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Chase Motor Bank At 212 Milam St.


houstontexasjack

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The property at 212 Milam St., presently occupied by the more-or-less abandoned Chase Motor Bank across the street to the north from Market Square Tower, has recently been listed for sale:

https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/212-Milam-St-Houston-TX/15558588/

Here's hoping for some nice redevelopment to extend the skyline further north.

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6 hours ago, dbigtex56 said:

This is the bank that was featured in the 1984 movie "Paris, Texas".
edit: Here's a scene showing the bank (and glimpses of downtown's 1983 skyline and randomly cut together freeway sequences).

 

 

That's a hell of a time capsule. The "Get Mobyvated" 97 Rock billboard caught my eye. 

 

Getting on 59 Northbound coming out of the bank was a neat trick, but nothing compared to teleporting backwards by a couple of miles a minute or so later. 

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I found it really easy to miss the director's intentions because I was so busy identifying things. I would think, "Oh, that's the southwest freeway before 288 splits off," instead of "Oh, this overwhelming freeway with all these lanes is meant to evoke the overwhelming feelings of the situation." Or not noticing that the name "Paris, Texas," was meant to suggest the contrast between an ideal (Paris = happy family life) with a grim reality (Texas = emotional desolation). My interpretations, anyway.

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6 hours ago, mollusk said:

Funny thing is, the Katy was both the first and last freeway they were on.

I had a cab driver who was supposed to take a friend and me from east Midtown to a bar on West Dallas. Somehow, we ended up in an industrial area east of the 610 Loop. 
The driver must have used this movie instead of Garmin to inform his choices.

4 hours ago, H-Town Man said:

I found it really easy to miss the director's intentions because I was so busy identifying things. I would think, "Oh, that's the southwest freeway before 288 splits off," instead of "Oh, this overwhelming freeway with all these lanes is meant to evoke the overwhelming feelings of the situation." Or not noticing that the name "Paris, Texas," was meant to suggest the contrast between an ideal (Paris = happy family life) with a grim reality (Texas = emotional desolation). My interpretations, anyway.

Same thing happens to me. For example, City Hall has stood in for Hermann Hospital and for a courthouse in other movies, and it always throws me for a loop. 
Your interpretations are in line with the filmmakers' intentions. It's the sort of movie (excuse me, film) that they go crazy over at Cannes - and they did:
"At Cannes, the film won three prizes: the Palme d'Or, the FIPRESCI Prize, and the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury. The decision from the main jury on the Palme d'Or was unanimous."

Aside from its film notoriety, I've always liked this building. Although many people may view it as hopelessly dated, it was considered cutting-edge when it went up.
Did I mention that it's a 3/D International - I. M. Pei design? No wonder the French went crazy for it.

Edited by dbigtex56
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Dated, perhaps, but it really uses the space efficiently.  

 

It's also the same granite as the tower, even though it's several blocks away, and curvy rather than angular.

 

BTW, that was really the amount of traffic that was around at the time.  We had perhaps half the population we do now.

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I will not be sentimental about this building. It is akin to the drive-thru McDonald's that used to sit where 609 Main is now, I don't care who designed it (and I'll eat my hat if I.M. Pei was even aware of its existence, probably a junior junior partner). We will always have it on celluloid; hurry wrecking ball.

 

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On 4/9/2019 at 1:26 PM, Nate99 said:

Isn't a significant chunk of that block held up by piers in the river [bayou] bank as part of the bridges over the bayou? 

 

no, there's even a triangle in the NW corner that is open to the bayou beneath.

 

whoever buys this could capitalize on that access, no matter how small.

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1 hour ago, samagon said:

 

no, there's even a triangle in the NW corner that is open to the bayou beneath.

 

whoever buys this could capitalize on that access, no matter how small.

 

It could be really interesting, so long as everything was really easy to hose out. 

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16 hours ago, samagon said:

 

no, there's even a triangle in the NW corner that is open to the bayou beneath.

 

whoever buys this could capitalize on that access, no matter how small.

There’s a guy who takes his lunch on the sidewalk under that corner by the bayou. I’ve seen him on lunchtime walks. The area’s quite good for feeding ducks. I’d think bayou access could be a nice selling point.

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  • 3 weeks later...
8 hours ago, Urbannizer said:

 

This is a really nice video but 2 things:

 

It says there's 67,000 residents in 6,000 units?  That's almost 11 people in each apartment

 

Why didn't they show underneath the deck on the bayou side?

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24 minutes ago, cspwal said:

This is a really nice video but 2 things:

 

It says there's 67,000 residents in 6,000 units?  That's almost 11 people in each apartment

 

 

LOL  I noticed that too.  Drives me crazy when lazy/sloppy developers/promoters/journalists mix up downtown numbers with greater downtown area numbers without clarifying.  In this case it really makes all their numbers look suspect.

Edited by Houston19514
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15 hours ago, cspwal said:

This is a really nice video but 2 things:

 

It says there's 67,000 residents in 6,000 units?  That's almost 11 people in each apartment

 

Why didn't they show underneath the deck on the bayou side?

 

Now that's density.  You'd have a vibrant street life just by people wanting to get away from their roommates/family. 

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3 hours ago, Nate99 said:

 

Now that's density.  You'd have a vibrant street life just by people wanting to get away from their roommates/family. 

 

You've just described a significant portion of NYC's population. With a roommate or two, those 150 sq ft apartments are even cozier than their real estate broker descriptions suggest.

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UH D should buy that land...

They’ve probably looked at it, but the entity that owns it most likely wants $$$!

 

Is Transwestern the owner, or just representing the owner?

Edited by arche_757
Clarification
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12 hours ago, arche_757 said:

UH D should buy that land...

They’ve probably looked at it, but the entity that owns it most likely wants $$$!

 

Is Transwestern the owner, or just representing the owner?

 

If they can afford that land, downtown has not progressed as much as I think it has. I imagine that block will sell for $15-20 million.

 

Edited by H-Town Man
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14 hours ago, arche_757 said:

UH D should buy that land...

They’ve probably looked at it, but the entity that owns it most likely wants $$$!

 

Is Transwestern the owner, or just representing the owner?

Another Pittsburgh Cathedral of Learning, eh? Would be nice.  

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3 hours ago, H-Town Man said:

 

If they can afford that land, downtown has not progressed as much as I think it has. I imagine that block will sell for $15-20 million.

 

Probably so.  Would be somewhat separated from the rest of the campus, but perhaps a chance at a distinctive structure?  Not that they are necessarily lacking.

 

I imagine a high rise residential project will ultimately end up at that property... ?  Which is good I suppose.

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19 minutes ago, arche_757 said:

Probably so.  Would be somewhat separated from the rest of the campus, but perhaps a chance at a distinctive structure?  Not that they are necessarily lacking.

 

I imagine a high rise residential project will ultimately end up at that property... ?  Which is good I suppose.

 

I think that is the highest and best use, with ground floor retail as long as they can work around the flood issue. Someone may buy it to hold as parking until the residential market is better, or may put a parking garage on part of the site.

 

 

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