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Cheek Neal Coffee Building At 2017 Preston St.


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“Architects, historians, and the City of Houston told me the windows could never be restored, that they were in far too poor condition,” he says. “They urged me to use aluminum which may last twenty-five years, whereas steel lasts centuries. Look at them now–perfect and as beautiful as they were back in 1917! I worked weekends, bought pipe at cost for $10,000 that would normally have been $150,000. Keeping costs down is key, but I never compromise the quality.”

 

..if steel last centuries, then why did he need to replace the windows?

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Because old steel casement windows were usually single-paned. My old house had them but half of the glass had been knocked out similar to this building. New environmental guidelines will let you keep old windows but not fix or replace them without making them double-paned. Also, in our climate, you're gonna want double paned. 

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2 hours ago, UtterlyUrban said:

I didn't realize that the proposed park doesn’t extend  south of the GRB.  The freeway is still elevated in this section?   Is this the currently proposed plan or something from a while ago?

 

 

 

http://www.ih45northandmore.com/docs8/02-20170428_NHHIP_Seg3_I-45_RollPlot_PH_2-3.pdf

 

the freeway interchange starts going from sunken to elevated at Lamar. by Polk it will be level with the ground. by Leeland the lowest point of the freeway will be at least 16.5' above the street level. there will be ramps that will extend higher, but the purpose of that cut-away is to ensure clearances are met, not to placate our urge to understand exactly how much of a visual impact this is going to have.

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The history of this building makes me wonder if Houston was special, or if Cheek-Neal had other plants. Maxwell House was created as a brand in Nashville in the late 1800s by the Nashville Coffee & Manufacturing Company, and the name of the company didn't change until after 1900 to Cheek-Neal Coffee Co. (they also apparently manufactured Maxwell House tea in the early days). Cheek-Neal was bought by Postum in 1928 (General Foods a year later following the acquisition of Clarence Birdseye's General Seafoods Company), presumably kept the Cheek-Neal name at least moving to the new facility in the 1940s (where at the time the Cheek-Neal name didn't show up, guessing it became the Maxwell House division). And from there, it seems to be a black hole? "After that, Denenburg said, it may have housed a few other manufacturing operations." Seems pretty vague, are there really no records out there of any further manufacturing, or was not enough research done?

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Originally posted January 24, 2016 in this thread before all of my content were removed from the entire forum earlier this month. Reposting this throws off the flow of the thread (i.e. out of order),  still, it may be helpful for visitors to see what was previously discussed or shared before. Archive link coming soon.

 

On 7/24/2015 at 11:35 AM, DrLan34 said:

http://blog.chron.com/primeproperty/2015/07/old-coffee-building-in-eado-to-be-restored/

 

Not sure if there is already a thread on this...


 

New plan brewing for EaDo coffee building

 

For years the five-story red brick building just east of downtown, visible by all who travel U.S. 59 near the convention center, was a neglected eyesore amid a resurgence of development around it.

 

Located essentially at the front door of the trendy EaDo neighborhood, the old Cheek-Neal Coffee building is now in new hands. A group led by local preservationists purchased it this month after settling a property-related legal dispute that lasted several years and kept the building from being redeveloped.

 

The structure has been dilapidated for "probably 75 years," said David Denenburg, one of the new owners.

 

"Everybody that looks at it sees a piece of junk, but I look at it as a pile of gold," said Denenburg, who has restored old houses and recently transformed a historic Houston fire station building near downtown into an event space.

 

Denenburg and his partners aren't sure yet what they'll do with their new acquisition, 2017 Preston at St. Emanuel, but they've talked about restoring it as a boutique hotel or a hub for creative workers.

 

"Whatever it's going to be, it'll be something spectacular," Denenburg said. "I want it to be something that will be around forever that people can enjoy."

 

The group, which also includes Jon Deal, Todd Johnson and Steve Gibson, purchased the 55,000-square-foot building from Tour Partners Ltd., an entity affiliated with the Augusta Pines golf club and the Tour 18 golf franchise, according to Denenburg's attorney Brian Kilpatrick. He and Jarrett Ellzey represented Denenburg in a lawsuit that was settled earlier this year relating to the previous ownership and the property's title.

