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Press
One Americas Plaza Honored at HBJ Gala
Americas Plaza was recognized as a Finalist at the Houston
Business Journal's Landmark Award Gala on Wednesday, April 8th
for the "Rehabilitation and Restoration" category along with
Heritage Plaza and Yale Street Retail. Although Heritage Plaza
walked away that night with the award, Americas Plaza is still
grateful for the nomination and will have a special article in the April
10 issue of the Houston Business Journal which is featured just to
the right.
Americas Plaza was recognized as a Finalist at the Houston
Business Journal's Landmark Award Gala on Wednesday, April 8th
for the "Rehabilitation and Restoration" category along with
Heritage Plaza and Yale Street Retail. Although Heritage Plaza
walked away that night with the award, Americas Plaza is still
grateful for the nomination and will have a special article in the April
10 issue of the Houston Business Journal which is featured just to
the right.
April 10, 2009
Fall/ Winter Edition 2008
Houston Business Journal
Greater East End District Journal
"Alan Atkinson has transformed One Americas Plaza, formerly
Anson Jones Elementary School, from a 1960's HISD
elementary school into offices and community event spaces.
Urban Harvest was the first tenant to move into the newly
finished space.
So while the entire fabric of Houston's East End isn't changing -
the influx of diverse and creative business is energizing a
neighborhood that was formerly known only for its industry."
Anson Jones Elementary School, from a 1960's HISD
elementary school into offices and community event spaces.
Urban Harvest was the first tenant to move into the newly
finished space.
So while the entire fabric of Houston's East End isn't changing -
the influx of diverse and creative business is energizing a
neighborhood that was formerly known only for its industry."
002 Magazine
April 2008
"Development has broken ground for Americas Plaza, a ten-acre
mixed-use community master planned by Architect Melton Henry, AIA.
Located four blocks from Minute Maid Park and the proposed venue for
the Dynamo's new soccer stadium, Americas Plaza is located at the
confluence of Navigation Blvd., Canal Street and Jensen Drive. One
Americas Plaza will be at 2311 Canal Street. Anson Jones Elementary
School is being converted into a 8,000-sq-ft. reception hall and
three-story, 35,000-sq-ft. professional office building with open atrium
garden. Two Americas Plaza, located at 2219 Canal St., is being
converted into a 28,000-sq-ft. retail and entertainment facility and is
developing tenancies for the Canal Street Gallery, Trentino Gelato,
Susanne Anderson Properties and an activity-based gaming emporium
known as Headshots. Within the past few years, 900 new residents have
moved in within a one-block radius with the completion of the Alexan
Lofts, Canal Street Apartments and 71 new town homes adjacent the
Buffalo Bayou Hike and Bike Trail. Additional residential housing and
retail space will surround a large sculpted plaza facing the downtown
skyline. Development activity is being coordinated by AVA Limited, 2005
Finalist in the Houston Business Journal Landmark Awards for best
community impact, 2006 winner of the Hamilton Brown Community
Beautiful Award and 2007 winner of the East End Chamber of Commerce
Small Business Award."
Compiled by Carla Valencia, Ed Wulfe, Alan Atkinson, Magan Moody, Matt
Stoval and Ashley Slayton
mixed-use community master planned by Architect Melton Henry, AIA.
Located four blocks from Minute Maid Park and the proposed venue for
the Dynamo's new soccer stadium, Americas Plaza is located at the
confluence of Navigation Blvd., Canal Street and Jensen Drive. One
Americas Plaza will be at 2311 Canal Street. Anson Jones Elementary
School is being converted into a 8,000-sq-ft. reception hall and
three-story, 35,000-sq-ft. professional office building with open atrium
garden. Two Americas Plaza, located at 2219 Canal St., is being
converted into a 28,000-sq-ft. retail and entertainment facility and is
developing tenancies for the Canal Street Gallery, Trentino Gelato,
Susanne Anderson Properties and an activity-based gaming emporium
known as Headshots. Within the past few years, 900 new residents have
moved in within a one-block radius with the completion of the Alexan
Lofts, Canal Street Apartments and 71 new town homes adjacent the
Buffalo Bayou Hike and Bike Trail. Additional residential housing and
retail space will surround a large sculpted plaza facing the downtown
skyline. Development activity is being coordinated by AVA Limited, 2005
Finalist in the Houston Business Journal Landmark Awards for best
community impact, 2006 winner of the Hamilton Brown Community
Beautiful Award and 2007 winner of the East End Chamber of Commerce
Small Business Award."
