IronTiger

You know, Baybrook Mall's Sears once had a McDonald's INSIDE the store though it's been gone for years now. Anyway, as for a replacement tenant, they should go for something non-traditional. How interesting would it be if they put a Randalls in the mall, with an entrance and everything? It's a stone's throw away from the Randalls where Yeltsin visited, and it can have all the niceties that Albertsons is putting in top-tier stores these days.

Following another successful run at the Texas Room archives, I'm trying to document changes at some Houston manufacturing plants. From what I can tell, 1982 was when 3350 Rogerdale opened as the third and final location of Schepp's Grocer Co., a local Houston distribution center that in a few years went from a large force in the industry to an ownership change to liquidation (Schepps Dairy, a subsidiary in Dallas, was spared from liquidation and continued until a few years ago when Dean Foods retired it in favor of the Oak Tree Farms name). The liquidation happened in 1986 and the facility stood vacant until Randalls purchased it in mid-1988 for HBA and private label lines. Randalls sold the warehouse in 1998 to an apartment developer but still occupied the facility. The newspaper noted that "Randalls will continue to occupy the warehouse for another year or so, until it is ready to move into a new facility on U.S. 290 in northwest Houston", which makes sense as 1999 was the year the Telge/290 warehouse completed a major expansion. In 2000, the apartment developer sold the warehouse (only the excess space in the front became apartments) to Micarles LLC, another grocery distributor. From there, the trail runs cold. Micarles still owns the building but almost no information can be found on it on the Internet other than the fact that it owns the building. It also has leased out parts of the building, to companies like Active Water Solutions. Apparently, Micarles no longer uses the building at all, having divided it into five tenants: Blue Line (food distribution), NatureBest Pre-cut & Produce LLC, Stork, Deepflex, and AWS (aforementioned).

Gessner and Katy Freeway started as Globe, then became FedMart in the 1970s, then became Mervyn's in the early 1980s after FedMart went out of business, then became an Oshman's SuperSports USA after Mervyn's moved to Memorial City Mall, then it moved out to a new stand-alone Sports Authority store (in a former Service Merchandise store). It was torn down in 2005. Mervyn's appears to have substantially altered the building but it seems they didn't tear it down.

Where the ice rink was (a long narrow building) is now the Rosastone Trail townhomes. A parking garage WAS on the space, but during the construction of CityCentre's first phase, part of it was torn down.

I must have missed your original quote...I found the McDonald's independently another time, it must have closed when they built the gas station/McDonald's across the street. But no, the original store was a Safeway, not an AppleTree. AppleTree was only founded in 1989 after Safeway divested their Houston division and the store predates it. However, this was the only AppleTree to renovate and expand after the sale (no other stores were ever built or received a real remodel far as I can tell). In my collection, I have a picture of the décor this AppleTree had. Possibly it was the upscale and unique features of this AppleTree that caused Kroger to rebrand it as "Kroger of the Villages" when they purchased it in 1994. So the building to the east of Target was a Handy Dan...it looks the building remained intact well into the early 2000s. Wonder what it was in its later years. Also, Sav-on Drugs was in Houston? Like, the chain later owned by Albertsons? Huh. When did they pull out?

The Jerry Lewis Cinema chain started in 1969 at the earliest. The theater may have pre-dated it...?

I'm not sure if Concord Apartments and Village Way Apartments are the same thing. The way @anthonytexas phrases it they were two different structures, yet the 1970s aerial shows the same buildings as the apartment buildings there today. Across the street is another complex called "Hilton Town" today and at some point in the 1990s or even the 1980s, about 75% of the property was blocked off and ultimately demolished. There are some apartments just to the south that describe the "large lots" though.

