Elder Street Artist Lofts At 1101 Elder St.

[Houston Retail]

Construction set for redevelopment of landmark hospital

A ceremonial construction kick-off event is scheduled for Sept. 23, marking the transformation of the old Jefferson Davis Hospital into loft-styled homes for artists.

City and civic officials are scheduled to appear at 10 a.m. at 1101 Elder St. in honor of the Jefferson Davis Artist Lofts. Slated to speak are Houston Mayor Bill White; Harris County Commissioner Sylvia Garcia; and H. Joe Nelson III, president of the Houston Endowment Inc. The Houston Endowment is the single largest contributor to the development project, which is being called a first-of-its-kind in Houston.

The 34 residential units -- to be finished in mid 2005 -- will include studio work space for resident artists and a place for them to live.

The former hospital, which originally opened in 1924 in the Fifth Ward, stood vacant for nearly three decades before the re-development.

The Jefferson Davis Artist Lofts are being developed by Artspace Projects of Minneapolis, a non-profit real estate developer for the arts. Avenue Community Development Corp., a local non-profit developer of affordable housing, is also involved in the project.

Numerous funding sources were required to make the project happen.

Financing was provided by Apollo Housing Capital, the City of Houston, Harris County, the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, Southwest Bank of Texas, Texas Department of Housing and Community Development, the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Major funding for the project also was provided by the Brown Foundation, Cameron Foundation, FannieMae Foundation, Fayez Sarofim & Co., Fondren Foundation, Houston Endowment Inc., McGovern Fund, Rockwell Fund, St. Paul Travelers Foundation, Strake Foundation, Surdna Foundation, Susan Vaughan Foundation, Washington Mutual Foundation and Wortham Foundation.

[Talbot]

Excellent news, thanks for the info.

[midtown_resident]

H_R...it's good to see you back...

Thanks for the data on all these projects...

[editor]

For those interested, I got an e-mail from the people redeveloping Jefferson Davis Hospital. They say that reconstruction will begin September 23rd, and continue into next year.

[Talbot]

sounds good, thanks for the info.

[Subdude]

Here's the article:

Ceremony signals a new era for hospital

First Ward site ready to evolve into artist lofts

By TOM MANNING

Chronicle Correspondent

The Jefferson Davis Hospital has stood vacant at 1101 Elder for more than two decades, but it will soon be transformed into 34 loft-style apartments that will be made available to mixed-income families in Houston's First Ward.

At a groundbreaking ceremony held at the hospital site on Sept. 23, members of the Avenue Community Development Corp., a local nonprofit group devoted to revitalizing the Washington Avenue and Near Northside communities, joined with donors, city council members and others close to the First Ward to celebrate what they expect to be the dawn of a new era for the neighborhood.

The land on which Jefferson Davis Hospital now stands was initially home to the city's second oldest municipal cemetery, established in the 1840s and the final resting place for thousands of Confederate soldiers.

The cemetery, however, subsequently fell into disrepair, and the city chose the site for the home of Jefferson Davis Hospital, which was built in 1925.

Fourteen years later, the hospital was replaced by a new building, and the old building continued to deteriorate. In 2001, Avenue CDC began exploring the possibility of purchasing the building from Harris County and making it the centerpiece of a revitalization effort in the area.

"Avenue CDC approached the county about buying the property and turning it into affordable housing," Avenue CDC Executive Director Mary Lawler said. "But we needed an experienced partner to make it happen."

The group found that partner in Artspace Projects, a Minneapolis-based nonprofit developer of artists' home and work space.

Since it was formed in 1979, Artspace has developed 17 projects in cities like Chicago, Seattle, Reno and Pittsburgh. But it was an Artspace project in Galveston that led to the partnership with Avenue CDC.

In 2001, Artspace turned the 13-year-old National Hotel, at the corner of 23rd and Market streets, into a 28-unit building, a project that earned praise from the city of Galveston and led many in Houston to petition Artspace to do work in the city.

Creating a success

Betty Massey, a member of the city of Galveston's Livable Community Steering Committee who has since become the Texas board member for Artspace, said the National Hotel project was more of a success than anyone could have imagined.

"That redevelopment has been a catalyst for building after building in that area," Massey said. "It created a pedestrian link between The Strand and Post Office Street. It's my confidence that the Jeff Davis building will do that for this area."

Artspace Projects President Kelley Lindquist said the success in Galveston led him to believe a similar project would work in Houston.

"We finished the building in Galveston and were getting a lot of calls from different organizations here," Lindquist said. "A number of people responded positively to the Galveston project.

"We usually don't have local development partnerships, but we felt that Avenue CDC was the most mature of the local nonprofits we'd met with. It was just a good fit. The building itself was the best building we saw in the city."

In early 2003, Avenue CDC purchased the hospital building from Harris County for $200,000. Two months later, it entered into an agreement with Artspace.

