Galveston landmarks will be back, but altered

[KevinFromTexas]

And so the Flagship Hotel is planned for demolition.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/loc...t_altered.html

Galveston landmarks will be back, but altered

By Harvey Rice - Houston Chronicle

GALVESTON — Hurricane Ike changed forever many of the landmarks built on pilings seaward of Galveston's sea wall: Some will disappear and others will look different when they are rebuilt.

Nine months after the storm, a few broken pilings are the only signs that the historic Balinese Room and the 61st Street Pier existed.

The Flagship Hotel, built on a pier that juts into the Gulf of Mexico, is an eyesore with broken walls revealing vacant rooms. The Galveston Fishing Pier is missing a 200-yard chunk, its thick concrete pilings ripped away by the storm.

The only landmark under reconstruction so far is the 99-year-old Murdoch's Pier.

Owners of the properties say they are overwhelmed by the thousands of e-mails urging them to rebuild.

“We've had some thousands and thousands of comments,” said J.W. Little, who owns Murdoch's Pier along with his wife, Suzanne. “It's every day, every single day.”

Owners of all the landmarks except the Flagship Hotel are planning to rebuild.

• The Flagship Hotel, one of the most prominent features along the sea wall since it opened with 240 rooms in 1965, will be torn down by owner Landry's Restaurants Inc., said Jeff Cantwell, Landry's senior vice president for development.

The four-block-long pier that the hotel sits on is structurally sound and will be strengthened and used for a project that is in the formative stages, Cantwell said. He declined to reveal the uses under consideration.

He estimated that demolition would probably begin before the end of summer.

[KevinFromTexas]

The Flagship Hotel back in 2007.






Some photos I took of it in April.

[glowrock]

I think that poor hotel is better off being leveled than any attempt at rebuilding it... There's mention of a new development in its place, but with Landry's, who the hell knows?

Aaron (Glowrock)

[urbanactivist]

As sad as it was to see these things destroyed (especially the historic Balinese Room), I think it's just not a smart idea to build on the other side of the Seawall. At least not a small structure like the Flagship is/was. Why continue to test mother nature like that??? We know the island is prone to major hurricanes, and we also know that the Seawall can protect it. Build behind the Seawall.