Compiled by Carla Valencia, Ed Wulfe, Alan Atkinson, Magan Moody, Matt
Stoval and Ashley Slayton
Articles
One Americas Plaza Applies for Historical Landmark
One Americas Plaza is in the process of applying to become an officially designated Historical Landmark by the
Texas Historical Commission. Recorded Texas Historical Landmarks (or RTHLs) are properties that are judged to
be historically and architecturally significant. One Americas Plaza stands on a significant plot of Houstonian history;
the site has been used for continuing education for over 100 years and the land is rich with the story of Houston’s
growth.
2311 Canal Street’s story begins at the turn of the 20th Century, as America was still steeped in segregation;
Langston Public School for African American students was created on the site. Early records show that in October of
1911, the famous educator Dr. Booker T. Washington visited Houston as a speaker and had dinner at the home of a
Mr. J. B. Bell living at 2121 German Street (now renamed Commerce Street). As quoted by the University of Illinois
Press in the Booker T. Washington Papers, “a feature of the dinner was disclosed in the fact that it had been
prepared entirely by the female students of the Langston School in the domestic science department.”
The Langston School was finally integrated with the formation of the Houston Independent School District and moved
further North to its present location on Jensen Drive. Anson Jones Elementary School, originally established in 1892
was moved to 2311 Canal St. from its original location on nearby Elysian street. The existing cast in place concrete
structure was constructed in 1966, without air conditioning. A significant design feature of the structure was an open
air courtyard for the second and third floors, which when combined with louvered windows permitted fresh air to
circulate through the classrooms from the outside and vent upward from the courtyard due to the “chimney draft”
effect of the architectural design.
Located at the gateway to the Second Ward, the school was closed in 2006 with the expectation that the structure
would be demolished. Upon it’s closing, the marquee outside read: “Its legacy secure, its mission complete 1892-
2006”. In the same year, AVA Limited acquired the building with the intention of preserving the building’s historical
legacy and using it as a cornerstone to rehabilitate the entire neighborhood.
From 2006 to 2009, AVA Limited renovated, restructured, rebuilt and overhauled the Anson Jones Elementary school
into fully operational office lofts and suites. In January of 2009 the adaptive reuse and conversion of the 1966 three-
story structure was completed. Significant upgrades were required by building codes from fire sprinklers, fire alarms
and other life safety systems to mechanical, electrical and plumbing changes. The original layout of the building was
largely maintained with the original school class rooms being designated as office suites and the original cafeteria,
stage and kitchen being converted to a banquet hall for weddings, quincinearas, and other community events. While
maintaining the exterior architecture in terms of locations and size of the numerous exterior windows, all the glass
was replaced with energy efficient windows to meet current energy codes. In order to maintain the structural integrity
of this concrete building by not cutting into it, a minor elevator structure was added the outside of the building so that
the building would meet ADA compliance requirements.
2311 Canal is surrounded by an entire neighborhood of history. In 1997 AVA Limited saved the neighboring Meyers-
Spalti Manufacturing Warehouse from demolition and began the process of converting the building to 246 residential
loft apartments. The building, now known as the Alexan Lofts, is designated a Historical Structure. The famous St.
Vincent’s Cemetery founded in 1892 (burial place of Dick Bowling, hero of Sabine Pass and Samuel Paschal, hero
of the battle of San Jacinto) is a designated Landmark as well as Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church originally
constructed in 1911 directly across the street.
Being recognized as a Texas Historical Landmark would offer One Americas Plaza a unique degree of recognition.