 

Built in 1917, the building served as a coffee plant that manufactured Maxwell House Coffee before those operations moved to a bigger plant on Harrisburg in the late 1940s.

 

After that, Denenburg said, it may have housed a few other manufacturing operations.

 

Joseph Finger and James Ruskin Bailey designed the reinforced concrete frame structure, according to Stephen Fox's "Houston Architectural Guide."

The new owners hope to use historic tax credits to redevelop the building, returning it to "exactly the way it was," Denenburg said.

 

He said power washers have already started cleaning up the building.
 

https://www.houstonarchitecture.com/haif/topic/32426-cheek-neal-coffee-building-to-be-restored/?do=findComment&comment=506452

 

 

 



From Houston Chronicle in July:

 

Old coffee building in EaDo to be restored

Developers are planning to restore the Cheek Neal Coffee Building, a long-vacant structure just east of U.S. 59 from downtown.

 

David Denenburg and Jon Deal have purchased the 55,000-square-foot building from Tour Partners Ltd., an entity affiliated with the Augusta Pines golf club and the Tour 18 golf franchise, according to an attorney who represented the developers in a lawsuit relating to the property acquisition.

The property, 2017 Preston at St. Emanuel, will be restored by the developers who have completed other restoration projects in the past.

 

In 2014, Denenburg acquired and restored an old fire station built in 1905 at 1919 Houston Ave. into an event space. Deal’s most recent project involves the transformation of the Riviana Rice facility into what will be called the Silos at Sawyer Yards. The project will house creative work spaces along with galleries, restaurants and additional retail.

 

Brian Kilpatrick of Wilson, Cribbs & Goren said Denenburg put the property under contract in 2013 but the deal fell apart due to problems with title. A lawsuit was later resolved and Denenburg was able to move forward with the purchase of the property. Attorney Jarrett Ellzey of Hughes Ellzey also represented Denenburg in the dispute.

 

Cheek Neal was the predecessor to Maxwell House Coffee.


 




 

 

Photos from Houston Chronicle


A historic photo of the Cheek-Neal Coffee building at 2017 Preston. (Houston Metropolitan Research Center, Houston Public Library)
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The former Cheek Neal Coffee Building, at 2017 Preston, is seen Friday, July 24, 2015, in Houston. The building was acquired by Houston developers who plan to restore it. ( Jon Shapley / Houston Chronicle )
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The former Cheek Neal Coffee Building, at 2017 Preston, is seen Friday, July 24, 2015, in Houston. The building was acquired by Houston developers who plan to restore it. ( Jon Shapley / Houston Chronicle )
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Draft of proposed rendering of the redeveloped The Cheek and Neal at 2017 Preston:
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Originally posted January 24, 2016 in this thread before all of my content were removed from the entire forum earlier this month. Reposting this throws off the flow of the thread (i.e. out of order),  still, it may be helpful for visitors to see what was previously discussed or shared before. Archive link coming soon.



 

On 9/24/2015 at 6:47 PM, Urbannizer said:


Historic coffee building gets an 'old school' renovation

 

 

A soft breeze blew through the open windows on the top floor of 2017 Preston, bringing with it the rich smell of coffee from a manufacturing plant about a half-mile away. At first, the irony was lost on the owner of the five-story building, itself once a coffee roasting operation that shuttered in the 1940s.

"I've always smelled that, but I didn't know exactly what it was. That's pretty cool," said David Denenburg, laughing about how his senses have been dulled by years of exposure to paint, chemicals other products used in construction.

 

Denenburg recently bought the red brick building that rises five stories alongside the Southwest Freeway just east of downtown. Though there's been a renaissance of the neighborhood around it, the old Cheek-Neal Coffee building has languished for decades, a target for graffiti artists and a shelter for the homeless.

 

One of its most identifiable features is a rooftop water tower that was replaced several years ago with a fiberglass imitation that hides Verizon Wireless cellular equipment. The original tank sits just a few feet away, and Denenburg imagines it being used as perhaps a circular bar once the building has been restored and has a new purpose.

 

For now, he's not sure what that purpose will be. And there's still a looming question as to how the building might be affected by the state's plans to reroute Interstate 45 alongside U.S. 59, effectively widening the freeway adjacent to Denenburg's building.

