Battlesteins Redevelopment At 812 Main St.

[UtterlyUrban]

As has been pointed out, a new "plywood, painted black, construction wall" was erected in front of this building a few weeks ago.

As I walked by today, the Plywood door was open as was the actual building door. There was some kind of construction (or destruction) activity going on inside. Could not see anything except miscellaneous tools and carts and shop lights, but could hear the work going on.

Just saying..... Something is up.....

[monarch]

much obliged as per your sharing utterlyurban!

it would be simply wonderful for something positive to be forthcoming upon that particular burgeoning downtown corridor.

hope springs eternal...

[Nate99]

They used it as a construction office during the 806 Main refurb. Hopefully they are working to fix it up for future use, but they might just be dismantling their offices.

[UtterlyUrban]

They used it as a construction office during the 806 Main refurb. Hopefully they are working to fix it up for future use, but they might just be dismantling their offices.

It may be the dismantling.

[j_cuevas713]

http://swamplot.com/abandoned-battlesteins-building-bought-by-its-main-st-marriott-neighbor/2018-12-12/

[Nate99]

Seemed like a good fit for space with the JW next door.  They have had the front doors open in recent days, so hopefully they are getting after it sooner rather than later. 

[wilcal]

Kind of torn on what I would like to see here. 

 

As long as it isn't turned into parking. 

[monarch]

^^^ outstanding news.  YES!

[H-Town Man]

56 minutes ago, wilcal said:

Kind of torn on what I would like to see here. 

 

As long as it isn't turned into parking. 

 

It very well might be. Parking is all the rage downtown. Although I would think they would have signed a long lease with the garage they've been using. And I don't think there are any curb cuts along this part of Main so I doubt the city would allow one, but we've certainly shot Texas Ave full of curb cuts so I wouldn't be surprised.

 

[Houston19514]

Doesn't seem like it would make for a very efficient parking structure, given how narrow it is.

[j_cuevas713]

45 minutes ago, Houston19514 said:

Doesn't seem like it would make for a very efficient parking structure, given how narrow it is.

And its location on Main. I'm hoping they somehow connect the hotel to this building and possibly make additional rooms. 

[Nate99]

21 minutes ago, j_cuevas713 said:

And its location on Main. I'm hoping they somehow connect the hotel to this building and possibly make additional rooms. 

 

They definitely connect at the tunnel/basement level, though who knows what is down there in the Battelstein space.  Does the JW have any meeting or amenity space on the second or third floor?  JW could at a minimum expand the lobby at the street level and have a second set of elevators that take you up in the other "tower".   

[H-Town Man]

Agreed on inefficiency for parking. Looks like it's 50 feet wide. Not really efficient for anything, though. Marriott could just be acquiring it to control what's next to them and letting it sit a few more years.

 

[j_cuevas713]

11 minutes ago, Nate99 said:

 

They definitely connect at the tunnel/basement level, though who knows what is down there in the Battelstein space.  Does the JW have any meeting or amenity space on the second or third floor?  JW could at a minimum expand the lobby at the street level and have a second set of elevators that take you up in the other "tower".   

Exactly. I highly doubt they will demo this building. 

[flatline]

Good news, but too bad they couldn't have gotten it while they were doing the JW construction.  I seem to recall media reports indicating that the hotel developers made offers but couldn't reach a deal.  My own wild speculation is that they have some contingencies drawn up for back-of-the-house uses for it.  Agree parking seems like an impossibility.  If nothing else,  a refresh of street-side face should be on the way, and  long overdue.

[downtownian]

$8 million to bring it up to code and $17 million to make it OK for office occupancy. The JW Marriott cost $80 million with $12 million in city subsidies provided. 

[UtterlyUrban]

I hope that they make it an urban Target.

 

well, at least I can hope.

[CaptainJilliams]

2 hours ago, UtterlyUrban said:

I hope that they make it an urban Target.

 

well, at least I can hope.

 

^ This. Yes please.

[Urbannizer]

I can see this being renovated to condominiums for the JW Marriott.

[UtterlyUrban]

16 minutes ago, Urbannizer said:

I can see this being renovated to condominiums for the JW Marriott.

What an interesting thought!

 

would it not be difficult for residential given that there isn’t much natural light inside?  I.e. long and narrow building with no windows on either side.

[Houston19514]

16 minutes ago, UtterlyUrban said:

What an interesting thought!

 

would it not be difficult for residential given that there isn’t much natural light inside?  I.e. long and narrow building with no windows on either side.

