would still add so much to the streetscape.
Can't the Landmark Society or Downtown District (or whatever those entities are called) approach the owner? Perhaps financial incentives could be made...or, permits denied?
Seldom have I so quickly had my hopes raised, then dashed. 

[j_cuevas713]

Man that building is gorgeous! WHY TF IS THE OWNER COVERING IT BACK UP!?!?!?! It looks like it will be the same facade just new panels.

Edited October 16, 2019 by j_cuevas713

[mollusk]

Incidentally, this is what's wrong with the idea of changing the bottom two floors of Two Shell, Houston Center, etc., to meet our current tastes.  There will come a time when 80s style will be considered chic again.  (***shudder...***)

[Nole23]

Saw this on FB and thought what a gorgeous building....now seeing they are going to recover it, what a damn shame. Wish I was rich and could buy it...

[H-Town Man]

4 minutes ago, mollusk said:

Incidentally, this is what's wrong with the idea of changing the bottom two floors of Two Shell, Houston Center, etc., to meet our current tastes.  There will come a time when 80s style will be considered chic again.  (***shudder...***)

 

We must choose between a downtown that is hostile to street life and one that encourages it. The bottom two floors of most of those 80's buildings were an afterthought. The main thing they cared about was how the whole building looked from a distance. There are a few cases where thought did go into the bottom floors or the building is simply a masterpiece from bottom to top, and in those cases I would favor preserving the bottom. I wouldn't go punching a bunch of GFR into Pennzoil or One Shell or half a dozen of the better buildings. But with Houston Center, nothing is lost preservation-wise by improving the streetscape, since they never cared about the streetscape to begin with.

 

[H-Town Man]

The first floor of this could be done like a traditional London pub, and the second floor would harmonize perfectly. The Olde Lamar!

 

[mollusk]

H-Town, fair point.  However, turning the bottom few floors into something that doesn't even try to coordinate with the rest of the building is right up there with the aluminum skins that were a "modernization" fad in the 60s.  Changing the usage (and even the massing) doesn't have to mean ditching the basic design concept.   

[ttuchris]

https://collections.lib.utexas.edu/catalog/utlarch:ea7076b6-3eab-4db7-b910-4d097d88c198

 

Here is a good picture of the exterior.  Per Preservation Houston, it was build in 1927 for Rouse Drug Store #4.  

[mfastx]

Amazing.  Had no idea how beautiful the original facade was underneath that awful cladding.  Classic Houston. 

[H-Town Man]

9 hours ago, mollusk said:

H-Town, fair point.  However, turning the bottom few floors into something that doesn't even try to coordinate with the rest of the building is right up there with the aluminum skins that were a "modernization" fad in the 60s.  Changing the usage (and even the massing) doesn't have to mean ditching the basic design concept.   

 

I see this point on Two Shell Plaza, although you have an issue there where the building was built to be One Shell's corporate little brother and they needed to differentiate it somehow. With Houston Center, I guess it is mainly the white color of the lower floors that looks different than the rest of those buildings. I don't know, maybe they should have kept the dark bronze color. But it is not like they tried to make the first two floors Tudor or Spanish Renaissance or something, which would really be the counter to what happened when these historic buildings were modernized in the 60's.

 

15 hours ago, jermh said:

 

 

I wonder how easy it would be to find a match for the terra cotta for those places where the Visigoths or whoever it was ripped out what was there. Would take some searching and an enlightened, caring owner.