KHOU’s former home is sold and demolished
Service Corporation International entity buys Allen Parkway property in wake of Hurricane Harvey
KHOU, Houston’s CBS television affiliate, has sold its longtime home along Allen Parkway, a more than 3acre site overlooking Buffalo Bayou Park.
The buyer is an entity associated with funeral home and cemetery conglomerate Service Corporation International, which has its headquarters in a 12-story office building next door to the former TV station site.
Hawk SPE purchased the property at 1945 Allen Parkway, according to a deed recorded with the Harris County Clerk’s Office.
The bulk of the property was appraised at $13.1 million for 2017 by the Harris County Appraisal District, but the purchase price was not disclosed. SCI could not be reached for comment in recent days.
The former KHOU building flooded during Hurricane Harvey and is being demolished.
It didn’t take long for executives to decide to relocate, as it was not the first time in its decadeslong history where floodwaters inundated the structure.
“We’ve witnessed too many times that bayou come out of the banks,”
said KHOU’s president and general manager, Susan McEldoon, noting that the station flooded in 2001 during Tropical Storm Allison. “Buffalo Bayou continues to flood and gets worse, it seems, every time.”
KHOU’s newsroom, studio and technical operations are working out of the local PBS station at the University of Houston. Sales, finance and other operations are in temporary space off the Katy Freeway.
KHOU is planning to move into new space early next year at 5718 Westheimer near the Galleria. It will fill 43,000 square feet and include two studios, two control rooms and office space on three floors.
Commercial real estate brokerage CBRE represented KHOU in its new lease as well as in the building sale.