Jump to content

Greyhound Bus Station At 2121 Main St.


midtown 4.2

Recommended Posts

9 minutes ago, Two said:

Do we know if the i45 project is still slated to demo the station? People aren't wrong, it's a huge blight, Houston, like Austin, is unfairly put in the position of having these ex cons as well as a shuffled about homeless population in nation wide game of hot potato simply dropped off here with no prospects or housing, no plans, etc. these are people with a record of not so great prefrontal activity, drug addiction and mental illness and criminal records that knee cap their ability to get things back together. Its a backward recipe for disaster. They're immediately met with ... not a social workers ... but a literal enclave of drug addicts ... a perfect trap for them.

 

Another thing to add is it's well known in Texas that other non-profits in other cities rather cynically use everything from state grants to local tax money meant for taking care of their homeless to buy them bus tickets to one of the big cities. Most of small city Texas and surrounding states cities do this. There was even an article about an unfortunately perfectly legal scheme which spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in Lubbock, not on taking care of their homeless,  but funneled to religious non profits that then took the cash and cynically housed the homeless for a couple days then literally shipped them off to Dallas, Austin and Houston. We are talking thousands of people over the course of a year. 

 

I drive past or take the rail through this place on the daily. I've seen it all there, naked crazy people, guy masturbating in the middle of the street, dude pooping on the side walk, people tweaking out, guys pounding on my window for change, harassed on the rail for change, see them getting into fights weekly, doing drugs in the open, and this is all just me in transit  through the situation - just a momentary glimpse of that bus station fueled dystopia. The drug dealers I see always visit at the same times, they make there way over there at dusk and dawn on their bicycles and deal right out in the open not even trying to hide anything.

 

Theres a second enclave that's grown larger along the same road over the past 2 years and that's the one right next to that scuzzy pay by the week looking motel by the Rice innovation district, it shares the same patterns including the punctual drug dealers that make the rounds on their bikes. 

 

They're building a bigger halfway house complex in midtown too, but as was stated previously there already are many many halfway houses in the area most of these people in these enclaves aren't in the same part of the process as homeless people go, if they even want to change or aren't stuck in place due to mental illness as well as addiction. Unfortunately I see this as a state/national level problem I don't know how to solve it, because the cities themselves only shoot themselves in the foot for allowing the bus stations to exist while building the homeless infrastructure at the same time, they invite these cynical cities to parasitically offload their own population onto ours by the literal thousands all while having the gall to pretend like it's for other reasons they don't have homeless problems. 

 

 

The I-45 project has never been slated to demo the Greyhound station.

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

29 minutes ago, Two said:

Damn, I thought I saw on at least a couple of their last proposal maps the greyhound lot highlighted for demolition, maybe misread it.

If Greyhound was going to be taken by a rebuild of I-45, so would 2016 Main, which is even closer to the right-of-way. 
And I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 7/6/2020 at 10:39 AM, Chi-Char-Hou-Dal said:

Saw a woman taking a dump this morning next block adjacent to Greyhound Station . ROse Gold Cocktail lounge, before it was

Tarakaan Restaurant
 
 
 

 

Almost spit out my coffee. 

 

 

That would have been really gross. 
Glad you didn't spit it out.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was kind of wondering if I would get shit for sharing the story of the lady pooping . It is a little off topic, and we have been down that road with other projects in midtown. Then like clockwork yesterday afternoon 5pm while driving my kids home from their daycare downtown I got to show them the basic mechanisms of a drug deal right in front of us in the middle of the intersection on the tracks next to the McDonalds. Very fun spot! Excited to see what will happen in about an hour.

Edited by Chi-Char-Hou-Dal
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 7/6/2020 at 10:39 AM, Chi-Char-Hou-Dal said:

Saw a woman taking a dump this morning next block adjacent to Greyhound Station .

 

I don't want to get too excited based on a single data point, but can we infer from this that Houston is finally becoming more like San Francisco?

  • Haha 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 months later...
On 11/10/2020 at 6:24 PM, JSWEET210 said:

When I've been asked where's the craziest place I've been at it's hands down the Greyhound Bus Station in Houston. I live in San Antonio but I thought it was the coolest place when I went there in the late 80's!

Conan O'Brien agreed. From 1997:

 

 

  • Haha 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...
11 minutes ago, phillip_white said:

While we were eating at Bonchon, my wife noticed a Pizza Hut Express sign affixed to the Main Street side of the bus station. I'm assuming this is new? The Google page shows it is takeout only.

Interesting.  I had not even been aware there was restaurant space in the Greyhound station.  The Pizza Hut Express is apparently pretty new.  As of January 2020, Google Street View shows "24 Hour Restaurant - Best Burgers in Midtown".  In February 2008, it was a KFC.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 7 months later...
  • 1 month later...

