ATH

The Sage I grew up with was at Beechnut at Post Oak before there was a West Loop.  It's where Lowe's is now.   I was intrigued by their carts that would roll the purchases outside for you to drive up and get.  I recall that I bought Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti there.  My first rock album.....

The site is on the south side of West Main between Loretto and Mandel.

I would be very surprised if the Linbecks sold that property, after having built the parking garage there.  But who knows?

Yes, it was constructed in 1962 by Fretz Construction Company.  Herman Lloyd was the architect.

That is correct, bobruss.  It is the Peden Building.

Seems to me they may be taking a bit too much of the sidewalk.  It's not a conventional construction barricade, but a rather haphazard attempt.

This could be a really interesting project.  Transforming a former meat packing facility into a church.  I would imagine it has a lot of possibilities.

I asked a person who was overseeing this work, and he says that it will become a Mexican food restaurant, and that the new facade will be stucco.  They are hoping for an April 2021 opening.

The Episcopal Health Foundation "owns" the sidewalk under their canopy because their property line is actually the back of the curb on Prairie, since their basement is located under the sidewalk.  As such, they have the say over how the sidewalk is used by way of an encroachment agreement with the City of Houston.  May of the buildings in the Historic District have similar ownership of the sidewalks at their building.  If the Episcopal Health Foundation wanted these people gone, they would ask the police to enforce the trespassing ordinance.

I'm not sure how they expect to make this project work when the Episcopalian Health Foundation has allowed a homeless encampment to develop under their canopy, right next door at 500 Fannin.  It's amazing that nobody seems to object to the lack of social distancing among those who live on this sidewalk, or to the lack of restroom facilities (other than a porta-can that's been installed on Fannin).  The sidewalk along Prairie is virtually impassable.  With this encampment being allowed to happen, I guess that "love thy neighbors" doesn't really apply to those of us who actually are the neighbors, or to those who may become their neighbors if this project does happen.  I sure wish this wasn't the case.

Those rooftop condensing units are awfully close to each other.  Hmmm.....

HoustonBoy, the area in front the of the parking garage has been unfinished since the garage was constructed.  Nothing new here.

A few years ago, we investigated the condition of the original facade at the Main Food Store Building in the hope that its restoration could have been funded through the Main Street Market Square Redevelopment Authority's historic facade grant program.  At the time, the current facade panels were beginning to deteriorate, and the owner agreed to allow a study to be done of the condition of the original building facade.  Much of the original facade remains in tact, however when they added the new skin, the structural steel supports which hold the new facade were attached to the original structure, and no care was taken when making the  penetrations through the original stone to do these attachments.  In fact, there were so many penetrations through the original stone that a restoration would likely not have been feasible.  All too bad, because the original building was a beauty.