 

Yeah, It seems you'd almost be limited to one unit per floor.

[H-Town Man]

Would make a pretty good hostel.

[Texasota]

Assuming it's 50' wide, I'd think you could do 2 units per floor. They'd need to be lofts so natural light could get to the back, but that's not a particularly unusual floor plan. 

[Houston19514]

27 minutes ago, Texasota said:

Assuming it's 50' wide, I'd think you could do 2 units per floor. They'd need to be lofts so natural light could get to the back, but that's not a particularly unusual floor plan. 

 

Yes, I suppose you could.  But lofts don't match up very well with the product offered by the JWMarriott.  I suspect they will go a different route with this building.

[Sanjorade]

A restaurant on every floor. 

[UtterlyUrban]

Meeting rooms, ball room, restaurant, expanded spa, gym, indoor pool, .......

 

I am thinking that this might be a way to expand “infrastructure” .... not “additional guest rooms”

[cspwal]

On 12/15/2018 at 0:23 PM, UtterlyUrban said:

Meeting rooms, ball room, restaurant, expanded spa, gym, indoor pool, .......

 

I am thinking that this might be a way to expand “infrastructure” .... not “additional guest rooms”

Why not both?  More infrastructure towards the back, but have the front where the windows are be more guest rooms

[Avossos]

This will likely be a hotel of its own... Think a more affordable Marriott flag...

 

There is nothing that states this will be a JW Marriott expansion. Pearl does many hotels.

[Houston19514]

2 hours ago, Avossos said:

This will likely be a hotel of its own... Think a more affordable Marriott flag...

 

There is nothing that states this will be a JW Marriott expansion. Pearl does many hotels.

 

I don't see how they could get enough windows in the building to create a stand-alone hotel, unless it's a very specialized boutique... maybe 50 rooms?

Edited December 17, 2018 by Houston19514

[mollusk]

There are windows on the back, with a glorious view of the air shaft.  Perhaps they could market those rooms as having an "authentic urban vibe."

[Avossos]

32 minutes ago, Houston19514 said:

 

I don't see how they could get enough windows in the building to create a stand-alone hotel, unless it's a very specialized boutique... maybe 50 rooms?

 

13 minutes ago, mollusk said:

There are windows on the back, with a glorious view of the air shaft.  Perhaps they could market those rooms as having an "authentic urban vibe."

 

I don’t see how it is much different than the Hyatt place hotel going in on Texas Ave. that too has limited front windows and difficult or no light on the side.

[Houston19514]

17 minutes ago, Avossos said:

 

 

I don’t see how it is much different than the Hyatt place hotel going in on Texas Ave. that too has limited front windows and difficult or no light on the side.

 

It's actually quite different from the Hyatt Place.  That building has windows on the front, the vast majority of the east side, at least half of the west side and part of the south side.  The subject building has windows on the front and maybe an opportunity to add a few windows on the part of the north side. That's it.

[Avossos]

20 minutes ago, Houston19514 said:

 

It's actually quite different from the Hyatt Place.  That building has windows on the front, the vast majority of the east side, at least half of the west side and part of the south side.  The subject building has windows on the front and maybe an opportunity to add a few windows on the part of the north side. That's it.

 

I desperately want an Ace Hotel in Houston. Those are my favorite.

[kbates2]

Don't Capitol Lofts and Kirby Lofts have many units with only one wall of windows that are fairly deep?

[downtownian]

2 hours ago, Avossos said:

 

I desperately want an Ace Hotel in Houston. Those are my favorite.

 

Same. If a city has an Ace, I stay there.

 

31 minutes ago, kbates2 said:

Don't Capitol Lofts and Kirby Lofts have many units with only one wall of windows that are fairly deep?

 

For Capitol, the entire front of the building is floor to ceiling windows. The sides of Capitol Lofts actually open to interior courtyards (you can see it on google maps satellite view). One of the courtyards is bounded by Club Quarters and the soon to be open AC Hotel and you can see the top of BG Group Place from it. There are balconies both over main street and one of the courtyards which makes it a lot less claustrophobic.

 

Looks like there is a courtyard between Battlestein and the JW.

 

Note: I'm using courtyard loosely here. More like spaces between buildings.

[Houston19514]

2 hours ago, kbates2 said:

Don't Capitol Lofts and Kirby Lofts have many units with only one wall of windows that are fairly deep?

 

The Kirby Lofts building has windows on the west, north and east sides 

Edited December 18, 2018 by Houston19514

[kbates2]

Right but not all of the way up right?  I looked at 4 units there and none had windows on more than one side and all would fit well in the footprint of this building.