"This building is in the heart of our target community," Lawler said. "The idea was the preservation of a building that has a lot of significance in this area, but had become an eyesore and a danger.

"At the same time, we've had a lot of lower-income people displaced because of downtown development, so we saw this as an opportunity to provide a place for them to live and work."

While Avenue CDC began intensifying its efforts to raise money for the project, Artspace had to deal with renovating a building while at the same time respecting the cemetery grounds on which it stood.

"Because of the cemetery, this is a very important archaeological site," Lindquist said. "A lot has been done to make sure the grave sites are respected. We worked hand in hand with state archaeologists."

Completing the puzzle

It took two years for Avenue CDC to raise the $6.3 million needed for the project. The final piece of the fund-raising puzzle, which includes contributions from 23 public and private funders, came in July, when Houston's City Council provided a $500,000 federal community-development loan.

The project is 70 percent funded by government loans and tax credits, and 30 percent by the private sector.

"It took a year for the city to become a full partner, but this project does all the things that the city is looking for," said City Controller and former council member Annise Parker. "It puts everything together in a great package."

"From the first time I was introduced to Artspace, I was intrigued by their vision," said H. Joe Nelson III, president of Houston Endowment Inc., which provided a $175,000 grant toward the project.

"The multiple goals of this project, to support artists and their talents and to support historical preservation, will spark this neighborhood's development," he added. "It's a win-win."

Once completed, the Jefferson Davis Artist Lofts will be operated and maintained by Artspace.

"All of our buildings pay for themselves," Lindquist said. "We've never had to go back to a community and ask for more money."

Lindquist said he is expecting people to be able to move into the building, which will feature one- to four-bedroom lofts, by Sept. 1, 2005.

While artists will be encouraged to live in the building, housing in the Jefferson David Artist Lofts will not be exclusively available to artists.

With construction crews in the background already working on the transformation of the Jefferson David Hospital building, Avenue CDC board President Cleola Williams, whose family has lived in the First Ward for generations, celebrated what she hopes will be a bright new chapter for the area she has devoted her life to preserving.

"This is a bright day in my life," Williams said. "As a child I played up and down these hills. My great-grandfather and my great-great-grandmother lived here. It's a privilege for me to see that we are going to preserve this hallowed ground.

"We are going to kiss this Sleeping Beauty and make it a wonderful example of what can be done in a community."

Link

[77017]

Now has a new roof. Ooh. Ahh.

[Hunter]

They are actually planning to turn the whole thing into a low cost housing project for an artist group! The whole building is currently under renovation. A very facinating place to go if you can get in! Though not much to see now that the place has been completly gutted.

Here is a link to some of the current photo's

A similar topic about the Hospital with Pictures

[Talbot]

Id be afraid to live there.

[20sGirl]

Id be afraid to live there.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Who knows- maybe once there is life there again, the "activity" will lessen or cease altogether. It will be nice to see this beautiful building restored to a happy place. Maybe it will even out some of the suffering that happened there in previous years.

[Guest danax]

They are actually planning to turn the whole thing into a low cost housing project for an artist group! The whole building is currently under renovation. A very facinating place to go if you can get in! Though not much to see now that the place has been completly gutted.

Here is a link to some of the current photo's

A similar topic about the Hospital with Pictures

It's great to see a project like this where they not only save a landmark building but help to establish an artist community seed group which could spill over into the neighborhood and add some color and counterpoint to the inevitable townhousing of that area. Jeff Davis Artist Lofts Here's some more info.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[Hunter]

I posted a lot of the reconstruction photos on one of the other threads. I will post more as I get them uploaded.

Jefferson Davis Reconstruction thread. and Photo's

[Hunter]

I am very happy that this old building is being renovated. For some reason it always bothers me when I see an abandoned building just sitting there doing nothing. Maybe this will help add to a growing trend in the revitalization of downtown. Though personally I feel that this building would make a much better museum.

[ricco67]

you know, it would make a nice space for a museum, but it would be rather difficult to get to, but it would redevelop that particular area.

Ricco

[Hunter]

Many Places in Houston are hard to get to but never stopped anyone. That place would have made a wonderful Museum for the Medical District or the Fire Department since it is right there anyway. It will also make a wonderful housing development. I guess the fact that it is so close to the freeway is what really bothers me about this place. I just picture kids playing in the very contaminated soil and getting sick and then a major lawsuit and all kinds of stuff.

I am probably just getting ahead of myself though.

[Heights2Bastrop]

A

[dbigtex56]

A “low cost housing project for an artist group”. Jeeze-Louise, how silly can you get. If they can’t afford a place to live, then why don’t they go out and get a real job???

OK, OK, that’s just my personal opinion. As long as no government funds are provided, they can do what they want with it. In fact, I am glad to see someone get some use out of that old, venerated building.

