Alamotel Court Hotel At 8700 South Main St.

[brian0123]

Ever since moving to the Braeswood area a couple months ago, I routinely find myself driving past what might possibly be the oldest and nastiest "oasis"/pool area in Houston and was wondering the story behind it. The place is on South Main on an enormous lot with an old sign in front that says "Hospitality Inn" on it. What's crazy about this place is that it has a heavily wooded pool surrounded by nothing but an expansive lot of old slabs and concrete (looks like something out of a nuclear fallout film).

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=29.690101,-95.418444&ll=29.689832,-95.418091&spn=0.000489,0.000426&num=1&t=h&z=21&layer=c&cbll=29.689751,-95.418157&panoid=2st1LFesBiXDPSOmnmg8sw&cbp=12,320.6,,1,-1.59

Using Historic Aerials, it looks like the buildings that once stood on it (there in 2002) changed over time but the pool was added between 1957-1962 and was never touched even as the buildings around it changed. The crazy thing about this is that I always see people living behind and around pool (like their "oasis", although I can't imagine what the pool area is actually like and what's inside it). It also seems strange that the land owner would have demo'd the entire lot but left the pool untouched.

Anyone know what this place was before it was an inn (or has it always been that) and if there are any plans for it in the future?

[marmer]

Ever since moving to the Braeswood area a couple months ago, I routinely find myself driving past what might possibly be the oldest and nastiest "oasis"/pool area in Houston and was wondering the story behind it. The place is on South Main on an enormous lot with an old sign in front that says "Hospitality Inn" on it. What's crazy about this place is that it has a heavily wooded pool surrounded by nothing but an expansive lot of old slabs and concrete (looks like something out of a nuclear fallout film).

http://maps.google.c...,320.6,,1,-1.59

Using Historic Aerials, it looks like the buildings that once stood on it (there in 2002) changed over time but the pool was added between 1957-1962 and was never touched even as the buildings around it changed. The crazy thing about this is that I always see people living behind and around pool (like their "oasis", although I can't imagine what the pool area is actually like and what's inside it). It also seems strange that the land owner would have demo'd the entire lot but left the pool untouched.

Anyone know what this place was before it was an inn (or has it always been that) and if there are any plans for it in the future?

Using Google Earth historic imagery, which is different from Historic Aerials, looks like it was thriving in 1978, moribund by 1995, and deserted by 2002. Torn down between Feb. 2004 and Oct. 2005. I saw a listing for the property being for sale on Loopnet, not sure if that's still current. 8700 (South) Main Street.

My guess is that it was cheap to scrape and haul off the buildings but the pool would have been a lot more expensive to demo, and why tear down mature trees until you have to?

[Pleak]

Looks like it might have devolved into wetlands. And they don't want to get into trouble for filling those in.

[TheNiche]

This is one of Jack Wang's several properties in Houston. The hotel was targeted by City Planning for many years because it was semi-abandoned, rotting into oblivion, and had become very unsafe for occupancy. There was another hotel that Wang similarly ran into the ground at the Gulf Freeway and Wayside, on a site that Wal-Mart has acquired and will be building a store on. And then Wang also had owned an abandoned office highrise downtown, the Melrose Building. Not sure what's going on with that...

[brian0123]

Thanks for the information. Is he also the guy that owns the Central Bank building... or is that someone else? This lot is huge and in a good location. It seems like it could serve a better use than just a nasty abandoned pool.

[sevfiv]

That was originally the Alamotel Court and Marmer is correct, it's 8700 S Main

[marmer]

Thanks for the information. Is he also the guy that owns the Central Bank building... or is that someone else? This lot is huge and in a good location. It seems like it could serve a better use than just a nasty abandoned pool.

Sure, but he probably doesn't want to spend any money on it and he's probably holding out for an unreasonably high price. That's often the story behind derelict properties.

[blue92]

That was originally the Alamotel Court and Marmer is correct, it's 8700 S Main

The building to the left used to be Wynn's Grocery (50s thru early 70s) Mr. Wynn had an apartment above the store. In the mid 60s it became Wynn's Bar-B-Que. He made some of the best B-B-Q in Houston. He was a friend of my dads and as a kid I visited him and his wife's apartment a lot. I bought my 1st Dr. Pepper from him when I was like 5 and it cost 5¢.

[sevfiv]

Here are some photos of the motel/restaurant I took in 2004/2005. The building in the pictures wasn't the original Alamotel - it was rebuilt some time between 1966 and 1973. Over the years it was also a Ramada, the Domed Stadium Inn, and like mentioned above, Hospitality Inn.

http://arch-ive.org/archive/alamotel-courts-houston/

Also, here's a nicer picture of the "oasis"

[little frau]

Yes, Wang had the property at Wayside and I-45 where the old Holiday Inn stood.

When we in the neighborhoods initially got the word that Walmart was buying all the old Oshman's pieces for a store site, there was no mention of the Wang lots.

For the first renderings, that entire corner was left out which led us (neighbors) to believe that Wang was holding out for more money.

Apparently he got what he wanted because that choice piece of feeder/Wayside frontage property is now included in the Walmart renderings. Wang had two or maybe three pieces of property along Wayside that are now part of the Walmart site.

[TheNiche]

Thanks for the information. Is he also the guy that owns the Central Bank building... or is that someone else?

No, that's a different guy.