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Warehouse District: Mixed-Use By Urban Genesis


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On 7/4/2021 at 2:48 PM, hindesky said:

I wonder if this or one of their other plots will have a restaurant, Gin Design Group specializes in retail design. 

https://www.gindesigngroup.com

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gin design group is handling the interior design (finishes, hardware, plumbing fixtures, light fixtures, and accessibility equipment) for these projects.

 

Also, no restaurants are planed for 813 and 850 McKee (and nothing in the future that I am aware of).

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As mentioned above, I think Gin is expanding a lot more into general interior design. They did interior design work for Forth at Navigation which, at this time, still does not have any restaurants or other GFR (though the plan is still to have some).

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I I believe it was a warehouse district in the 40's -70's before it started getting gentrified. Randall Davis was the first to repurpose the Dakota Lofts in '92 which used to be a Bute Paint factory. If I'm not mistaken this was one of his early projects that got his career as a developer started. There was also many rail trunk lines that serviced the warehouses, you can still see some of them on Sterett St. in the middle of the street and along the now demolished warehouse. That is why the warehouses were so high so they could load and unload freight. I'm sure @astrohip probably knows more of the history of the area.

I know people rag on Randall Davis for his taste in architecture but he has done a lot for the Greater Houston/Galveston area to restore old buildings. hindesky.

Randall Davis is often given credit for single-handedly revitalizing downtown Houston. He certainly has changed the landscape of the million-dollar home market and has had a major impact on Houston as the first loft developer in the Bayou City. The Dakota Lofts were the beginning of a series of projects for Davis that included the renovation of the Hogg Palace and Rice Hotel. One of his early projects, the Metropolis, was the first high-rise built in Houston in 12 years. It was followed by Gotham and Renoir and now the Manhattan, a partnership with Gerald Hines in the Galleria area.

http://htexas.com/New/randall-and-heather-davis/

http://www.randalldavis.com/portfolio/single/dakota-lofts

Edited by hindesky
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It was the "Warehouse District" long before it was called the Warehouse District. 🙄. Going back at least to the early 1900s or so, companies were building warehouses and manufacturing/fabrication facilities in that area. Proximity to downtown, plus Houston just wasn't that large back then, so you didn't have to go far to be on the outskirts. There were dozens of buildings in that general area north of Buffalo Bayou

Bute Paint was there (as mentioned above by @hindesky), built in 1909, now an RD loft (his first, AFAIK). This building (813 McKee) was originally built by Houston Sash & Door in the 1920s. They had a large wood fabricating facility, plus distribution and offices. They also had an incinerator on site. The foundation of it was still there, although the tower (smoke stack?) was dismantled decades ago. I bought the building in 1977.

Rail access was critical for us, as we would get much of our product that way. There was a rail line on the back side of the building, Sterrett St. We used it until the mid-90s.

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Here is a pic of the backside of the building, Sterrett St. The rail line ran parallel to the back. Those overhead metal doors were where we unloaded. And yes, the high dock is what's known in the warehouse biz as "dock high".

Here is where the incinerator was. This is a Google Maps Street View. It's the blue area on the right. It used to be covered with wood siding, not sure when it was plywooded and painted blue (after my time). The blue area on the left is brick (office). And the brick on the right is warehouse. There's a ramp that leads from the street up to the incinerator, so you could empty the ashes. I'll see if I can find a pic of that...

Yep, here's a pic with the blue plywood removed, showing where it was. It was very common for businesses to have their own incinerator back then.

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Edited by astrohip
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While riding the Elysian bridge I spotted 2 guys putting up the construction netting around the 2 demoed warehouses next to the bridge. They said this part of the Urban Genesis properties will be a mixed use portion with restaurants, bars and retail. Cardinal Construction will be the GC.

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18 hours ago, hindesky said:

Had a long conversation with the supervisor who demoed this. He said Urban Genesis original goal was to use the existing shell and building up from there. They realized this wasn't going to be financially feasible because of all the work it would have required to stabilize the old building while under construction. It was was in really bad shape and no way they could do it. They did save some of the old brick and the large wooden timbers to use during the build. His company will be finishing soon and Cardinal Construction will be moving in in a few weeks to start the construction. He said they found a lot of old artifacts while digging down including old bottles, watches and other things. He said in those days this was all landfill from old buildings here and future builders just built on top of that. Old plats showed this to be housing back in the 1890's and contractors would just back fill the trash into holes.

 

Thanks for an informative update.

 

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