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most recently the plaza, this building has had an interesting array of tenants. built in 1971 as a holiday inn, and fell into hard times during the mid to late eighties. in 1988, the hotel had about 150 of the 600 rooms closed1 and by 1990 would become the days inn. in 1993, the hotel was purchased by a Maharishi group, and renamed the Heaven of Earth Inn,2 but would close by september of 1994.3 still under the ownership of the maharishis, the hotel was renamed the plaza, and was low-income housing to about 150 occupants. in 1998 the hotel was finally closed due to many violations including no AC/heat, no hot water and faulty elevators.4 since then, people still end up in there despite the many trespassing and health warnings. also of note, two people died between 1990 and 1994 at the hotel, both on/originating from the 22nd floor. the first was an apparent suicide leap to the roof of the parking garage,5 and the second a murder (stabbing).6
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1Houston Chronicle, 11.10.88
2Houston Chronicle, 03.18.93
3Houston Chronicle, 09.17.94
4Houston Chronicle, 09.25.98
5Houston Chronicle, 02.19.90
6Houston Chronicle, 04.20.96
^all images on this site are licensedpages last updated: 11.06.08 08:30
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