State National Bank To Become Moxy Hotel By Marriott At 412 Main St.

[H-Town Man]

41 minutes ago, Houston19514 said:

Interesting item buried in the Downtown TIRZ minutes (anyone want to start a pool on how long it takes the Chron or HBJ to cover this?)

 

The current owners are proposing to sell the State National Building to an entity named "Highrock Hospitality, LLC".  Looks like we might we be seeing another hotel conversion.

 

http://www.downtowntirz.com/downtownhouston/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/180911-Authority-Minutes-SIGNED.pdf

 

 

Good news. Kind of surprised we didn't have enough Class B office tenants interested in a historic building to make this renovation successful. But I guess the downturn and significant vacant space at the Gulf, Esperson, and 1001 McKinney didn't help.

[kbates2]

I can’t believe that we haven’t seen any recent condo conversions.  Seems like this would be a pretty great location.

[Avossos]

Pls be an Ace Hotel, pls pls pls

[Avossos]

I have been waiting to hear if this building would have a proposal for a new hotel since it was recently purchased by a hospitality company. Any new info here?

[Urbannizer]

Moxy Hotel by Marriott

 

https://www.virtualbx.com/feature-story/houston-historic-12-story-state-national-bldg-converting-to-moxy-hotel-by-marriott/

 

Campo Architects is requesting permission from the city to proceed with alterations to convert the State National Bank Building in the Main Street Market Square Historic District into a Moxy Hotel by Marriott.

 

The Houston Archaeological and Historic Commission is scheduled to consider a request for a Certificate of Appropriateness on the project at their Thursday afternoon meeting.

 

Campo Architects, based in Covington, Louisiana, is providing architecture, interior design, and historic tax credit services. According to a project description, the building opened in 1923 as the State Bank and Trust Company. However, the Harris County Appraisal District (HCAD) records claim the 12-story structure was built in 1928.

 

Located at 412 Main Street, the building fronts the Metro’s light rail Red Line and is within the Market Square Reinvestment Zone.

Plans are to convert it to a boutique hotel with 119 guestrooms, with a main lobby and bar. Moxy Hotels are marketed as party venues for hip, young urbanites, “with an appetite for adventure. There’s a drink waiting for you with your room key and someone at the bar that wants your number.”

 

The proposed work includes a new curb cut on Main at the entrance, in-ground lighting in the sidewalk; replacement of a non-historic section above the main entrance with black metal panels; some minor refurbishment of certain windows to have them all match; new exterior lighting on the façade; mounting of a Moxy sign 19 feet above the sidewalk at the east side of the façade; installation of an entrance canopy extending 6 feet toward the street; installation of automatic sliding doors at the entrance.

 

State National has a living area of 55,844 square feet, according to HCAD. Campo has calculated a living area of 56,700 square feet for the future hotel.

The estimated completion date is the fourth quarter (winter) of 2020.

 

According to a project narrative submitted by Campo, “The building was gutted in 2015 and is currently being converted into a Moxy by Marriott Hotel.”

 

[Houston19514]

10 minutes ago, Urbannizer said:

Moxy Hotel by Marriott

 

https://www.virtualbx.com/feature-story/houston-historic-12-story-state-national-bldg-converting-to-moxy-hotel-by-marriott/

 

Great news!!  Love Moxy Hotels!

[H-Town Man]

I guess restoring the cornice isn't hip/young/moxy enough.

 

[Nate99]

Cool. The vacancies/underused buildings are dropping like flies. 

 

Given everything else that has grown up and changed around them, I'm excited for what the lot across Main from this one and the big super lot between the Marriott Marquis and IWA could be. 

 

In another 20 years, we'll be freaking old, but imagining how DT could plausibly turn out is pretty exciting, especially if you saw it during the 80's/90's. 

[rechlin]

Guess we're never going to get the old decorative parapet (which was removed during renovation) restored, then, since the rendering still shows the current plain façade at the top.  Glad to see an empty building put to use, though.

[Avossos]

3 hours ago, rechlin said:

Guess we're never going to get the old decorative parapet (which was removed during renovation) restored, then, since the rendering still shows the current plain façade at the top.  Glad to see an empty building put to use, though.

 

Truly is a shame, but I am glad this building will have a modern use now.

 

Battlestien's building I am looking at you now...

[mattyt36]

Wow, have stayed at a Moxy once before in Minneapolis ... was very unique. I posted in another thread around that time that it’d fit in perfectly in Montrose or the East End but of course I’ll take this.

