Susan Hilton College Station Real Estate
Realtor & Vice President of Sales of Bryan College Station Real Estate
Read my blog below
Community Events Category
Demolition and Renewal: a History of the Plaza Hotel in College Station
May 19th, 2012 Categories: Community Events, Foreclosures, Living Here, Texas A&M University
Almost every Bryan/College Station resident would admit to driving past the abandoned Plaza Hotel occasionally in their weekly routine, if not daily. The seventeen story concrete shell stands at the intersection of Texas Avenue and University Drive, arguably the two busiest streets in the whole city. And after 6:30am on Thursday, May 24th 2012, this once pivotal structure will be reduced to nothing more than a pile of shattered concrete and useless rubble.
If you’ve driven through the city of College Station in the past few weeks, it’s likely that you’ve noticed the unusual vacancy of the Plaza Hotel. Not that you would be expected to notice a parking lot or diminished business: instead, it is the actual building itself which you would’ve noticed. The windows of various apartments and hotel rooms appear to almost open up to the sky behind the structure. I myself have viewed this spectacle on a few sunset evenings, when the sky behind the Plaza Hotel was painted with the various colors of sunset, the different tones of orange, pink, or Easter purple leaking through the hollowed frame of the seventeen story structure. It’s more than evident then, peering up through the cracks in the concrete frame, to understand how completely abandoned the Plaza Hotel had become. And to hear now that the building will be imploded this upcoming Thursday, you might not be entirely surprised.
But how did this pivotal structure, the hotel that has had such a powerful presence in the history of our growing city, come to such an abrupt end? In such instances as this, it is sometimes important to understand the buildings past in order to appreciate the present circumstances.
What we know today as the Plaza Hotel actually began as a Ramada Inn, the first foundations of which were laid in the late 1950s. Joe Ferreri, the constructor of the Ramada Inn, was approached in the 1950s by Earl Rudder of Texas A&M. Attracted to Ferreri’s success as a drive-inn restaurant owner, Rudder approached Joe with the proposition to construct a badly needed hotel on the Corner of Texas Avenue and University. After appearing hesitant about the project due to his lack of experience in the hotel industry, Rudder encouraged him forward, getting the young businessman to wonder how much different it could be than the food industry.
So Joe began to build. By 1960 the Ramada Inn opened, looking far different than the Plaza Hotel that we know today. The Ramada had been a quaint, two story Inn with an Olympic swimming pool, faculty club, banquet hall, and just over 150 rooms. But this quiet corner served as a focal point for the College Station and Texas A&M community.
The Ramada Inn had immediate success and was consistently pushed to over 90% of its overall capacity. In fact, the hotel had such great business that Ferreri was pressed to expand. In 1980 he began the construction of a new high-rise for his Hotel, and in just one year an additional seventeen story tower was built: making the shell of the structure that you see today.
But despite the initial success of Ferreri’s expanded hotel and the overall consistent business he was receiving from the community at large, only a few years after the construction of the Hotel’s new high-rise, Joe Ferreri was forced to sell the Ramada Inn. In the early 1980s there was a major economic recession, much like the most recent economic events of the late 21st Century. Rising interest rates on the debts incurred from Ferreri’s construction, along with the overall state of the economy and slowing business, forced Ferreri out of his prized construction. The result was a loss of over 32 million dollars in assets and personal funds. Ferreri was left only with his home, a single car, and his family.
Since then what began as the Ramada Inn has switched ownership several times, becoming most recently what it is known as today: the Plaza Hotel. And it would appear that a similar fate befell the success of the Plaza Hotel’s business, the inevitable slip to bankruptcy that caused the hotel to close its doors for the last time in 2010.
Unfortunately, the story does not end there. After the abandonment of the Plaza Hotel, the twelve acre site of prime real-estate has become a hot-spot for crime, vandalism, and drug use. Criminals have been simply unable to avoid the alluring pull of an abandoned, seventeen story shelter full of furniture, walls, and glass. Security has been gradually increasing over the past few months, but authorities have become hard-pressed for the funds to support the coverage of such a broad area when the use of civil authorities is generally looked for elsewhere. So what is the result? Demolition.