[Avossos]

I am curious to hear a plan or proposal for this building. Anyone heard anything on this?

[Avossos]

It has been a year and still no word. Does anyone have any information on this?

[Nate99]

Looks quite dormant, there is no activity that you can see from the street. 

[Texasota]

Battelstein's was just listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

That seems like a *very* good sign, and might also explain the delay.

Edited February 7, 2020 by Texasota

[Avossos]

24 minutes ago, Texasota said:

Battelstein's was just listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

That seems like a *very* good sign, and might also explain the delay.

 

That means they will seek historic restoration tax credits... good.

 

How did you find this out?

[Texasota]

It's a weirdly unreliable website, but the Park Service posts an updated list every Friday: https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nationalregister/weekly-list.htm

Today is not showing up right now though. 

[Avossos]

Here is a cool link i found. They definitely applied and it was pending in late January...

 

https://www.thc.texas.gov/public/upload/preserve/national_register/draft_nominations/Battelstein's NR - SBR Draft.pdf

 

https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nationalregister/pending-list-20191228.htm

 

Edited February 7, 2020 by Avossos

[kbates2]

"The owner of the adjacent J.W. Marriott Houston Downtown Hotel (historically known as the S.F. Carter Second National Bank Building) purchased the building in 2019 and plans to rehabilitate the building for hotel purposes utilizing state and federal historic tax credits."

[IntheKnowHouston]

According to documents recently filed with the Harris County Clerk's office, the Battlestein's Building at 812 Main St has been sold.

Documents indicate SWVP JW Houston LLC  acquired the property. SWVP JW Houston LLC is an entity of Southwest Value Partners, a San Diego-based real estate investment company.

Edited November 13, 2022 by IntheKnowHouston

[IntheKnowHouston]

Recent posts about the Battlestein's Building at 812 Main St discussed in the topic for 806 Main St:

https://www.houstonarchitecture.com/haif/topic/22874-jw-marriott-hotel-downtown-at-806-main-st

 

 

On 12/8/2022 at 7:48 AM, editor said:

Work was underway on the adjacent, abandoned building yesterday.    I'm pretty sure I read here on HAIF that the abandoned building is going to become part of the hotel next door.

Construction workers were inside and appeared to be gutting the place.  Lots of debris.

 

On 12/12/2022 at 9:12 PM, downtownian said:

There is always that weird smell going from the building whenever I walk by

 

On 12/15/2022 at 3:47 PM, rechlin said:

They are removing the old awning:

 

On 12/15/2022 at 5:50 PM, mattyt36 said:

I could've sworn I read on here that the building (former Battlestein's) was sold by whoever owns the JW Marriott, but I can't seem to find the thread, so maybe I dreamt it.

 

On 12/21/2022 at 1:57 PM, editor said:

Awning is gone, and all the windows are open.  Maybe they're airing it out?  It's probably a bit rank in there.

 

On 12/21/2022 at 2:26 PM, j_cuevas713 said:

I love those windows. Another historical building saved! 

 

 

Edited December 24, 2022 by IntheKnowHouston

[mattyt36]

16 minutes ago, IntheKnowHouston said:

Recent posts about the Battlestein's Building at 812 Main St discussed in an unrelated topic:

https://www.houstonarchitecture.com/haif/topic/22874-jw-marriott-hotel-downtown-at-806-main-st

 

 

 

 

 

 

So it is accurate it was sold, but so was the JW.  So good news for the JW and sorta good news for my memory!

[IntheKnowHouston]

Just now, mattyt36 said:

So it is accurate it was sold, but so was the JW.  So good news for the JW and sorta good news for my memory!

Correct. I don't know what's in store for the Battlestein's Building, but maybe it's this:


 

On 12/18/2022 at 8:42 PM, Houknew said:

I can’t reveal my sources but JW Marriott is expanding. Will also be adding a pool.

From this topic: https://www.houstonarchitecture.com/haif/topic/22874-jw-marriott-hotel-downtown-at-806-main-st

 

[IntheKnowHouston]

  

On 12/8/2022 at 7:48 AM, editor said:

Work was underway on the adjacent, abandoned building yesterday.    I'm pretty sure I read here on HAIF that the abandoned building is going to become part of the hotel next door.

Construction workers were inside and appeared to be gutting the place.  Lots of debris.

 A plan review permit from November for the Battlesteins Building at 812 Main St.