I have always loved that building, and I would like to have seen it refurbished years ago. I remember when Cenikor was there, but the Jeff Davis I knew was the one on Allen Parkway.

I guess what bothers me is that this proposed venture just might produce an “artist” who will besmirch the City with sculptures like those gawd-ugly bright yellow tree trunks. That wasn’t art. It was just a way to draw attention to some artist’s crapulence!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

For the lazy but curious, a definition of 'crapulence':Excessive indulgence; intemperance.

And I too am curious as to whom qualifies as an artist. Is formal education required, or forbidden? And must I get something pierced? I make my own greeting cards...will that get me a reduction in rent?

Pragmatically (oh, look it up yourself), I'm glad that something is being done to preserve this building. Put a roof on it and sort out the finances later.

And btw. I like those yellow tree trunks.

[Heights2Bastrop]

For the lazy but curious, a definition of 'crapulence':Excessive indulgence; intemperance.

You mean I made up a real word???

I guess somebody liked those yellow trees because there were enough of them around.

[Guest danax]

For the lazy but curious, a definition of 'crapulence':Excessive indulgence; intemperance.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I'm amazed that that is a "real" word. It does roll off the tongue nicely though. Anyone do this year's Art Crawl? I and my 12 year old son and his buddy did and they used a shortened version of that word to describe 95% of what they saw. I didn't want to be negative and cynical but I had to agree.

[dbigtex56]

According to an article in today's Houston Chronicle:This old hospital is cable's newest star.

HGTV will air two-minute spots several times a day for a month, sometime between October '05 and September '06.

HGTV has also contributed $50,000 towards its restoration, which will allow developers to add some extra amenities (provided of course that City Hall comes through with the promised construction loan).

[dthunter]

Any word on the progress of the renovation of the old Jefferson Davis Hospital? I know there have been previous posts on this topic. I drove by the other day at night it looked like there were some units that were almost done. I know many people are skeptical about this building, but I am very interested!

[sevfiv]

i think it is coming along nicely...i wonder when the move-in dates are...

http://www.avenuecdc.org/jeffdavis.asp

edit - elderstreet_property

[Kirzania]

Or even ArtSpace, if you don't want to open a PDF. They have a bunch of other nifty historical properties listed on their properties page from around the country. It's pretty cool. (Of course, there aren't any in KY, where there are tons of old tobacco warehouses just dying to be artists' lofts.)

[Kirzania]

Ok, so I did a bit more snooping around.

If you're really really fanatical about reading applications to the Texas Department of Housing And Community Affairs, this is the Jefferson Davis / Elder Street Artists Lofts Application.

It got all the nitty-gritty details including the breakdown of what kind of apartments they'll have: 5 Efficiencies, 15 One-Bedroom, 10 Two-Bedroom, and 5 Three-Bedroom units.

[Ashikaga]

Here's the article:

Ceremony signals a new era for hospital

First Ward site ready to evolve into artist lofts

By TOM MANNING

Chronicle Correspondent

The Jefferson Davis Hospital has stood vacant at 1101 Elder for more than two decades, but it will soon be transformed into 34 loft-style apartments that will be made available to mixed-income families in Houston's First Ward.

At a groundbreaking ceremony held at the hospital site on Sept. 23, members of the Avenue Community Development Corp., a local nonprofit group devoted to revitalizing the Washington Avenue and Near Northside communities, joined with donors, city council members and others close to the First Ward to celebrate what they expect to be the dawn of a new era for the neighborhood.

The land on which Jefferson Davis Hospital now stands was initially home to the city's second oldest municipal cemetery, established in the 1840s and the final resting place for thousands of Confederate soldiers.

The cemetery, however, subsequently fell into disrepair, and the city chose the site for the home of Jefferson Davis Hospital, which was built in 1925.

Fourteen years later, the hospital was replaced by a new building, and the old building continued to deteriorate. In 2001, Avenue CDC began exploring the possibility of purchasing the building from Harris County and making it the centerpiece of a revitalization effort in the area.

"Avenue CDC approached the county about buying the property and turning it into affordable housing," Avenue CDC Executive Director Mary Lawler said. "But we needed an experienced partner to make it happen."

The group found that partner in Artspace Projects, a Minneapolis-based nonprofit developer of artists' home and work space.

Since it was formed in 1979, Artspace has developed 17 projects in cities like Chicago, Seattle, Reno and Pittsburgh. But it was an Artspace project in Galveston that led to the partnership with Avenue CDC.

In 2001, Artspace turned the 13-year-old National Hotel, at the corner of 23rd and Market streets, into a 28-unit building, a project that earned praise from the city of Galveston and led many in Houston to petition Artspace to do work in the city.