The demolition project has been delegated to the local Civil Engineering Company, Mitchell and Morgan. Veronica Morgan is the lead Civil Engineer in charge of the implosion, which is currently set to occur around 6:30am this Thursday, the 24th of May. The event will be free and open to the public. Veronica Morgan herself hopes the implosion “will be an event for the community.” Many are certainly looking forward to the removal of the towering Plaza Hotel, which has been described by as an ‘eyesore’ to the community at large.
While future construction in the Plaza Hotel area is still unclear (there has been speculation about student housing, shopping/eating centers, night clubs, etc.), it is obvious and in popular demand that the archaic, outdated shell of the 1960s Ramada Inn be destroyed and replaced with a more aesthetically appealing structure. While the overall value of the land has decreased 28.7% from 2008 to 2010, it is still located in a prime location with an excellent promise of prosperous business. The city allegedly has had multiple propositions processed over the past several months, and the entire community is excited to find out what the future will hold.
PS – Susan Hilton is Bryan College Station, Texas’ real estate specialist in foreclosure sales and real estate agent career building so if you need help – CALL! 979-219-3970
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Would You like Some Lemonade? Help Our Brazos Valley Kids!
May 16th, 2012 Categories: Community Events, Family, Living Here
Driving through the twin cities a couple weeks ago, Bryan and College Station, it was not unlikely that you ran upon a lemonade stand or two. These small makeshift stands littered the city and were stationed upon many street corners and in front of numerous bigger businesses. Star wars characters greeted some customers, while enthused young girls in yellow shirts and bows sold lemonade to others. There were kids who chose to blow bubbles to draw in his customers, while other kids opted for large booths with loud music to draw in attention. And of course, there was the always traditional modest sized lemonade stand and signs operated by some.
When kids were asked what they were going to do with the money they earned, some replied they were going to “spend it!” Others decided to give the money they raised to their church. The main point is that the children learned how to work for money and learned that they had the freedom to decide what they were going to do with the profit they earned. They were allowed to feel grown up and allowed a taste of the real world. This type of experience excites children and allows them the freedom to make decisions for themselves.
Sunday May 6 was Lemonade Day in 31 cities across America and Canada, including Bryan and College Station. When Lemonade Day first began, it included about 2,700 kids. Now, more than 120,000 kids across these 31 cities participate in the day. Lemonade Day was started as a program to give experience to children, teaching them entrepreneurship skills. Kids learn to plan, start, and operate a business through their experiences with Lemonade Day.
Kids were offered the chance to mark their lemonade stands on a map online that would be available to the community on Lemonade Day. The stand locations were given the opportunity to be published not only to the online map, but also to Facebook, Twitter, and via email.
The goal is to prepare children to be empowered future citizens. Upon registering, each child received a backpack that contained an Entrepreneur Workbook, teaching them 14 lessons that are a central part of Lemonade Day. They learned how to create budgets, how to set profit-making goals, how to serve customers, how to repay investors, and how to give back to the community. In addition to learning how to perform these skills, they also learned the value of the skills. The children are also taught how to set goals for themselves, how to problem solve, and how to gain self-esteem which will aid them in their future endeavors for success.
On Lemonade Day, children are allowed to keep all of the money that they make and are encouraged by adults to spend some of their money, save some of it, and share some of it with others less fortunate.
Lemonade Day teaches kids a very special and specific set of skills from financial literacy and economics, to college readiness and career, to life skills and personal development, and of course academics. The financial literacy and economics that the kids learn include subjects like capital equipment and consumables, supply and demand, credit, debt, gross and net income, marginal utility, return on investment and compound interest. To prepare kids for college, they are exposed to critical thinking and collaboration, interest in attending college, civic responsibility, customer service, teamwork and problem solving and presentation skills and design. Children also learn life skills and personal development such as leadership, the belief that attaining goals is within reach, personal productivity, self-direction and time management, social responsibility and charity, high order thinking and social skills and self confidence. The day also increases the kids’ academic capacities such as math calculations, reading and interpreting data, and oral and written communication.