[urbanize713]

Great development. Question though, at what point do we rename Main Street to Marriott Street?

 

-Residence Inn

-Courtyard

-Spring Hill

-JW Marriott

-AC Hotels

-Moxy

-Icon 

 

All from Polk Street to the Bayou. In fact, if it was not for the Holiday Inn, every hotel on Main street in downtown would be a Marriott. 

Edited August 9, 2021 by urbanize713

[downtownian]

It looks like a major international corporation ripping off Ace Hotel. Which I guess is what’s actually going on 

[cspwal]

Stupid question - where are the doors into the place? Is that "speak easy lobby"?

[Urbannizer]

49 minutes ago, cspwal said:

Stupid question - where are the doors into the place? Is that "speak easy lobby"?

 

 

Only the side door is only being used for now, but the main entrance will open up again. 

 

[downtownian]

The front of the building is inscribed "Frugality is the Mother of the Virtues" which is likely off-brand for a Moxy hotel.

[H-Town Man]

15 hours ago, cspwal said:

Stupid question - where are the doors into the place? Is that "speak easy lobby"?

 

It's on the lower level so you enter from the stairs.

 

[Luminare]

7 hours ago, H-Town Man said:

 

It's on the lower level so you enter from the stairs.

 

 

Thats what I guessed as well. I'm assuming the kitchen will be on the ground floor so it can easily access both the "speak easy" and the rest of the hotel for room service.

[H-Town Man]

23 minutes ago, Luminare said:

 

Thats what I guessed as well. I'm assuming the kitchen will be on the ground floor so it can easily access both the "speak easy" and the rest of the hotel for room service.

 

If this space is for lease I imagine the tenant will have their own kitchen and not be sharing the hotel's.

 

[Luminare]

7 minutes ago, H-Town Man said:

 

If this space is for lease I imagine the tenant will have their own kitchen and not be sharing the hotel's.

 

 

You could be right. From what I know about Hotel's (my knowledge is limited in this regard), is that even if that space is leased its still part of the hotel (or managed by the hotel). I don't know of a whole lot of hotels that don't have a restaurant within their facility that doubles both as a full service restaurant and room service. I know if I was the designer, I wouldn't design with two kitchens in mind if one can be enough for both. Not exactly a good use of space in a very tight building footprint.

[arche_787]

Possibly?  I’m thinking they could utilize some sort of separate occupancy that’d allow the co-mingled kitchen(s)?

 

What does the restaurant do for restroom access?  If it is a separate space then they would have to provide for the patrons in lieu of the hotel - not with the hotel.

 

Will have to research this via Marriott’s design site sometime when I have time.

[H-Town Man]

I recall that the pieces of the removed cornice were stored in the basement. Hopefully they don't get tossed out.

 

[Luminare]

48 minutes ago, H-Town Man said:

I recall that the pieces of the removed cornice were stored in the basement. Hopefully they don't get tossed out.

 

 

Would be cool if they repurposed parts of the cornice for a bar counter.

[H-Town Man]

46 minutes ago, Luminare said:

 

Would be cool if they repurposed parts of the cornice for a bar counter.

 

It needs to be saved until the right person comes along and restores it. I am really not ok with the disfigurement of one of our most interesting early office buildings. I think the historical commission got taken for a ride on this one and showed their "noob" experience level. There needs to be some kind of quid pro quo with the hotel, where they restore the cornice and in exchange they're allowed to put up some garish neon signage of some sort.

 

 

[Luminare]

On 3/27/2019 at 10:24 AM, H-Town Man said:

 

It needs to be saved until the right person comes along and restores it. I am really not ok with the disfigurement of one of our most interesting early office buildings. I think the historical commission got taken for a ride on this one and showed their "noob" experience level. There needs to be some kind of quid pro quo with the hotel, where they restore the cornice and in exchange they're allowed to put up some garish neon signage of some sort.

 

 

 

Why is this cornice all the sudden some sacred object? Was it done by Michelangelo? Who qualifies as the "right person"? Is it better rotting in a basement until the "right person" comes along or is it better use it some other way? It doesn't have to even be a bar counter. That was just a idea, me speaking out loud. The original people that made it are dead and buried. Not like they can say anything about. I'm sure they would like something to be done with it instead of it just sitting in a basement collecting dust. I guarantee that when it was originally conceived it was just another part of the design. If you can come up with the original designs that annotate the cornice as "sacred cornice. do not disfigure" then I'll retract this entire statement.

