What's going on at old Fire Station 33?

If you travel around the south side of the Medical Center area, you may have noticed the derelict midcentury fire station at the corner of Fannin and South Braeswood. Houston Fire Department's Station 33 was built in 1950 but was replaced in 2004 by a new station about a block south down Fannin. According to the current station's web site, the old station was originally a volunteer station that also served as the city hall for unincorporated Braeswood, which was eventually annexed by Houston in 1950. For the past few years the station has been a small homeless camp and a major target for graffiti, and the owner claims to be unaware of that. There is also a City of Houston Neighborhood Protection Corps violation notice placard on the building citing violations of municipal code sections 10-542 and 10-361. 10-542 regards a public nuisance concerning visual blight and 10-361 regards dangerous buildings. The card is dated October 10, 2005, and the corrections to the problem were to be remedied by October 29, 2005. Unfortunately, the three and a half year old sign is in much better condition than the building.

So who owns it now? The city sold the property to an entity named Texas SFI Partnership 33 in February of 2007. Texas SFI Partnership 24 owns the Lanesborough Apartments that are to the west of the fire station at 1819 S. Braeswood Blvd. Lanesborough's parent company is The Richdale Group, and Richdale is a part of Slosburg Co. A representative of Lanesborough via Slosburg informed us that the property, including the large tract of land to the south, is slated to become a large mixed-use development with a medical emphasis. There is no timeline for the project and it is still in the design phase. An existing sign on the large empty tract advertises a "Better Lifestyle" with Lanesborough apartments and richdale.com, but there is no other information about the future development on it.