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POST: Mixed-Use Development At 401 Franklin St.


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http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6280447.html

The U.S. Postal Service is selling the downtown post office after 47 years of sorting and delivering mail from the 16-acre operation.

Whoever buys the property at 401 Franklin must build a replacement processing facility for the postal service, as well as provide a retail location near the existing site where consumers can mail packages and buy stamps.

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There was a proposal a few years back that when the post office sold the property it should be purchased by the city for use as fair grounds. This would avoid fiascoes as when the International Festival moved to the Reliant parking lot, or even the problems having to close blocks of streets for various festivals.

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The Buffalo Bayou Partnership folks have been eyeing the post office lot for years:

Festival Place

Framing Downtown as its backdrop, a live-oak shaded amphitheater on the Bayou's north bank will provide a new outdoor venue for the Theater District and reinforce Sesquicentennial Park. A new mixed-use cultural and performance center will be constructed on the existing Post Office site. Expanding the Theater District across the Bayou will create a cohesive arts and cultural destination, an important step in raising Houston's tourist profile and convention appeal.

I'm guessing that's the fairground concept you heard, Subdude. As depicted on their PDF it would also include that creepy lot and building on the other side of the tracks at the dead-end of Girard Street.

Edited by arisegundo
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http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6280447.html

The U.S. Postal Service is selling the downtown post office after 47 years of sorting and delivering mail from the 16-acre operation.

Whoever buys the property at 401 Franklin must build a replacement processing facility for the postal service, as well as provide a retail location near the existing site where consumers can mail packages and buy stamps.

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Eureka! For once we agree on something.

The weird part is they are selling in a down economy instead of an up. They should have sold this 2 years ago when they could have surely gotten a lot more money.

True, although they have been making noises about moving to a new location for years now. They could find something cheaper and more convenient to transportation.

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  • 1 month later...

And any move to tear down the building could rattle preservationists who say Houston has lost too many of its historical or architecturally significant buildings.

Stephen Fox, a Houston architectural historian and fellow of the Anchorage Foundation of Texas, called the downtown post office a

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This is a historic post office building worth preserving:

old_post_office.jpg

This isn't:

downtown-post-office.jpg

One factor to consider is how our preferences for what is considered an attractive building change with time and styles.

My experience indicates that we like/tolerate architectural styles for the first 20-25 years; we dislike/despise the styles that are 30-50 years old; but we begin to appreciate those styles again after around 50 years.

The pattern has played out many times over: destruction of Victorian structures in the 50's & 60's; destruction of art deco buildings in the 60's and 70's; and the current lack of appreciation for this 1960's Houston Post Office (nothing spectacular, but certainly a period piece).

While I do not necessarily propose the protection of this particular building, I do honestly believe that is has a style that we will begin to appreciate much more in the next 10-15 years.

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One factor to consider is how our preferences for what is considered an attractive building change with time and styles.

My experience indicates that we like/tolerate architectural styles for the first 20-25 years; we dislike/despise the styles that are 30-50 years old; but we begin to appreciate those styles again after around 50 years.

The pattern has played out many times over: destruction of Victorian structures in the 50's & 60's; destruction of art deco buildings in the 60's and 70's; and the current lack of appreciation for this 1960's Houston Post Office (nothing spectacular, but certainly a period piece).

While I do not necessarily propose the protection of this particular building, I do honestly believe that is has a style that we will begin to appreciate much more in the next 10-15 years.

Quite right. I've argued myself for instance that the current style of the George R Brown is worth preserving because it is dated enough to be a genuine period piece. And normally I love architecture from the era in which the post office was built. The problem is to me this just doesn't seem to be a particularly good example of mid-century modern. Or am I missing something? The building originally had a large USPO logo plastered on the front; oddly enough that seemed to much improve the look, probably by giving some focus to an otherwise bland and repetitive facade.

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  • 3 months later...

I apologize in advance if this topic already exists. I did a search and did not find one, so here goes.

There has been talk lately about the Post Office cutting costs and closing stations. What I wonder about is the downtown Houston Post Office. That thing is sitting on several acres of prime, expensive real estate. I bet there are a few developers who would like to get a hold of that property. It must cost the PO plenty to get mail into and out of that facility, given the downtown traffic.

Why not move the damn thing and sell the property I bet they could move the thing to someplace cheaper and with better access. Upgrade the technology to FedEx, UPS standards.

Am i nuts?

Edited by gto250us
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The Post Office is already for sale. The buyer has to build them a new post office somewhere else and then also buy the land for a pretty penny, so there have been no takers yet. There's a thread around here somewhere...

Edited by kylejack
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The Post Office is already for sale. The buyer has to build them a new post office somewhere else and then also buy the land for a pretty penny, so there have been no takers yet. There's a thread around here somewhere...

I cannot see anyone wanting to do this sort of thing in our current economic environment.

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Quite frankly, the Govt. should let loose of the USPS and make it compete with FedEx, et al. As far as I am concerned over 90% of what the USPS brings to my door is crap. I suspect that an overwhelming majority of the mail that is delivered everyday is crap that people do not want. Eliminate all of that and the need for the USPS would deminish drastically, but no, they want the junk mail just so they can collect the fees and have something for the carriers to do.

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The USPS is slowly dwindling away...maybe they could revamp efforts in the larger package realm, though. I know they have always provided those services, but that's the last thing left in mail these days.

One major problem with winding down the USPS is that they have a huge workforce on the government tit and they are in every single community in the nation. That will be real hard to fold up.

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One major problem with winding down the USPS is that they have a huge workforce on the government tit and they are in every single community in the nation. That will be real hard to fold up.

I really don't think USPS can survive without the government. Heck, if they spin USPS off, they might as well spin off NASA and Amtrak and everything else. If USPS is spun off, it will collapse.

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One major problem with winding down the USPS is that they have a huge workforce on the government tit and they are in every single community in the nation. That will be real hard to fold up.

Additionally, not every single person has access to email. There are rural communities out there in which, aside from TV and phone, is only able to get their bills via USPS.

The way things stand, this could be an opportunity for the for postal system to downsize.

Not only would they get rid of huge buildings on expensive land, but they can also build a smaller building that would require a smaller work force.

I would not doubt that in the future, they will cut back on the their hiring. The current employees would eventually be transferred or retired and their jobs not be filled.

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