Demo of Houston newspaper building delayed by legal filing

Although the building that formerly housed the offices of Houston’s daily newspaper has been scheduled for demolition, an adjacent downtown Houston property owner has filed a suit to halt the project.

The former home of the Houston Chronicle is vacant and ready for demolition, but a lawsuit from a property owner over access to an underground pedestrian system has delayed the project, according to an online article from the Chronicle.

Hearts Newspapers, owner of the Chronicle, sold the building in 2015 to a developer who plans to demolish the structure. But Theater Square LP, the owners of a nearby building, are asking a judge to halt the demolition, saying the project negatively impacts their “ability to connect a future building to a portion of the tunnel system” that connects downtown properties.

Theater Square LP says it has an easement agreement in place with the owners of the Chronicle building that dates back to 2007, and that the easement is transferrable to the current owner.

Portions of the vacant 10-story Chronicle building date back to 1910, although it underwent a major renovation that included a new façade in the 1970s.