Lemonade Day offers an online website for kids to register and sign up on. Lemonade Day sponsors and partners include many businesses and individuals in the area, including Dick and Linda Lester, Lenae Heubner, Atmos Energy, Double Dave’s Pizzaworks, James and Paula Lancaster, Research Valley, Len and Nancy Berry, Mathnasium, Caldwell Companies, AgniTEK, Wells Fargo, Research Valley Funds, Blue Baker, Documation, Copy Corner, Kroger, Ecolyse, Brazos Valley Small Business Development Center, College Station ISD, Bryan Broadcasting, The Eagle, Chamber of Commerce, Bryan ISD, Sideshow Creative, the City of College Station, KBTX Media, Brazos Monthly, KAMU, Mays Business School, AbouTown Press, KAGS, and the City of Bryan.
If you like to help out with and work with children, then you may want to consider becoming a volunteer for Lemonade Day. Volunteers are necessary to run Lemonade Day and are needed to stuff backpacks that are given out to the children to teach them entrepreneurship, spread the news about Lemonade Day by distributing materials to local schools and youth organizations, register youth to participate at special events going on in the community, and lastly you can help out by blogging, tweeting, or sharing information about Lemonade Day online or through Facebook!
PS – Susan Hilton is Bryan College Station, Texas’ real estate specialist in foreclosure sales and real estate agent career building so if you need help – CALL! 979-219-3970
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Sidewalks of Castlegate
May 3rd, 2012 Categories: Community Events
This might be one of the most overlooked amenities in the Castlegate Subdivision. If you, live there and have not utilized them, you are missing out. These sidewalks cover most of the neighborhood and provide a shortcut to Forest Ridge Elementary. Dogs, kids, and runners love them.
You have seen them, dogs and their owners. Dogs love the the sidewalks as they lead the way on their leashes. Most dog walkers have real doggy bags on their leashes. It is exciting to see and know that the sidewalks are clean of debris for everyone. The sidewalks are wide enough for dogs and their owners can walk and still give way to other pedestrians. If you have a beagle, like me, you know that having a wide sidewalk helps. I promise, my beagle Riley-Puppy, does not lift his nose from the ground the whole time we are on a walk. Sometimes I think he is hunting for a beagle that smells just like him. He will always leads the way around the 2.25 mile sidewalk straight to our front door.
Kids love the sidewalks because it leads them straight to Forest Ridge in the morning. It is thrilling to see all the parents that ride their bikes next to their kids every morning. Kids need sidewalks to ride bikes. Recently, I saw that the sidewalk was cleared of all the underbrush that was between the sidewalk, fence and Forest Ridge. This way kids can be seen. Thank you, city of College Station and Castlegate HOA!
You may not know this, but the sidewalk changes in elevation more than you realize. You do not notice the hills in the car, but when you are running your legs will not miss them. These sidewalks are so much better than running on graded street. There is a half mile downhill, and you guessed it, a half mile uphill around the northeast sidewalk. There are flats, curves, wooden bridges and lots of turn offs that lead to other streets in the neighborhood. Read some of the shirts people are wearing while running. You will see several people with running event shirts while training on these sidewalks. 5K, 10K, ½ marathons and marathons shirts are running past you all the time.
Hopefully, if you have not utilized the sidewalk in Castlegate, you will now. Spring is among us so get out there and walk your dog, ask your kid if they want to be a bike rider today or go for a 10 K run.
Keep them clean and keep it classy.
Steve Santos “My REALTOR”
PS - I’m Steve Santos, I do what I say I will do, some times more just never less
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OPAS in the Brazos Valley
April 26th, 2012 Categories: Community Events, Living Here
Bryan College Station is known for being a down-home Southern town with locals who are all about going out of their way to show hospitality. Home cooked meals, evenings spent out on the back porch, and walks through the green pastures are all part of this small town country life and evenings are often spent together with family around the house or in the back yard. But that doesn’t mean this community doesn’t enjoy getting dressed up for an evening out of performances by MSC OPAS (Opera and Performing Arts Society).
