Over the next days, weeks and months, we will be working with our Downtown stakeholders to support the recovery of our great City.  Overall, Downtown has fared well and is stable.  While conditions are improving, we realize that many areas of Houston still have high water and/or no power, in addition METRO will not be in service today and may have limited service during the rest of the week, we recommend people act with caution to ensure their safety.

After reaching a peak on Sunday, Buffalo Bayou water levels in Downtown continue to decrease; high waters were primarily in the northern and western areas of Downtown (Warehouse, Historic and Theater Districts).  Flooding in the Downtown Tunnels was isolated to sections adjacent to the Theater District and Civic Center garages.

Since Sunday, the George R. Brown Convention Center, and now Toyota Center, has been operating as a major relief facility for evacuees with significant activity around the area. We expect to see very few Downtown workers coming back today, with more on Thursday and Friday. Some restaurants are open including The District, Frank’s Pizza, Conservatory, Prohibition, Flying Saucer, Sol Café Mejicano, Jason’s Deli- 901 McKinney, Treebeard’s- 1100 Louisiana (call-in orders only), Your Pie, and Phoenicia Specialty Foods Grocery.

The Downtown District continues to outreach to property owners, property managers, businesses and residents and will be assessing damage.

Below is a summary of the situation to date:

• Downtown District Operations continues coordination with City, County and METRO making ongoing assessments and outreach to properties and businesses.

• Based on observation and reports to date, the following properties have been affected primarily water in first level/basement spaces; detailed property assesments are not available at this time:

  • Spaghetti Warehouse, 901 Commerce
  • Sunset Coffee Building, 1019 Commerce
  • 800 Commerce, law offices
  • AIA Houston (u/c), 900 Commerce
  • One Main and Student Life Buildings, University of Houston Downtown
  • Willow Street Pump Station, Universty of Houston Downtown
  • Dakota Lofts, 711 William
  • mArchitects, 1206 Nance
  • Oxheart/Theodore Rex (u/c), 1302 Nance
  • Cotton Exchange Bldg, 202 Travis
  • Bayou Lofts, 915 Franklin
  • The Rice, 909 Texas
  • Market Square Tower
  • Hogg Palace, 401 Louisiana
  • Chase Motor Bank, 212 Milam
  • Magnolia Ballroom, 715 Franklin
  • Theater District and Tranquility Garages
  • Bayou Place
  • Downtown Aquarium
  • Houston Ballet Center for Dance, 601 Preston
  • Wortham Theater Center, 501 Texas
  • Jones Hall, 615 Louisiana
  • Alley Theatre, 615 Texas
  • Hobby Center, 800 Bagby
  • City Hall and City Annex
  • Sam Houston Park/Historic Homes
  • 1415 Fannin (fire damage)
• Streets to and within downtown are open, although some freeway exit ramps leading into Downtown remain impassable.
• There are isolated power outages in the Historic District and Harris County complex; CenterPoint Energy is working to restore.
• A traffic signals are out in the north end, please stop and use caution.
• Downtown District Operations is currently picking up minor debris, as well as tipping trash receptacles and picking up bagged trash.
• METRO services are suspended though Wednesday; updates can be found at ridemetro.org and via their social channels.
• Schools (Incarnate Word Academy, South Texas College of Law and University of Houston Downtown) will resume classes on Tuesday, September 5.
• Many events are being cancelled or rescheduled.  We will update our Calendar as we get info.

For status updates, visit emergency.downtowndistrict.org or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

ABOUT DOWNTOWN DISTRICT

The Downtown District was formed in 1995 for the purpose of revitalizing the urban core of the country’s fourth largest city. Over the past decade, the Downtown District has used a combination of public funds and private resources to catalyze area improvements focusing on the city blocks bordered by Interstate 10, Highway 59 and Interstate 45.

The Downtown District operates under the leadership of a 30-person board of directors who oversee the implementation of the District’s strategic initiatives. Funding for the Downtown District comes from a special assessment on all downtown property owners.

For more information visit downtowndistrict.org.