Another entry in Houston history via newspaper series is Wolfe Nursery. This clipping I've had for a while, but never shared as far as I know. Wolfe Nursery was a chain of plant nurseries, hitting its zenith in the early 1990s (this is from 1994, the peak of their success). They went bankrupt in 1998 and the chain vanished shortly thereafter. They had stores in other cities too but this is Houston history so it's Houston locations. Here's an ad from it, and I've also done the work of tracking down the locations listed on the ad. 14250 Bellaire - renovated into strip mall (main building) and warehouses (former greenhouse area) 8603 Westheimer - replaced by Target and the stores in front of it (Chick-fil-a, etc.), looks like former flagship 3600 Southeast Beltway 8 (3600 East Sam Houston Pkwy. S) in Pasadena - Houston Garden Centers 10939 Katy Freeway - later Houston Garden Centers and later Big Tex Trees (also 10910), now home to Carvana (razed and rebuilt) 25598 North Freeway - this was The Woodlands location (I-45 and Rayford), address obtained from newspaper archives, it was converted into Taquerias Arandas 4525 Gulf Freeway (La Marque) - now Team Mancuso Powersports South 435 FM 1960 West (Cypress Station) - the roadside sign is the same shape I remember distinctive of the chain, seems to be vacant with a number of fly-by-night tenants over the years 916 S. Mason Road - renovated into smaller stores 1445 W. Bay Area Blvd. - it was at the very end of the concrete cul-de-sac behind the strip mall and to the east of Toys R Us, it was demolished around 2005 and is now part of the drainage lot. It is clearly visible in the 2004 Google Earth shot though. Internet records say it was later Teas Nursery. 1618 West Loop North - Houston Garden Centers 4545 Beechnut - later Teas Nursery, it is clearly a nursery of some sort today but locked up with no signage visible, likely wholesale operation 10602 FM 1960 West - now Bizarre Bazaar 13802 Murphy Road - later Houston Garden Center, now Fort Bend Mechanical (uses foundation of old building), appears to have been abandoned around time underpass was preparing for work 22205 Eastex Freeway - now Golf Cars of Houston The lone non-Houston store is College Station. The store at 6900 East Bypass is now 2300 Earl Rudder Freeway and was extensively remodeled in the mid-2000s to become a Cavender's Boot City. I didn't give the fate of the Bear Creek store (couldn't nail down exact address, a tad too blurry). Enjoy!

How many years ago are we talking about, here? 15? 20? 40?

Yeah, I was going to say, it's not that they're doing badly it's just that they don't need the space anymore. Shell and the other big oil companies have built a lot of new construction in the last 10-15 years and they don't need buildings like this anymore. As for noticing the building, you probably just didn't notice it on a previous visit, as it has been there for decades, and if this is really your first trip to Houston in 40 years (which, me despite joking about it, I'm sure it isn't the case), then it wouldn't be the first thing that I would notice.

1500 OST at the corner of Old Spanish Trail and North Stadium Drive is recorded as being the "Shell Information Center" and according to aerials has been there since at least the late 1970s. When was the last time you went to Houston, again?

Actually, it was torn down a little earlier than that. The 2002 aerial shows a gas station at the eastern side of Murphy Road between Main Street, with Toddle House next to it, then Stafford Ice House, then JITB. In 2003, the gas station and Toddle House were torn down for a new building with a new parking lot but that didn't last long whatever it was by 2005 it was history. It's unknown if Toddle House would've survived construction, as the parking lot does get clipped but the building might've been okay. The sign survived, though, and it's blank today. (Double post because the quoting system is too hard to work with properly anymore)

Correct, both Google Street View and Maps show that it was flattened in early 2016, ground cleared, and completely rebuilt.

Cross referencing from another this hotel operated as Radisson Inn & Conference Center for a short time before it closed in the mid 1980s, found via this newspaper clip. This picture, from Arcade Preservation Wiki is supposed to be the Houston location. Is it? http://arcadepreservation.wikia.com/wiki/Royal_Coach_Inn_arcade?file=Royalcoachinnexterior.jpeg

A while back I did some posts from 1989 microfilms, including Children's Palace. Today's post is on The Commons at Greenspoint, a shopping center built to complement Greenspoint Mall. Of course, by the time it was built, Greenspoint was already in decline and ended up lasting less than 10 years as its major anchors soon folded after completion. I got a 1990-91 directory (not mine to keep, just to look at) to try to get some of the tenants here. Unfortunately, I can't match them up to the picture above nor could find the address of Phar-Mor, which was also at the center. Here we go...the directory. 12001 - Media Play (likely former Phar-Mor, see below) 12009 - Suzannes Shops 12025 - Office Depot 12031 - Sportstown (this was once a pretty major sporting goods store in the early 1990s in the Houston area...I wonder what happened to them) 12061 - Highland Superstore (went bankrupt in 1992 and closed all stores by the end of 1993) 12075 - Cloth World (opened 10,000 square foot store in 1990) 12145 - Houston Photolab (this is probably one of the smaller stores) 12159 - Hit or Miss (another small store, this was similar to T.J. Maxx and owned by the same company, but smaller) 12167 - Sound Warehouse 12175 - Marshalls 12181 - Pier One Imports (this is almost certainly that green-roofed building, Pier One stores in the early 1990s/late 1980s were built like that) 12231 - Marcos Mexican Restaurant 12245 - Children's Palace (closed in 1992) Phar-Mor was also in the center but I was unable to get a number for it. The center is gated off today but some of the addresses are still there, the building at the north end is 12095 as per Street View. Numbers in bold were other addresses collected from the newspaper. This newspaper snippet may help figure out what was what based on sizes of the building. Other bits: - Clothestime was here (clothing store), it closed in 1995 - By 1996, Media Play was closed along with other Houston locations ( Almeda Square, Memorial City Mall, Meyer Park Center, Presidio Square and Westchase Center.) - There was also a store here called Computer City. - When the center was sold in 1998 to be a telecommunications center, Office Depot was still there. Phar-Mor was probably at the southwest corner, as it is the largest and would make sense if it's 12001...Media Play had similar square footage as it (45k-66k) and wasn't listed in the original plan.

