Cut and plug

Matt Stiles tells us why the River Oaks Shopping Center hasn't been demolished quite yet.

The owner, Weingarten Realty Investors, can't raze the building at West Gray and Shepherd until its plumber disconnects the waste water sewers at the various suites and city inspectors approve the work.

Vossler Plumbing bought the sewer permit Wednesday, but city inspectors on Friday only partially approved the "cut and plug" work at four of the six connections.

The sewer work and demolition are linked under the same project number, but the permits are technically issued separately. To unleash its wrecking crew, Weingarten must call the city for that final OK on the sewer work, and then pay for its demolition permit.

According to a subsequent update, that inspection work is scheduled for today. Which means that sound you hear is the center's last rites being conducted.

I Will Not Shop At The West Gray Barnes & Noble has 268 members now, and a couple of them have started discussion threads. Here's a picture I took of the site on my way home from work yesterday:

We'll see if it's still like that when I go home today. Stay tuned.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on August 14, 2007 to Elsewhere in Houston