Out With The Old, In With The Condos

While the golden days of espresso and gelato with friends on the giant wooden deck at Dolce & Freddo are long behind us, the vacant building at San Felipe and Voss that once housed the popular Italian coffeehouse has stood neglected since its closure several years ago, a sad reminder of days past. Similarly, the wood-paneled, mid-century modern office buildings nestled around the former Dolce & Freddo slowly became abandoned and shuttered, blending into the heavy trees of the bayou around them over time.

People began to wonder what would become of the location, although there's only ever one answer to a question like that in Houston: tear down the "old" to make way for the new.

Sure enough, the Houston Business Journal announced in March 2008 that a New York real estate development firm was eyeing the entire site for exactly what we need more of in this city. You guessed it! Extravagantly-appointed, overpriced luxury condos.

Boymelgreen Developers unveiled a plan this spring to build two towers of as-yet-unnamed condominiums on the site of the former office buildings and coffee shop, with each tower boasting 28 floors and at least 100 condos with an average size of 2,500 square feet. They're priced to sell, too, with a minimum asking price of $1,000,000 for the smallest unit. And lest the condo owners have to work out with non-condo owners at the 24 Hour Fitness down the street, the project will also include an 18,000-square-foot fitness center and spa.

In what is possibly the only positive aspect of this redevelopment, people driving past the abandoned office buildings for the past few months have been greeted by signs assuring them that all salvagable materials are being donated to Habitat for Humanity. Today, however, that all changes.

This morning, demolition began on the site in what is being called a "San Felipe St. massacre." For at least the next few weeks, expect heavy equipment and heavy delays on San Felipe as the remainder of the buildings are torn down and transported offsite. And, of course, you can expect the same throughout the condo construction process and even once the condos are completed! The intersection of San Felipe and Voss is already notoriously congested before, during and after rush hour, and the addition of even more high-density housing in the immediate area should only serve to exacerbate the problem.

Houstonist is looking forward to many more years filled with unnecessary construction and development by outside real estate firms; are you?