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Farmer Brothers Coffee Plant At 235 North Norwood St.


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This one puzzles me. Ignoring the whole "Lovett has too much on their plate" discussion that has played out across the forum, I'm just not seeing what the development could be.

 

I know BBP plans to expand the park over there, but there isn't a whole lot over there (aside from Finca).

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7 hours ago, JBTX said:

This one puzzles me. Ignoring the whole "Lovett has too much on their plate" discussion that has played out across the forum, I'm just not seeing what the development could be.

 

I know BBP plans to expand the park over there, but there isn't a whole lot over there (aside from Finca).

This will be directly across from the industrial warf at the turkey bend. Not to mention what the downtownian mentioned and future development on navigation.

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this is a big deal for this side of town.

 

as far as location, this is pretty prime for this area. it's probably as close to the bayou as you can get without first needing to be a superfund site. 

 

I'd prefer to see some of the other industrial sites transfer ownership like this, but I suspect they don't because of the amount of remediation that would need to be done to make it habitable just isn't cost effective right now. 

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  • The title was changed to Farmer Brothers Coffee Facility Sold To Frank Liu - 235 N. Norwood St.
  • 10 months later...

Houston-based Lovett Commercial, the developer behind the 550,000-square-foot Post Houston entertainment complex and the Sawyer Yards mixed-use district, has revealed new details on its plans for an adaptive reuse project in the Second Ward. 

Lovett Commercial plans to convert the historic Farmer Bros. Co. coffee plant at 235 N. Norwood St. into an arts and music educational campus, company founder Frank Liu said in an interview with the Houston Business Journal.…

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4 hours ago, ljchou said:

This isn't talking about the Atlantic Coffee building. It's talking about a smaller one north of Canal.

4 hours ago, Texasota said:

Yep, this needs a new thread. Happy to hear something happening at Norwood St. though- it's a cool building.

Thank y'all for talking me down off of the ledge. This is basically on Navigation about 8-10 blocks east of Lockwood.

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https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2023/05/05/lovett-commercial-frank-liu.html

"Talk to us about the plan for the Farmer Bros. Co. building project on Navigation you mentioned.

We have a great charter school coming in, and we’d love it to be focused on arts, music and games — maybe with an AI element. There will also be artist workspaces.

I am hoping we can get a museum or performance arts group to move there."

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On 5/8/2023 at 7:03 AM, ChannelTwoNews said:

We have a great charter school coming in, and we’d love it to be focused on arts, music and games — maybe with an AI element. There will also be artist workspaces.

I guess blockchain and web3 aren't cool anymore

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  • The title was changed to Farmer Brothers Coffee Plant At 235 North Norwood St.

https://kevindalyarchitects.com/projects/details/mixed-use-houston-development/

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Quote

This adaptive reuse project converts a landmarked building that was previously used as a coffee manufacturing facility. The project captures Houston at a compelling moment: the industrial context of the building connects it of the commercial history of the city, while the environmental, social, and cultural redevelopment of the Second Ward anticipates the city’s future. Add into the equation a landmarked building with an inordinate amount of structure and limited options for modification; the solution that emerged must be a product of preservation and ambitious modification of the existing structure.

The program included a variety of uses: a Latin American Art Center with education, public programs, performance and exhibition spaces; a K-5 Charter school with outdoor space; an additional, separate contemporary art museum/ gallery program; a destination coffee house/ wine bar; and office space for nonprofit or technology tenants.

The existing building presented a paradox: to manage the construction budget over such a large building the scope of the work must be limited, while from a development perspective the complex must be transformed completely. With the requirement that the exterior of the building remain intact, we identified subtraction of existing structure as the primary architectural strategy, creating voids in the existing dense structure. The challenge was to make these subtractions add up: we aggregated small, precise cuts in the existing structure to create light wells that bring daylight through to the ground level. We feel this can be accomplished by removing only 7% of the existing floor and roof area: a 7% solution.

Test fits were used to assess appropriate zoning for the programs, given temporal, acoustical and security issues. The need for outdoor play space and student drop off suggests the school program located to the west. Public programs would remain on a single level, organized adjacent to a multifloor entry space reaching to the roof structure. The adjacent 1990s warehouse was proposed as the venue for the second museum program as it can be more easily improved for climate control.

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neat stuff, I'm curious why it being a landmarked building (assuming this means historic landmark) makes any difference?

I mean, if they want to keep whatever tax breaks come with owning a historic property, and the cost to refit isn't going to exceed their savings over whatever period of time, but it's not like they can't clear the site because it's historic.

I guess the question is, I understood historic landmarks, you get a tax benefit for maintaining exterior facades, but there's nothing stopping you from demo and starting over, so all carrot, no stick?

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Buildings listed in the National Register of Historic Places have no project review *except* when federal or state funds are used, so any private landowner can tear down a listed building whenever they want.

However.

Building designated Protected Landmarks by the City of Houston require review by the Historic Commission, and they can absolutely stop them from being demolished.

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