Does Grayhound own the bus terminal? If so, this quote seems especially interesting:

"

  • Greyhound properties with an estimated net market value of c.$176m will be retained by FirstGroup; they will initially be leased back to Greyhound at market rates but are expected to be sold over the next three to five years"
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Brooklyn173 said:

Does Grayhound own the bus terminal? If so, this quote seems especially interesting:

"

  • Greyhound properties with an estimated net market value of c.$176m will be retained by FirstGroup; they will initially be leased back to Greyhound at market rates but are expected to be sold over the next three to five years"

FirstGroup owns the terminal.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Brooklyn173 said:

Between Central Cadillac, the bank lot on Milam and now possibly the bus terminal, there will be a lot of large lot developable property  in midtown between Gray and Travis.

Did you heard anything regarding the owner of Central Cadillac being willing to sell? It would be awesome if all that land close to the rail station got turned into something better!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

49 minutes ago, Ross said:

When we lived in Midtown 20 years ago, my wife commented that moving the bus station would greatly improve the area. When I asked where the new location should be, she said "out near the airport somewhere".

In theory, the Greyhound station is ideally situated, just two blocks from the Downtown Transit Center, three blocks from the (former?) Megabus site, and a block from the El Expreso depot. But who wants to walk through a wasteland inhabited by shady characters? 
As someone who's ridden the Megabus from Houston to both Austin and San Antonio, not having a connection to local public transportation is a real pain. A taxi ride can equal the cost of the bus ticket.
We remain stuck in the same Catch-22 - discouraging people from congregating in the blocks around the station, without violating their civil rights. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • The title was changed to Greyhound Bus Station At 2121 Main St.
  • 4 months later...

The 2121 Main St property in Midtown recently changed hands, according to county records.

Taconic Asset Trust acquired the site of the Greyhound Bus terminal. It was purchased from Firstgroup Service Inc. (or may be spelled First Group Service Inc.) some time this month.

Edited by IntheKnowHouston
  • Like 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 1/3/2023 at 10:37 AM, bookey23 said:

Could this possibly mean the end of the dreaded Greyhound Bus Station? Or do the new owners need to keep it there?


Your guess is as good as mine. Maybe the Greyhound Bus terminal will remain? Hopefully, Houston Chronicle or Houston Business Journal will look into this further. 


 

On 1/3/2023 at 10:51 AM, Houston19514 said:

Seems unlikely.  I suspect it was a sale/leaseback kinda thing... 


This was my initial thought as well.


 

On 1/3/2023 at 10:51 AM, Houston19514 said:

I believe it was formerly owned by the former owner of Greyhound.


You are right.  The ownership of the Midtown bus station changed to FirstGroup Services Inc., from Greyhound Lines Inc. in 2021. In fact, a bulk of Greyhound Lines properties in the country changed hands to FirstGroup Services Inc. that same year.

FirstGroup Services Inc. (the seller) is the sister company of Greyhound.
 

Edited by IntheKnowHouston
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 12/31/2022 at 4:38 AM, IntheKnowHouston said:

The 2121 Main St property in Midtown recently changed hands, according to county records.

Taconic Asset Trust acquired the site of the Greyhound Bus terminal. It was purchased from Firstgroup Service Inc. (or may be spelled First Group Service Inc.) some time this month.


Walking Houston posted the Midtown property at 2121 Main St is for sale. The tag in Friday's Instagram story seems to suggest Cushman & Wakefield is brokering the sale. I don't know for sure. I also don't know if Walking Houston's post is accurate. The property isn't listed on Cushman & Wakefield's site, though if the land is for sale again, it's possible it could be a private listing.

2121 Main St is where the Greyhound Bus terminal is located. 

County records indicate the property was sold to Taconic Asset Trust last month. I think it's a trust affiliated with Stamford, Connecticut-based Twenty Lake Holdings.

Twenty Lake Holdings purchased several Greyhound Bus terminal properties in the US and UK in 2022. Terminals in Nashville and Cleveland are among them.


Below is a screenshot of Walking Houston's Instagram story:

Zp8T5Js.jpg

Edited by IntheKnowHouston
  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Was reading a twitter discussion and evidently when Greyhound was sold to Flixbus, the sale did not include the terminals.

FirstGroup PLC have sold off all but two of the stations in the US and is using the cash for stock buybacks.

https://www.morningstar.co.uk/uk/news/AN_1671206718863524900/firstgroup-to-launch-share-buyback-amid-greyhound-us-property-sale.aspx

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...