[dbigtex56]

1 hour ago, Luminare said:

 

Why is this cornice all the sudden some sacred object? Was it done by Michelangelo?

No.
Alfred Charles Finn was the architect. Apparently he believed that the cornice was an integral element of the facade of this building.

 

On 8/13/2016 at 8:39 AM, Texasota said:

It was damaged to the point that it posed a danger to pedestrians below. My understanding is that it was deemed to expensive to repair, so instead we got shaved eyebrows.

Imagine if someone was restoring a self-portrait by Frida Kahlo but decided that the eyebrows didn't really matter. I think the artist (and her admirers) would be pissed.
While I wish that the original cornice would be restored and replaced, this is a circumstance where a plastic or fiberglass reproduction would be cheaper, safer, and indistinguishable from the original when viewed from street level. 

 

On 3/27/2019 at 9:30 AM, Luminare said:

 

Would be cool if they repurposed parts of the cornice for a bar counter.

I agree. Unlike Frida's eyebrows, this could be appreciated out of context.

[H-Town Man]

2 hours ago, Luminare said:

 

Why is this cornice all the sudden some sacred object? Was it done by Michelangelo? Who qualifies as the "right person"? Is it better rotting in a basement until the "right person" comes along or is it better use it some other way? It doesn't have to even be a bar counter. That was just a idea, me speaking out loud. The original people that made it are dead and buried. Not like they can say anything about. I'm sure they would like something to be done with it instead of it just sitting in a basement collecting dust. I guarantee that when it was originally conceived it was just another part of the design. If you can come up with the original designs that annotate the cornice as "sacred cornice. do not disfigure" then I'll retract this entire statement.

 

Pretty much everyone who saw the before and after pictures (top of page) thought that it looked much better with the cornice. That's the main reason I'll hang my hat on. Aside from that, this is a historic district, and part of historic preservation is to preserve the original design elements of the building. This is why for instance you wouldn't allow an owner of the Rice to remove the verandah, or to turn the Palladian windows into paneless windows, etc. Any historic district that lets its buildings have design elements removed willy-nilly based on this or that excuse won't look good for very long. I couldn't care less if the people who made this building are dead; I choose to honor the dead and to preserve their best work.

 

As for Michelangelo, all of his buildings had cornices, and as this is a Neo-Italian Renaissance building, that really underscores my point.

 

Edited March 28, 2019 by H-Town Man

[H-Town Man]

1 hour ago, dbigtex56 said:

While I wish that the original cornice would be restored and replaced, this is a circumstance where a plastic or fiberglass reproduction would be cheaper, safer, and indistinguishable from the original when viewed from street level. 

 

Dbigtex, I like your post overall, but I've got to disagree with you here. They - someone - can put the original cornice back up. We are a first world city exploding in wealth. To paraphrase our mayor, Houston put a man on the moon... we can restore a cornice! Would Florence, would Prague, would Boston, would Chicago put up a fiberglass cornice? Let's hang with the big boys. Fake materials always look bad sooner or later (usually sooner). They're like CGI graphics in movies. Just do the real thing.

 

[dbigtex56]

6 hours ago, H-Town Man said:

 

Dbigtex, I like your post overall, but I've got to disagree with you here.

Understandably. I prefer the use of authentic materials, when possible and practical. 

 

6 hours ago, H-Town Man said:

Fake materials always look bad sooner or later (usually sooner).

i.e, The Jefe Bar (502 Main St). Those decorative lintels look like they were cobbled from Foam-Core. 
We're not the first to struggle with this question. This article "The Use of Substitute Materials on Historic Building Exteriors" compares the pros and cons of various materials and their suitability. Fiberglass cornices seem to have found wide acceptance.
Comparing the State National Building with the works of Michelangelo or Louis Sullivan is a bit of a stretch. It's a pretty good building by a pretty good architect, and deserves a pretty good restoration.
 

[Nate99]

Seems an easy and obvious enough problem to solve if anyone actually cares about how the building looks. It's like running a Cadillac around on a set of cheap steel wheels off of a Chevy at this point; at least its back on the road, and they can fix that problem once they get everything critical to its renewed practical use ironed out. Not sure how many people were lining up to have a go at this building apart from the people that couldn't/wouldn't pay to restore the cornice, but the bigger issue was having an abandoned building with a cornice that was about to fall on a pedestrian, now we have a redeveloped old building that looks weirder than it optimally could.You win some, you lose some.