The RTHL is the highest honor bestowed on historical structures in Texas; it is also a legal designation that offers a
certain degree of protection to preserve the history and original architecture of the building. Only buildings whose
structure is at least 5o years old can qualify and applicants must meet specific criteria to earn the honor of being a
Texas Historical Landmark.
One Americas Plaza sits in the midst of incredible city history and hopes to use the Recognized Texas Historical
Landmark award to continue its contributions to the bettering of Houston and especially Houston’s East End.
Texas Historical Commission. Recorded Texas Historical Landmarks (or RTHLs) are properties that are judged to
be historically and architecturally significant. One Americas Plaza stands on a significant plot of Houstonian history;
the site has been used for continuing education for over 100 years and the land is rich with the story of Houston’s
growth.
2311 Canal Street’s story begins at the turn of the 20th Century, as America was still steeped in segregation;
Langston Public School for African American students was created on the site. Early records show that in October of
1911, the famous educator Dr. Booker T. Washington visited Houston as a speaker and had dinner at the home of a
Mr. J. B. Bell living at 2121 German Street (now renamed Commerce Street). As quoted by the University of Illinois
Press in the Booker T. Washington Papers, “a feature of the dinner was disclosed in the fact that it had been
prepared entirely by the female students of the Langston School in the domestic science department.”
The Langston School was finally integrated with the formation of the Houston Independent School District and moved
further North to its present location on Jensen Drive. Anson Jones Elementary School, originally established in 1892
was moved to 2311 Canal St. from its original location on nearby Elysian street. The existing cast in place concrete
structure was constructed in 1966, without air conditioning. A significant design feature of the structure was an open
air courtyard for the second and third floors, which when combined with louvered windows permitted fresh air to
circulate through the classrooms from the outside and vent upward from the courtyard due to the “chimney draft”
effect of the architectural design.
Located at the gateway to the Second Ward, the school was closed in 2006 with the expectation that the structure
would be demolished. Upon it’s closing, the marquee outside read: “Its legacy secure, its mission complete 1892-
2006”. In the same year, AVA Limited acquired the building with the intention of preserving the building’s historical
legacy and using it as a cornerstone to rehabilitate the entire neighborhood.
From 2006 to 2009, AVA Limited renovated, restructured, rebuilt and overhauled the Anson Jones Elementary school
into fully operational office lofts and suites. In January of 2009 the adaptive reuse and conversion of the 1966 three-
story structure was completed. Significant upgrades were required by building codes from fire sprinklers, fire alarms
and other life safety systems to mechanical, electrical and plumbing changes. The original layout of the building was
largely maintained with the original school class rooms being designated as office suites and the original cafeteria,
stage and kitchen being converted to a banquet hall for weddings, quincinearas, and other community events. While
maintaining the exterior architecture in terms of locations and size of the numerous exterior windows, all the glass
was replaced with energy efficient windows to meet current energy codes. In order to maintain the structural integrity
of this concrete building by not cutting into it, a minor elevator structure was added the outside of the building so that
the building would meet ADA compliance requirements.
2311 Canal is surrounded by an entire neighborhood of history. In 1997 AVA Limited saved the neighboring Meyers-
Spalti Manufacturing Warehouse from demolition and began the process of converting the building to 246 residential
loft apartments. The building, now known as the Alexan Lofts, is designated a Historical Structure. The famous St.
Vincent’s Cemetery founded in 1892 (burial place of Dick Bowling, hero of Sabine Pass and Samuel Paschal, hero
of the battle of San Jacinto) is a designated Landmark as well as Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church originally
constructed in 1911 directly across the street.
Being recognized as a Texas Historical Landmark would offer One Americas Plaza a unique degree of recognition.
The RTHL is the highest honor bestowed on historical structures in Texas; it is also a legal designation that offers a
certain degree of protection to preserve the history and original architecture of the building. Only buildings whose
structure is at least 5o years old can qualify and applicants must meet specific criteria to earn the honor of being a
Texas Historical Landmark.
One Americas Plaza sits in the midst of incredible city history and hopes to use the Recognized Texas Historical
Landmark award to continue its contributions to the bettering of Houston and especially Houston’s East End.