When did the UP sell Hardy in houston?
Ed would know. He knows ALL in Houston.
Not sure if they sold it, but I know the bulldozed the backshop and all the buildings, removed the fuel and sanding facilities…not much left but a small, very small yard.
I will try and get by there Saturday after work and get a few photos.
I had heard rumors they sold it to a developer, but I would imagine anyone wanting to build anything on that site would have to remove all the soil several feet down, and get some type of EPA study done before they could construct a building that will be occupied, like apartments, condos or an office building.
I will ask around and see if I can find out who, if anyone, bought the property.
accurding to the UP website article from January that was commenting on work completed in the Eureka yard, it allowed them to sell the Hardy Location 8.3 somthing acres. I am like you tho who would want to spend that type of money remediating the land.
boy they did bulldoze it.
I’ll be brief: here in my “I sometimes wonder” town - they want to build a convention center right next to the old depot. This was an area that once had many businesses that needed direct access to the rail lines. (Haymarket, leather shops, lumber, etc.) Now they want the BNSF to move some tracks (it is the lead into and from the main lines east of town), want to cleanse the soil (like Omaha did a few years ago - think old Asarko Refinery cleanup) and build right next to all the rest of the tracks.
I get the feeling that expense will be no object other than objections in the newspaper and they will go ahead as planned. But the cleanup alone will be MAJOR.
But someone wants it done; so be it.
Ed’s probably right, as usual. There is a lot of development from I-10 on north heading that way. Lot’s of townhouses for folks working downtown, I reckon.
m
Well, the old SP headquarter building in downtown Houston is now “Pacific Lofts”, if that tells you anything…
I was just wondering about that building
Although called Bayou Lofts, they kept half the old Southern Pacific lighted sign on the roof, and added the word Lofts after the Pacific…wish I knew where the Southern part went to…
http://activerain.com/blogsview/141188/Bayou-Lofts-Houston-Downtown
40 years ago I wouldn’t have thought that section of downtown was worth a plug nickel. Now look at it…
m
The near North side and the Heights are booming…my grandmothers corner lot on 11th and Studemont, with a duplex built in the 20s, and purchased for less than $8000.00 totla, just sold for $300,000.00.
The developer removed the brick duplex, the double car garage with a apartment overhead, and built two little yuppie homes, you know, the little garage with a two story “home” above, each with a footprint about the size of my utility shed.
Each one sells for $250,000.00.
Both sold with in a month of completion.
Washington Ave. is undergoing a renaissance…all the used car lots and old homes are being bought and developed into condos and “mini” communities of tiny little houses.
You can’t even buy a good taco down there anymore…who wants bean sprouts on a taco?
i hear ya on the taco part.
it was starting to boom just before i moved. i really like the heights area. I had som friends who live on rutland. they got their house for next to nothing in the 80’s I am sure its wroth a lot now.
I can’t believe the prices on those condos at the SP building. The look nice but not for $345,000
When you were here, what part of the city did you live in…
I have been in Oak Forest, northwest corner around 290 and 43rd Street for 40 plus years on and off.
I lived in Pearland on the southside on the AT&SF Houston Sub. Then lived in clear lake and finally in the west houston westpark area.
imiss Texmex , beef barbaque , and fried gulf shrimp
You would not reconize Pearland, Sugarland and most of that area…big developments all over the place.
Highway 6 has traffic jams now…and 288 is starting to look like the Gulf Freeway.
I’m familiar with that area myself. Used to work for a oilwell servicing company that was in Pasadena not too far from Hobby Airport. Took some airframe and powerplant classes at a little aviation school located on the west side of Hobby. Can’t recall what road it was on, but it went south down through Pearland. During breaks at the school, I would sometimes go down the street to the AT&SF line and see what would go by. Eventually did well enough in the offshore oil work to move to the Galleria area on the west side out on Westheimer Avenue. This was all back in the 80’s. Did work for a brief time at Pearland Airport for Houston Helicopters, a terrible job that was! Had a home in Pasadena not too far down the street from Mickey Gilley’s club, a big scene back in the day. Thanks to the oil well work, I think I got to see just about every little town in the eastern and southern part of Texas! Aviation work has now let me see the world, but I still like Texas and had some really good times there.
Later,
Gregory
That would have been Telephone Raod went from way up in Houston to Pearland and south to Alvin and beyond ( was state Hwy 35) Pearland Airport was closed before I moved, i remeber Houston Helicopter. Gilleys closed a long time ago and most of it had burned down. You proabbly took the two lane version of airport rd over to the tracks to Mykawa road to check out the ATSF. Its now a 4 lane hwy of sorts . Before My parents moved from there they said no telling how much stuff had grown up down 518 toward 288 and up and down 288. There was nothing but fields when I was last there. They had even closed the Knapp road crossing and built an new overpass over the AT
The neon sign that was on the SP building went to the Houston (or Gulf Coast) RR museum that’s on Mesa Rd. east of downtown Houston. It was from the SP Grand Central Depot built in the 1930’s where the downtown post office is now.
Shot from Hardy at Opelousas street, the Elysian Viaduct is behind me…
Even the back shop has been bulldozed.
They could rebuild a steam locomotive from the ground up, repair or rebuild just about any piece of rolling stock, and service locomotives here…
Is the Amtrak station still down under the highway?
I used to ramble by the Hardy Street facilities on occasion to see what was in the yard and on the dead line. Once, there were some cars from Ringling, Barnum & Bailey there for some sort of servicing. The area around the fueling tracks was completely black with the accumulation of years of spilt fuel and oils. As Ed mentioned before, they would probably have to dig down to bedrock to clear all the contaminated soil.
One thing I remember about Hardy was that they had a couple of baggage cars sitting off by themselves on a weed choked spur. These cars always seemed to have a group of illegal aliens holed up in them. On a couple of occasions one of them, out of desperation I assume, would come over and ask for something to eat or money to help them out. One guy asked what city he was in.
The area around the Houston Ship Channel always fascinated me; I just like seeing big industrial complexes, of which Houston has many, especially along the waterways. I always wanted to know what it was they made, what it was used for, and where it got shipped to.
Later,
Gregory