Abandoned Downtown Houston hotel makes another run at new life Longtime eyesore undergoing renovations

Owners of the old Days Inn hotel at 801 St. Joseph Parkway in downtown Houston confirmed that they are in the process of renovating the building and will soon ink a deal with a major hotel franchise, Aug. 11, 2016. less Owners of the old Days Inn hotel at 801 St. Joseph Parkway in downtown Houston confirmed that they are in the process of renovating the building and will soon ink a deal with a major hotel franchise, Aug. 11, ... more Photo: Mayra Beltran, Staff Photo: Mayra Beltran, Staff Image 1 of / 21 Caption Close Abandoned Downtown Houston hotel makes another run at new life 1 / 21 Back to Gallery

The long-delayed renovation of a vacant downtown hotel is cranking up again.

A representative of the owner of the downtrodden property at 801 St. Joseph Parkway told the Houston Chronicle on Thursday that work is being ramped up in the hope of the 30-story eyesore becoming a hotel again within the next two years, or perhaps sooner.

"We are in the process of rehabbing the building," said Nadeem Nasir with SFK Developmenty, which owns the building. "We are currently in the design stages, waiting to get on the same page as a hotel franchise."

The current economic downturn had stymied activity on the property but it sounds as if that hurdle has been overcome. SFK Development has owned it since 2012.

RELATED: Old Days Inn makeover begins as owners look for brand (2008)

This week real estate blog Swamplot ran a story about the building that was long ago a Holiday Inn, then a Days Inn, and then later owned by a group led by the late Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

Vacated in 1998, the property became a haven for brave urban explorers and the area's homeless who took their chances venturing inside. In its previous life, the hotel had 600 rooms, good enough to be touted as the largest Holiday Inn in the continental United States

These days crude graffiti (read: not street art) and broken windows can be seen on its north and south sides. The building and parking garage look post-apocalyptic, like you expect a few walkers to come crawling out looking for human flesh from the 32,248 square-foot fortress.

A reader sent in some new shots to the Swamplot crew of the goings on as of late at the property, including new locks, gates, and evidence of the buildings electrical systems being revamped.

Nasir wouldn’t discuss which hotel franchises the development group had been in talks with but a few commenters on the Houston Architectural Information Forum message board think that they have cracked the case.

Nasir said that the building needs extreme amounts of cosmetic work but that the bones of the building are in great shape.

RELATED: Vacant downtown Days Inn building posted for foreclosure (2011)

“There will be a total strip down with brand new features added,” he said. “It will have a new face.”

When asked why they didn’t just tear down the existing structure, which has been an eyesore to commuters on nearby I-45 and visitors to downtown, Nasir said that they decided to renovate because of the cost, stating that a full tear-down and brand new construction would be at least $25 million.

Sometimes all a building needs is a little TLC. Witness the work that was done on the old Savoy hotel just blocks away from 801 St. Joseph. It’s now a polished and modern-looking Holiday Inn Express with a burger café downstairs.

Back in 2013 the Houston Chronicle’s J.R. Gonzales took a look at the history of 801 St. Joseph which at one point featured a main dining room named the Orbit Restaurant.

“Ceiling fixtures resembled rockets blasting off into space and the walls were adorned with color photos from the Apollo missions,” he wrote. When it opened in 1972 they advertised a color TV in every room as a deluxe perk.

By early 1990 the hotel became a Days Inn, as passersby can see from the old broken sign on the side.

RELATED: Downtown's 'Heaven on Earth': The old Holiday Inn (2013)

Three years later it was purchased by a group led by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the former spiritual adviser to the Beatles. It was renamed the Heaven on Earth Inn, and plans included using part of the hotel as a Transcendental Meditation school.

By 1995 it appears that the money-hemorrhaging hotel and its vegetarian restaurant closed, and it was renamed Maharishi Vedic School. Two years later it was known as the Houston Downtown Plaza Hotel, a regal name for a place that was anything but.

A series of owner swaps since then has lef to grand plans being scuttled for one reason or another. Dozens of citations from the Houston Police Department piled up there and at other surrounding vacant buildings.

Here’s hoping that SFK’s new activity will pay off for the sake of downtown Houston and its visitors.