 

Since he and a small group of investors purchased the building in June, the 36-year-old developer has been moving at a fast clip to restore it to the way it looked when it was built in 1917.

 

Denenburg has concentrated initial restoration efforts on the building's downtown-facing side.

 

"What I'm trying to do is get this entire façade finished so everybody in the city can see how beautiful this building really is," Denenburg said during a tour of the property. "I just want to prove this building is not a piece of junk. It's a masterpiece."

 

Workers have been power-washing the structure and removing paint with equipment that won't damage the bricks. Every window has been restored by hand.

"Everything we do is kind of old school, from building our own scaffolding to how we do the windows," Denenburg said.

 

Distinctive windows

Welders and architects told him the windows, which were manufactured in St. Louis 100 years ago, could not be saved because they'd have to be removed in order to be restored, and that wasn't an option because of the way they were built into the structure.

 

"Everyone told me to rip these out and have them re-created in a factory in China," said Denenburg, who was determined to redo them in place.

He pointed out the curvature of a handle that cranks open the windows.

 

"See how beautiful this handle is? You can't find that anywhere," he said.

 

The Houston Archaeological and Historical Commission recently voted to approve the building as a Protected Landmark, the highest level of protection for a historic property. It prohibits demolition, except in cases of extreme hardship, and requires approval for any alteration to the façade.

 

 

Joseph Finger and James Ruskin Bailey designed the 55,000-square-foot concrete frame structure, which served as a coffee plant that manufactured Maxwell House before operations moved to a bigger plant on Harrisburg, the one nearby, in the late 1940s.

 

As Denenburg pushed for the designation, he was warned against it.

 

"People were like, 'Oh be careful ... you're going to be in the hand of the preservation society for everything you do,' " he said. "I was like, 'I don't care. I want it to be that way.' "

 

What it could be

 

For now, Denenburg is more focused on restoration than finding a tenant. Still, he's talked with boutique hotel operators and was recently approached with an idea that would use the property as a culinary market like they have in other major cities.

 

He'd also like to see a coffee shop on the first level and perhaps an event space on the top floor with rooftop access. Residential lofts are "off the table," he said, "because the only people that would be able to enjoy them are the owners."

 

His plan is to use the original name: The Cheek and Neal.

 


http://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/columnists/sarnoff/article/An-old-school-renovation-for-historic-coffee-6527888.php#photo-8686905
 






Photos from Houston Chronicle


David Denenburg, one of the new owners of the historic Cheek-Neal Coffee building at 2017 Preston, photographed inside of the building with Minute Maid Park in the background.


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Detail of an old lift, used to bring coffee beans up into the upper story of the historic Cheek-Neal Coffee Co. building at 2017 Preston St.

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Edited by CrockpotandGravel
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Originally posted January 24, 2016 in this thread before all of my content were removed from the entire forum earlier this month. Reposting this throws off the flow of the thread (i.e. out of order),  still, it may be helpful for visitors to see what was previously discussed or shared before. Archive link coming soon.



 Add another David Buehrer coffee house (Greenway Coffee, Blacksmith, Morningstar) to the list. He's opening a coffee place at The Cheek and Neal (or The Cheek & Neal), the redeveloped Cheek-Neal Coffee Co. building at 2017 Preston St in Houston's East Downtown or EaDo. This was uploaded to his Instagram page Friday:



Cheek-Neal Coffee Building, Jan. 22nd, 2016. #Houston #CoffeeFamily
T2BAa7Y.jpg

 

Edited by CrockpotandGravel
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Originally posted January 24, 2016 in this thread before all of my content were removed from the entire forum earlier this month. Reposting this throws off the flow of the thread (i.e. out of order),  still, it may be helpful for visitors to see what was previously discussed or shared before. Archive link coming soon.



The owners of The Cheek and Neal, the proposed name for the redeveloped Cheek-Neal Coffee Co. building at 2017 Preston St, established an entity in June under 2017 Preston LLC. Denenburg Construction Group is redeveloping this property Houston's East Downtown or EaDo in partnership with The Deal Company. There's a dedicated website for the 2017 Project /The Cheek and Neal, described as an exciting new restoration and redevelopment of the historic Cheek-Neal Coffee Co. building in downtown Houston, TX.