These elegant events are held in Rudder on the Texas A&M University Campus and offer a place of amusement for visitors and locals alike. OPAS was initiated as a student organization with the intent of serving the community by offering a variety of performances and serving students by granting them the performing arts program they needed. Theatre productions, music and dance programs inform and entertain the audience, exposing them to a night of fine arts not found elsewhere in the Brazos Valley. This contributes to enhancing students’ appreciation of the arts and results in a much more cultured city.
OPAS is internationally known for its performances by Yo Yo Ma, Les Miserables, Rent, and the world premiere of the Bolshoi-Grigorovich Ballet (covered by The New York Times). Monty Python’s Spamalot, The Color Purple, Beauty and the Beast and Mama Mia! have been performed at OPAS in seasons past. This season is filled with many hits that are straight off of Broadway. There is no longer a need to drive to Houston or some other large city for a dressed-up show. The hits are brought straight to you here in Bryan, College Station, eliminating the necessity to take up an entire night with driving to and from a big city and spending too much on gas money.
OPAS programs are funded entirely by revenue generated from ticket sales and contributions, so low ticket prices are a priority to encourage as many community members as possible to attend. The organization’s focus is not to make a profit, they instead focus on bringing the community together through their shows and through other activities. They offer musicals for families to attend accompanied by ice cream socials catered by Blue Bell, a great opportunity to get the whole family together for a night of fun. Family night doesn’t have to be routine. Change it up and try visiting an OPAS performance after a family dinner.
OPAS serves a wide audience from children who come to see the OPAS JR performances such as Charlotte’s Web and ImaginOcean, to seasoned veterans who have been participants for almost 40 years. Different events are offered to appeal to these different audiences. The array of performances range from Broadway, to Main Stage, to Intimate Gatherings to OPAS JR. While OPAS does offer high culture events for the individual who enjoys a fancy night out, they also provide performances such as Jeff Corwin from the Animal Planet and the Spaghetti Western Orchestra. There truly is something offered for everyone.
The real value of the performances comes after the entertaining show. A post performance reception is offered for viewers who are interested in interacting with the performers and asking them about their hometown, asking how they were introduced to performing and learning about their life. This personal interaction is where memories are made and stories exchanged. Socializing with the artists after the performance is an uncommon opportunity that you won’t want to miss out on.
The 40th season of OPAS is about to open and announce their list of performances. Don’t miss out on this wonderful community experience!Bryan College Station is known for being a down-home Southern town with locals who are all about going out of their way to show hospitality. Home cooked meals, evenings spent out on the back porch, and walks through the green pastures are all part of this small town country life and evenings are often spent together with family around the house or in the back yard. But that doesn’t mean this community doesn’t enjoy getting dressed up for an evening out of performances by MSC OPAS (Opera and Performing Arts Society).
These elegant events are held in Rudder on the Texas A&M University Campus and offer a place of amusement for visitors and locals alike. OPAS was initiated as a student organization with the intent of serving the community by offering a variety of performances and serving students by granting them the performing arts program they needed. Theatre productions, music and dance programs inform and entertain the audience, exposing them to a night of fine arts not found elsewhere in the Brazos Valley. This contributes to enhancing students’ appreciation of the arts and results in a much more cultured city.
OPAS is internationally known for its performances by Yo Yo Ma, Les Miserables, Rent, and the world premiere of the Bolshoi-Grigorovich Ballet (covered by The New York Times). Monty Python’s Spamalot, The Color Purple, Beauty and the Beast and Mama Mia! have been performed at OPAS in seasons past. This season is filled with many hits that are straight off of Broadway. There is no longer a need to drive to Houston or some other large city for a dressed-up show. The hits are brought straight to you here in Bryan, College Station, eliminating the necessity to take up an entire night with driving to and from a big city and spending too much on gas money.
OPAS programs are funded entirely by revenue generated from ticket sales and contributions, so low ticket prices are a priority to encourage as many community members as possible to attend. The organization’s focus is not to make a profit, they instead focus on bringing the community together through their shows and through other activities. They offer musicals for families to attend accompanied by ice cream socials catered by Blue Bell, a great opportunity to get the whole family together for a night of fun. Family night doesn’t have to be routine. Change it up and try visiting an OPAS performance after a family dinner.