Are you really serious right now? Last week (nay, less than a week ago) I walked from Hess Tower to Travis Place Garage through the tunnel system at maybe 3:30 pm and everything was closed up for the evening. I hardly saw anyone at all except for a small group of employees hanging out in one of the food courts, and every place I remember seeing was closed (except for maybe one) or in the process of closing (kitchen already shut down, employees cleaning up). I don't go to downtown all that often and can't speak on improvements over the recent months/years but I can call out BS when I see it.

"Not designed for tourists" and "not for tourists" are very different things. Even at 3:45-4 pm on a weekday, the tunnels are mostly devoid of people with only a few small groups hanging out in food courts where the food establishments are closed. I was there last Thursday, and I saw not one food court place open. Either employees were still cleaning up or they were already shut down for the day and everyone was gone. They are also, as far as I know, closed on Saturday, which is when people that work Monday to Friday might want to come down to the Houston downtown for whatever reason. Whatever tourist traffic they get during the week is not enough to justify opening Saturdays and evenings, which is why the tunnels are still thought to be primarily for downtown workers.

Further research says that the name of Americana Inn was the Americana Motor Inn, but I still can't information on it. Rodeway Inn Towers was at 2130 W. Holcombe and closed in May 1987 for a home for the elderly run by Waterford Group to open in 1988. That never happened apparently and by 2003 it was an eyesore that had been abandoned since the 1980s. Still looking for information on Radisson Southwest's location. It was a Radisson INN not a Radisson Hotel. I looked at a few candidates, but can't find one with 555 rooms. If only @Purpledevilcame back again, he'd probably have a lot more details on the ill-fated hotels. EDIT: Found it!!!! It appears that it is the Conquistador High Rise at 7575 Bellaire. EDIT 2: The Americana Motor Inn was at 3300 Southwest Freeway, which it looks like it was part of 3200 Southwest Freeway (plausible). So, of our 11 hotels, we have the following information: - Three were reopened as hotels when the economy got better (though just one is still operating nowadays as a hotel--that would be the former Preference Inn, the other two bit the dust as Greenway is gone and the HI on Southwest Freeway is now low-income housing for veterans after the Days Inn that replaced it closed). - Two were converted to senior living (Guest Quarters and the Holiday Inn on Memorial). - Three remained abandoned for a number of years (though one was rescued, that was the Savoy, Sheraton and Rodeway not so much). - Three were demolished soon after (the Shamrock, everyone knows that, the former Royal Coach, and finally the Americana). EDIT 3: Wait, so the Conquistador wasn't a hotel after all, and reading more thoroughly reveals that it was at 7000 Southwest Freeway...the same as Royal Coach Motor Inn! So, that changes my list (not "one was converted to apartments"). I read on the Chronicle that it was torn down (or at least bought) by Venture to build a discount department store there...I don't think it ever opened, but the building on the property looks like it might've been built as a discount store. Maybe they only built out the shell. EDIT 4: Fixed the fate of the hotels. Also, the AMI was at 3301 Southwest Freeway (the source was wrong, but it's been deleted anyway). AMI was razed. So of the 11 hotels, only 2 operate as hotels today.

Nice! They didn't even alter the facade either. I do wonder when it closed...the last verifiable date was November 1996, but I think it could've closed as late as 2003 or 2004.