 

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riginally posted January 24, 2016 in this thread before all of my content were removed from the entire forum earlier this month. Reposting this throws off the flow of the thread (i.e. out of order),  still, it may be helpful for visitors to see what was previously discussed or shared before. Archive link coming soon.



Here are pictures from two weeks ago posted to Instagram of The Cheek and Neal (or The Cheek & Neal), the redeveloped Cheek-Neal Coffee Co. building at 2017 Preston St in Houston's East Downtown or EaDo:



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[Photos from Instagram/Twisty1965]

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Originally posted January 25, 2016 in this thread before all of my content were removed from the entire forum earlier this month. Reposting this throws off the flow of the thread (i.e. out of order),  still, it may be helpful for visitors to see what was previously discussed or shared before. Archive link coming soon.

 

 

 

On 1/24/2016 at 11:05 AM, CrockpotandGravel said:

Add another David Buehrer coffee house (Greenway Coffee, Blacksmith, Morningstar) to the list. He's opening a coffee place at The Cheek and Neal (or The Cheek & Neal), the redeveloped Cheek-Neal Coffee Co. building at 2017 Preston St in Houston's East Downtown or EaDo. This was uploaded to his Instagram page Friday:

T2BAa7Y.jpg





 

More about the new coffee shop opening in The Cheek & Neal, the redeveloped Cheek-Neal Coffee Co. building from Swamplot:

 

Coffee Coming Back to Long-Vacant Coffee Plant Next to East Downtown Soup Kitchen

 

Greenway, the roasting operation behind Blacksmith’s coffee (in the former Westheimer home of Mary’s), appears to be involved in a coffee project intended for the ground floor of the 1917 Cheek-Neal Coffee Co. building. The former coffee plant at 2017 Preston St. (located across Congress Ave. from the Loaves and Fishes soup kitchen and SEARCH Homeless Services’s under-construction employment center) received little use or maintenance following the 1946 departure of coffee manufacturing operations; the building is currently being renovated after sitting vacant for years across 59 from Minute Maid Park.

 

2017 Preston’s new owners mentioned plans to put a coffee shop on the ground floor of the structure to the Houston Chronicle in September — and on Friday, Greenway owner David Buehrer posted a photo of the renovation’s interior progress to Instagram:

 

The property at 2017 Preston was used from 1917 until 1946 to manufacture Cheek-Neal’s Maxwell House Coffee; the Maxwell brand was sold to what eventually became Kraft Foods in 1928, and operations moved to a new facility on Harrisburg Blvd. in 1946. (That Harrisburg plant was sold to Maximus Coffee in 2006, shortly after which the iconic Maxwell House coffee cup sign was removed; the company was rebranded as Atlantic Solutions Coffee in 2014 following a labor strike at the plant during the previous fall.)

 

In September, the new owners of 2017 Preston mentioned the possibility of conversion of the building into a boutique hotel, but said they were at that point more focused on the renovation than on finding tenants.


 

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Originally posted January 29, 2016 in this thread before all of my content were removed from the entire forum earlier this month. Reposting this throws off the flow of the thread (i.e. out of order),  still, it may be helpful for visitors to see what was previously discussed or shared before. Archive link coming soon.

 


 

 

Video uploaded by Houston Chronicle about the restoration of the Cheek-Neal Coffee Co. building at 2017 Preston:

http://video.houstonchronicle.com/2017-Preston-29752976

 

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Originally posted February 8, 2016 in this thread before all of my content were removed from the entire forum earlier this month. Reposting this throws off the flow of the thread (i.e. out of order),  still, it may be helpful for visitors to see what was previously discussed or shared before. Archive link coming soon.


 

On 7/24/2015 at 12:00 PM, Urbannizer said:

David says that his team has immediately launched work refurbishing the exterior—power washing and welding crews are out there this morning (when David took this photo for us) to bring the building back to its former glory and tells us he's replicating its original awnings and windows to a T. He's working with the historic department to line up tax credits, and is trying to get historic landmark protected status. David hasn't decided yet what they'll do with the interior—he tells us he'd really like to do a state-of-the-art boutique hotel, but they're also considering doing event space or creative offices there. David may not know what the building will be, but he's got a grand opening date in mind already—in 2017, exactly 100 years after the Cheek Neal Coffee Co Building first opened.

https://www.bisnow.com/houston/news/mixed-use/historic-eado-building-to-be-redeveloped-48377
 



 

The developers applied for protected landmark status for the Cheek-Neal Coffee Co. Building at 2017 Preston in August and was granted permission to go forward by the Houston Archaeological and Historical Commission. A resolution designating the Cheek-Neal Coffee Co. building as a protected landmark is on tomorrow's city council agenda.

