Menil-owned apartments slated for wrecking ball

Apartments at 1400 Richmond Ave. at the Richmont Square apartment homes. (Eric Kayne/For the Chronicle) Apartments at 1400 Richmond Ave. at the Richmont Square apartment homes. (Eric Kayne/For the Chronicle) Photo: Eric Kayne Photo: Eric Kayne Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Menil-owned apartments slated for wrecking ball 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Residents of the Richmont Square Apartments got notice on Monday that their units are set for the wrecking ball, making way for parks, art buildings and roadway improvements that are part of the Menil Collection's master plan in the Montrose area.

The 320 remaining apartments on Richmond Avenue, owned since 1981 by the foundation that runs the Menil, have been slated for demolition as part of a plan to transform the area. A portion of the complex buildings were earlier knocked down. Residents were given until May 1 to find a new place to live.

Designers previously called the aging apartment complex a "great elephant" standing in the way of growth for the museum's 30-acre property.

The master plan was first announced in 2009. Work to extend West Main Street has begun.

Recently, Menil officials released renderings for the $40 million Menil Drawing Institute, the first freestanding facility in the U.S. devoted to the exhibit, study, storage and conservation of artworks on paper. The institute is the biggest component of a major expansion initiated in 2009, when the museum's board adopted a master plan by London's David Chipperfield Architects.

One of the plan's goals was to realize the vision of founders John and Dominique de Menil, who in the 1970s amassed 71 lots of 1920s-era bungalows and duplexes adjacent to their Rothko Chapel.