I've lived in Montrose for over 20 years, and read stories about the Death of Montrose in every single one of those years. This, though, seems like a nail in the coffin. #kpft @KpftHouston pic.twitter.com/nwemSS31AS
— Dan (@DannyJoe) July 3, 2021
KPFT 90.1 has put its studios up for sale at 419 Lovett Blvd, Houston, TX 77006 in Montrose.
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New 90.1 KPFT studio at 4504 Caroline St
A "Land for Sale" sign from Coldwell Banker Commercial agent Lloyd Lee now sits in the Houston community radio station's parking lot. By the way, I always loved how the staircase rails spell out "KPFT."
The Pacifica station's studios have been in the house since 1975 according to a 2015 Houston Chronicle article by Craig Hlavaty. That site was formerly called Radio Row because 100.3 KILT and 101 KLOL were right down Lovett Boulevard.
KPFT's first program director Sam Hudson said the original KPFT studios were in downtown Houston. UPDATE: Chris Huff from DFW Radio Archives tells me according to the FCC, the two locations before Lovett Boulevard were 102 San Jacinto St. (Oct '69-Feb '70) and 618 Prairie St. (Feb '70-Jan '75).
New KPFT general manager David Baes recently told OutSmart magazine's Kim Hogstrom about the studio's condition:
"Unfortunately, the stately old home in Montrose that has housed KPFT all these years has fallen into deep disrepair, forcing the crew to largely vacate the building and work remotely. The building also suffers from regular break-ins, and the walls harbor extensive black mold. Baes is working to secure the structure and solicit bids for mold remediation to make the building functional again.
It would be so nice to have a space that is not a risk to human life,” Baes states with a laugh. “The old house on Lovett Boulevard is paid for, but my dream would be to move the entire operation to a place that is newer, healthier, and better suited for our needs."
According to a message from the Pacifica network that was recently posted on Facebook:
"Pacifica is in the process of relocating KPFT, our Houston station, to another site in Houston which can best suit our needs. KPFT's existing building holds a very special and sentimental meaning for the Pacifica community. Projected costs for the major repair and restoration of the building proved to be prohibitive and the property is no on the market. As a result of a favorable real estate market in the Houston area we expect to use part of the proceeds from the sale of the building to pay down the principal on our outstanding loan with FJC and still have sufficient funds left over to finance the relocation of the building."
According to the Harris County Appraisal District, the house was built in 1940. The building area is listed as 3,640 square feet while the property is 13,013 SF. HCAD lists the physical condition as "poor."
UPDATE EMAIL FROM AUGUST 2021
"My name is Nuri Nuri and I have been a programmer/host at KPFT radio for over 29 years.
I am writing to explain a thing or two about the sale of the KPFT building.
KPFT radio did not put up the building for sale, Pacifica Foundation did - so they can pay their debts. I, like many, are opposed to the sale and recognize the building's importance and its historical value not to mention keeping the character of Montrose and the Montrose area. If you use FB, checkout the video I posted on he building.
Our former manager David Baes's statement is wrong. The mold and building issues are not what made us vacate, the pandemic did. Once the building was literally locked down with doors to the main studio, production room, and news studio locked things started to fall apart as, and I'm sure you know this, a building uninhabited and left alone starts to fall apart. A/C needs to be run normally water through the pipes, and circulation. During lockdown I don't believe these were in effect properly. In addition, the lack of management and direction brought about as a result of incompetent (local and national) members who's agenda may have been different than KPFT's resulted in hiring incompetent interim managers. With lack of direction and managers and hence money no action was taken to remediate the mold and fix the building.
David did some good things to the station during his few months here and I commend him for that, but I disagree with his and anyone else's ideas of moving the station to some other location, perhaps corporate rather than spend money repairing and upgrading this beautiful building with so much history that is located "in the heart of Montrose" as we have always announced on the air.
Anyway - I just wanted to clarify these things mainly that KPFT did not put up the building for sale - Pacifica did!"
Embedded below is an interview with Texas singer-songwriter Joe Ely where you can see what the 90.1 KPFT radio studio looks like.