 

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Originally posted March 29, 2016 in this thread before all of my content were removed from the entire forum earlier this month. Reposting this throws off the flow of the thread (i.e. out of order),  still, it may be helpful for visitors to see what was previously discussed or shared before. Archive link coming soon.

 

 

 

 

Pictures of The Cheek and Neal (or The Cheek & Neal) from The Rice Design Alliance a few weeks ago:
 

    Quote

We're working on a story about the ongoing renovation of the Cheek-Neal Coffee Company Building, designed by Joseph Finger and James Ruskin Bailey and completed in 1917. Here are a few photos from our site visit with the building's new owner and Preservation Houston!


 

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Originally posted March 31, 2016 in this thread before all of my content were removed from the entire forum earlier this month. Reposting this throws off the flow of the thread (i.e. out of order),  still, it may be helpful for visitors to see what was previously discussed or shared before. Archive link coming soon.

 




More on The Cheek and Neal (or The Cheek & Neal) at 2017 Preston from OffCite:


 

“I’m a repurposer”: Preserving East Downtown’s Cheek-Neal Coffee Company Building


Even though he’s developing the former Cheek-Neal Coffee Company Building on Preston Avenue, David Denenburg doesn’t think of himself as a developer. “I guess I’m a repurposer,” he says.
 

The term fits him, and it fits his project — it suggests that there’s plenty of life left in in the 55,000-square-foot building, designed by Joseph Finger and James Ruskin Bailey and completed in 1917. A rendering of the project that Denenburg’s not ready to publish shows a storage wing of the building, which now houses wheelbarrows and other tools, turned into a storefront and shared kitchen that would be used by food vendors operating stalls on the first floor; the top four floors would be furnished offices.




Possible inclusions:


Denenburg has already envisioned ways of incorporating into this new concept the building’s old machinery. The fire escape he imagines as a way for people to clamor up to the rooftop bar, where an icehouse would be carved out of the decommissioned water tower. A corroded boiler in the basement could find new life as a pizza oven; an internal four-story-high motor-driven chain could become a kind of hipster dumbwaiter delivering boiler-fired pizza up to the office workers. Even the forgotten steel rods jutting out of the facade, in place for an addition that was never added, Denenburg sees as useful. “They show the history of the place,” he says.




On Denenburg's passion for restoring the Cheek-Neal Coffee Co. Building:

 

Though the rationality of tax incentives and other economic considerations come into play, there’s also an element of passion — irrational, inexplicable passion — to historic preservation. “I’ve been calling about this building for 15 or 18 years,” Denenburg says.
 

Nancy Sarnoff reported in her Houston Chronicle story about this building that Denenburg was told by both “welders and architects” that the steel casement windows couldn’t be restored. Denenburg has, for example, personally cut, welded, and bonded 74 new windows to replace the ones he personally yanked out.


 

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Originally posted March 31, 2016 in this thread before all of my content were removed from the entire forum earlier this month. Reposting this throws off the flow of the thread (i.e. out of order),  still, it may be helpful for visitors to see what was previously discussed or shared before. Archive link coming soon.

 



Pictures of the Cheek-Neal Coffee Co. Building on OffCite from Jim Parsons and Allyn West:


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Originally posted December 8, 2016 in this thread before all of my content were removed from the entire forum earlier this month. Reposting this throws off the flow of the thread (i.e. out of order),  still, it may be helpful for visitors to see what was previously discussed or shared before. Archive link coming soon.



 

On 12/7/2016 at 12:28 PM, Urbannizer said:






Additional drafts and renderings of The Cheek and Neal (or The Cheek & Neal) at 2017 Preston (from the links above)


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A site plan of the first floor with lobby, retail space, restaurant and patio:

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