I know I should probably space out these "historical" articles a bit more but I figure I can do it now. This one describes hotels in the late 1980s and the number that closed up shop due to lack of business. http://i.imgur.com/gpaJwRt.jpg The newspaper tried to list the bright spots, including the Remington Hotel that was under consideration by buying bought by Ritz-Carlton or a famous New York real estate developer (I don't think I need to tell you who). According to what I could find, it was ultimately Ritz-Carlton that won out. So, I tried finding out more information on these hotels and what became of them. It looks like of the 11 there were, I could find information on 8 of them, and of those 8, only 3 reopened as hotels soon after, with the Savoy ultimately reopening as well. And of the three reopening as hotels and not stalling for several decades, only one of those, the former Preference Inn, still operates as a hotel. Rodeway Inn Towers, Texas Medical Center - Unknown. Holiday Inn Central, 4660 S. Main - Later a Days Inn but disabled veteran housing since 2003 Shamrock Hilton, Main at Holcombe - Demolished soon after closure Sheraton Downtown, 777 Polk - Despite attempts at a renovation, the hotel never reopened and was demolished in 2011 Holiday Inn, Memorial Drive - Appears to be 2100 Memorial, and is now senior housing. It reopened in the late 1990s, despite an attempt in the late 1980s for the city to do the same thing. Preference Inn, Intercontinental Airport - The hotel at 702 East North Belt Road (North Sam Houston Parkway East today) reopened as a Holiday Inn Express in 1991 and is now Americas Best Value Inn & Suites - Bush Int'l Airport West. Radisson Inn, U.S. 59 near Sharpstown Mall - Possibly Allen Samuels Chevrolet. There was a hotel there that had some castle theme, like it was Royal Crown Inn or something. Was it bought by Radisson?! Best Western Savoy, Downtown - Reopened as a Holiday Inn...but only in 2016. It's been abandoned all this time...? Guest Quarters East, Post Oak at W. Alabama - Converted in the mid-1980s to "The Hampton at Post Oak" (now just Brookdale Senior Living Solutions), makes sense. "Guest Quarters East" suggests there was another Guest Quarters hotel further west (the hotel merged with Doubletree in 1993, but there are no DoubleTree hotels out beyond Galleria) Americana Inn, Greenway Area - Unknown. Greenway Inn, U.S. 59 at Kirby Drive - Later reopened and lived on another two decades before it was closed and demolished for an Olive Garden (and space for another restaurant!)

But they really are for the work crowd. Generally, you'd have to know that the tunnels exist, they aren't advertised all that well save for banners downtown that say something like "a maze of tunnels to explore" or something along those lines. I'm not anti-tunnel or anything, but I can't go down there without the phrase "you are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike" coming to mind.

So much for economic boosting...

I don't have the original sources anymore that say it was a Holiday Inn in 1994 since this topic is fairly old. Looks like the chronology was Astroworld Hotel (southern half) from 1969 to 1977 Astro Village Hotel Complex (southern half) from 1977 to ~1990 Holiday Inn (northern half) from ~1970 to 1977 Sheraton Astrodome (merged hotel) from ~1990 to 1999 Radisson Astrodome from 1999 to January 2004 Park Plaza Hotel from January 2004 to December 2005 Houston Grand Plaza from December 2005 to May 2008 Crowne Plaza Near Reliant/Medical from May 2008 to present Wow! Impressive, almost as interesting as that former Hilton near IAH. It looks like the names were mostly stable from the early days with it passing through 4 names in a period of 10 years but overall 7 names (not counting the Holiday Inn later incorporated) in its 47+ year lifespan.

I drove by the place today (it was on my "what is that building" list), and it looks in pretty bad shape. Despite some attempts in the last five years to get it preserved as a landmark, it's gated off entirely and the front awning looks like it's going to collapse. I wonder when it was abandoned for good...

The first in a series of new posts I hope to do after visiting the downtown archives, I didn't get a chance to do as much as I wanted but I did find this interesting. This article describes a 15,000 square foot grocery store located at Mason and 290, with the space being mentioned as Fairfield Village. So, after doing some searching, I found it was at Fairfield Village drive off of Mason Road and not visible from the freeway (I remembered almost NOTHING being there), and sure enough a building from 1991 adjacent to Gambino's Pizza. While most searches for the building show the west view (with other tenants, including Prosperity Bank and Re/Max), I can't find anything on the front save for some information on Pet Supermarket moving in (the facade is largely altered). Despite not being able to get any information on Fairfield Market otherwise (H-E-B's "Fairfield Market" has really polluted Google searching to an impossible degree), the newspaper archives did provide help...the Chron mentions "the parking lot of former Fairfield Market" in December 2005, suggesting it has been out of business for a number of years now, probably explaining why I can't get any information (prior to 2005, any information on past businesses on the Internet gets really spotty really quick). However, the building facade as of September 2016 is entirely intact! suggests "Fairfield Market" though I can't Google it without getting H-E-B stuff. Beyond this article, does anyone have more information on this, such as when it closed and if you have memories to share?