OPAS serves a wide audience from children who come to see the OPAS JR performances such as Charlotte’s Web and ImaginOcean, to seasoned veterans who have been participants for almost 40 years. Different events are offered to appeal to these different audiences. The array of performances range from Broadway, to Main Stage, to Intimate Gatherings to OPAS JR. While OPAS does offer high culture events for the individual who enjoys a fancy night out, they also provide performances such as Jeff Corwin from the Animal Planet and the Spaghetti Western Orchestra. There truly is something offered for everyone.
The real value of the performances comes after the entertaining show. A post performance reception is offered for viewers who are interested in interacting with the performers and asking them about their hometown, asking how they were introduced to performing and learning about their life. This personal interaction is where memories are made and stories exchanged. Socializing with the artists after the performance is an uncommon opportunity that you won’t want to miss out on.
The 40th season of OPAS is about to open and announce their list of performances. Don’t miss out on this wonderful community experience!
PS - Susan Hilton is Bryan College Station,
Texas’ real estate specialist in foreclosure sales and real estate
agent career building so if you need help –
CALL! 979-219-3970
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TEXAS A&M Has Been Yarn Bombed!
April 13th, 2012 Categories: Community Events, Living Here, Texas A&M University
“I had to tramp down a dirt road in Bryan, Texas. I remember always hugging and kissing her at the door and then pushing my way in to see what she was cooking for our Sunday lunch. I remember, the musty smell of mothballs hanging in the air mingling with the cherry pie on the kitchen table that I wasn’t allowed to touch until after I had eaten all of my meal. I also remember sitting on her rough brown couch impatiently trying to make it through crochet and knitting lessons. Many times when we would have lessons I would find myself blankly staring out the window at the bird feeder where the cardinals perched.”
Was this you????? Do you wish you had been paying attention during your knitting lessons? This March, on the Texas A&M campus, TAMU students with the help of the Visual Arts Committee, the Brazos Valley Knitters Guild, The Hook and Needle, and Magda Sayeg, dressed the light poles on Military Walk in a printed rainbow knit. These tube socks that were knitted around the poles are part of a nation-wide craze known as Yarn Bombing.
Textile art has gradually made its way onto the contemporary art scene. This new form of art is said to serve as a ground where textile production is neither solely for the female nor the male. Despite gender, race and age, this art speaks beautifully and carries a presence unlike any other art form.
Over the past few years, yarn bombing has become more and more prevalent; beginning with urban areas and moving throughout the rest of the country. It is practiced regularly in a few major cities in areas including Canada, the United States, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. And though this form of art is catching on, it is still not very widely known. Other names for the practice include knit bombing, guerilla knitting, yarn storming, and urban knitting.
Trees, sculptures, statues, phone booths, gates, handles, poles and any other object of reasonable size is at risk of being bombed by this craze. There are even cans of spray yarn (similar to spray paint), used to graffiti walls.
Magda Sayeg was a guest lecturer on the Texas A&M campus this year and the founder of Yarn Bombing. Her work has grown to include the knit-covered bus in Mexico City, her first solo exhibit in Rome at La Museo des Esposizione, covering the AC ductwork of Etsy.com’s headquarters located in Brooklyn, and she is finishing an installation at the Williamsburg Bridge working with the NYC Department of Transportation.
She has worked with companies worldwide, including Absolut Vodka, Madewell, Insight 51, Mini Cooper, and Smart Car. She has also participated in art shows at Milan’s Triennale Design Museum, Le M.U.R. in Paris, and the National Gallery of Australia.
She has begun experimenting with new techniques and additions to her artwork, such as using lighting with her knitted material. She has joined forces with the integrated media company 1stAveMachine as a director. This position will push her to new varieties of experimentation and collaboration.
Are you wanting to learn how to knit? Checkout our own LOCAL YARN KNIT SHOP in Bryan College Station! Checkout The Hook and Needle! If they can teach me to knit they can teach YOU!
PS - Susan Hilton is Bryan College Station, Texas’ real estate specialist in foreclosure sales and real estate agent career building so if you need help – CALL! 979-219-3970
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