Creating a success

Betty Massey, a member of the city of Galveston's Livable Community Steering Committee who has since become the Texas board member for Artspace, said the National Hotel project was more of a success than anyone could have imagined.

"That redevelopment has been a catalyst for building after building in that area," Massey said. "It created a pedestrian link between The Strand and Post Office Street. It's my confidence that the Jeff Davis building will do that for this area."

Artspace Projects President Kelley Lindquist said the success in Galveston led him to believe a similar project would work in Houston.

"We finished the building in Galveston and were getting a lot of calls from different organizations here," Lindquist said. "A number of people responded positively to the Galveston project.

"We usually don't have local development partnerships, but we felt that Avenue CDC was the most mature of the local nonprofits we'd met with. It was just a good fit. The building itself was the best building we saw in the city."

In early 2003, Avenue CDC purchased the hospital building from Harris County for $200,000. Two months later, it entered into an agreement with Artspace.

"This building is in the heart of our target community," Lawler said. "The idea was the preservation of a building that has a lot of significance in this area, but had become an eyesore and a danger.

"At the same time, we've had a lot of lower-income people displaced because of downtown development, so we saw this as an opportunity to provide a place for them to live and work."

While Avenue CDC began intensifying its efforts to raise money for the project, Artspace had to deal with renovating a building while at the same time respecting the cemetery grounds on which it stood.

"Because of the cemetery, this is a very important archaeological site," Lindquist said. "A lot has been done to make sure the grave sites are respected. We worked hand in hand with state archaeologists."

Completing the puzzle

It took two years for Avenue CDC to raise the $6.3 million needed for the project. The final piece of the fund-raising puzzle, which includes contributions from 23 public and private funders, came in July, when Houston's City Council provided a $500,000 federal community-development loan.

The project is 70 percent funded by government loans and tax credits, and 30 percent by the private sector.

"It took a year for the city to become a full partner, but this project does all the things that the city is looking for," said City Controller and former council member Annise Parker. "It puts everything together in a great package."

"From the first time I was introduced to Artspace, I was intrigued by their vision," said H. Joe Nelson III, president of Houston Endowment Inc., which provided a $175,000 grant toward the project.

"The multiple goals of this project, to support artists and their talents and to support historical preservation, will spark this neighborhood's development," he added. "It's a win-win."

Once completed, the Jefferson Davis Artist Lofts will be operated and maintained by Artspace.

"All of our buildings pay for themselves," Lindquist said. "We've never had to go back to a community and ask for more money."

Lindquist said he is expecting people to be able to move into the building, which will feature one- to four-bedroom lofts, by Sept. 1, 2005.

While artists will be encouraged to live in the building, housing in the Jefferson David Artist Lofts will not be exclusively available to artists.

With construction crews in the background already working on the transformation of the Jefferson David Hospital building, Avenue CDC board President Cleola Williams, whose family has lived in the First Ward for generations, celebrated what she hopes will be a bright new chapter for the area she has devoted her life to preserving.

"This is a bright day in my life," Williams said. "As a child I played up and down these hills. My great-grandfather and my great-great-grandmother lived here. It's a privilege for me to see that we are going to preserve this hallowed ground.

"We are going to kiss this Sleeping Beauty and make it a wonderful example of what can be done in a community."

Link

Does "mixed income" mean that the tenants can be both millionaires and poverty-stricken people?

[brijonmang]

I'd be a bit skeptical when deciding whether or not to live in a "haunted" hospital.

[gonzo1976]

I'm glad they did something with the building. Having seen the interior, it would have been a shame if they tore it down.

[Ashikaga]

For those interested, I got an e-mail from the people redeveloping Jefferson Davis Hospital. They say that reconstruction will begin September 23rd, and continue into next year.

During its heyday, was the JDH well-renowned like M.D. Anderson? Or was it a charity hospital like L.B.J. and Ben Taub?

[Hunter]

The second JDH over on Allen parkway was a very well known and respected hospital in its early days. This one (the orginal) was not very well know and it sat largely forgotten for many years. When ti was built people had no problem getting to it but in time the area built up as well as the freways and it was almost totally lost.

[gonzo1976]

The second JDH over on Allen parkway was a very well known and respected hospital in its early days. This one (the orginal) was not very well know and it sat largely forgotten for many years. When ti was built people had no problem getting to it but in time the area built up as well as the freways and it was almost totally lost.

Both JDHs were run by a city-county agreement. (Someone correct me if I'm wrong. I'm working off the top of my head here!) Both sort of served as the city's charity hospital for the indigent who needed emergency care. Later, the second JDH was known for its maternity ward.

If you want to learn more about the second JDH, I suggest getting your hands on "The Hospital" by Jan de Hartog. He worked at JDH as an orderly in the early 1960s and went on to write about the horrid conditions at the hospital. His work was partly responsible for the creation of the Harris County Hospital District we have today.