Wednesday, March 14, 2007

TOday is the Day that the Permian Building...


becomes reduce to rubble. I am sad. I'm very sad. The facade was awesome. I wish I could tell Brooke about how amazing that building was, but unfortunately all she'll ever see is a parking lot or a parking garage. Right now as I type this, there is a wrecking ball getting to work out there. I'm depressed and I want to cry. I've always loved that building, and if I would've been old enough and wise enough I would have bought it years ago and had it refurbished and people would've had offices there. I know it's going towards a good thing, and that's to revive downtown Midland. However, I hadn't quite prepared myself for what I would see as I took a trip downtown at 10:30 this morning. As I entered the intersection of Texas and Big Spring street, the ball caught my eye and disbelief is all that I saw. I know it has been vacant for a very long time, but as someone suggested lets keep the building and turn it into a parking garage keeping the facade. It would've been amazing. Here is an article out of our local paper detailing these events.


"Midlanders gather to watch, express sorrow as building is torn down


A 2,000-pound steel ball crashed repeatedly into the Permian Building Tuesday as a crowd of Midlanders watched brick and concrete plummet from the historic property into a growing pile of rubble.


Construction crews from A&R Demolition began bulldozing the property Monday and estimated that it will take another two to three weeks before the building is permanently removed from Midland's skyline.


Residents who gathered to watch the building's gradual demise expressed sorrow, but appeared to also find some pleasure in the spectacle of a massive ball of steel slowly slamming into the building's crumbling facade time and again.


"It's sad, isn't it?" JoJo's Eatery owner JoAnn Brisco said, noting that she moved to Midland in 1980 and remembers when the property was still occupied, "although not by very many."


At one point in time Conoco-Phillips, Inc. maintained several offices in the building and, according to 238th District Court Judge John Hyde, an aficionado of local history, it also served as the location of the Midland County Clerk's Office for a year while the courthouse was being renovated.

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George McAlpine, one of several residents who gathered to watch the demolition, told the Reporter-Telegram the art-deco property also once housed the office of President George W. Bush while he was running Arbusto Energy.


"It's very sad, I'm saddened that a historical landmark building like that is being taken down," Hyde told the Reporter-Telegram.


The first two stories of the Permian Building were built around 1933 and an additional four stories were added in 1945. Hyde said it is one of only two art-deco buildings in Midland, the other one of which is located on the corner of Wall Street and Colorado Street.


"Those kinds of buildings were built with a kind of concrete block style that looks sort of reminiscent of the Daily Planet in Superman," Hyde said. "(They typically have) aluminum lettering around the top and curving on the front which makes it distinct architecture of that period. I hate to see that one go."


The Permian Building and Gihle's Tower, which is also scheduled for demolition, were acquired from MYCO Texas last year by TCTB Management, a joint venture of local and out-of-town investors. The Midland Savings Building, another former MYCO Texas property, was recently acquired by the Midland Municipal Management District and is also scheduled for demolition.


Jon Morgan, part-owner of TCTB Management, previously told the Reporter-Telegram that street-level parking will replace the buildings in the short term and a parking garage may be constructed in the future. He said the removal of long-vacant structures is essential to revitalizing downtown Midland.


"I'm sure something good will come of it, new things," Brisco said. "These old buildings are so pretty and interesting, but they probably just cost so much to refurbish them."

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