A outstanding 20-story workplace tower within the coronary heart of Downtown Houston has been renamed the Harris County Sylvester Turner Administration Constructing, tying a extremely seen piece of town skyline to a public determine whose profession was formed inside Houston’s Black communities.
The constructing, generally known as the Sakowitz constructing, was a high-end clothes retailer within the Nineteen Fifties and now stands at 1010 Lamar St., close to the county’s downtown authorities middle. Harris County officers held a dedication ceremony, formally unveiling the brand new identify roughly 9 months after Turner’s demise.
Turner served as Houston mayor from 2016 to 2024, after a protracted tenure representing Home District 139 within the Texas Legislature. He then moved to Congress, changing into the U.S. consultant for Texas’ 18th Congressional District in 2025. He handed away on March 5, 2025, on the age of 70.
What the constructing is for
The construction itself isn’t a brand new building venture. It’s the former Lamar Plaza workplace tower, a long-standing a part of downtown’s business actual property panorama, which Harris County has bought and is renovating to transform into workplace house for presidency work, together with the Harris County Legal professional’s Workplace and different county departments.
Public data point out that the county’s renovation work has been ongoing and phased. For instance, a state venture itemizing describes design and renovation work for govt places of work throughout the constructing, together with an 18th-floor venture with an estimated price of $1.5 million and a timeline extending into early 2026.
A website with layered Houston historical past
The situation carries its personal civic symbolism. The adjoining storage at 1111 Predominant is intently related to the previous Sakowitz division retailer, a mid-century retail landmark that continues to be in Houston’s reminiscence even after the constructing’s reuse.
Harris County leaders, clergy, elected officers, and Turner’s household gathered for what Commissioner Rodney Ellis known as “an ideal day,” the formal naming of the constructing in honor of Turner. However, he refused to miss the constructing’s previous, “till the mid-60s.”
“African-People and Hispanics might purchase garments from Sakowitz, however you couldn’t are available and take a look at them on,” he mentioned, including that historical past mattered to him within the determination to rename the constructing.
Ellis returned repeatedly to Turner’s origin story, “getting on the ‘fofo’ [#44] bus coming into downtown” and looking out up on the skyline, a dream Turner referenced on the marketing campaign path. Ellis framed the constructing naming as a response to that narrative.
“What made Sylvester particular was that he didn’t simply dream for himself, he dreamed for all of us…That’s the reason we honor Sylvester Turner.”
Commissioner Rodney Ellis
“What made Sylvester particular was that he didn’t simply dream for himself, he dreamed for all of us,” Ellis added. “His values got here from his neighborhood. He believed in giving folks respect, in opening doorways that had been shut, and in widening the circle of alternative so that each baby might have a path ahead. That’s the reason we honor Sylvester Turner.”
Turner’s daughter, Ashley Turner Captain, accepted Ellis’ public problem to finish her father’s unfinished guide. She shared the non-public energy of seeing her father’s identify hooked up to a downtown tower and what it means to inform that story to her son.
“I get to inform my son the story of his pop pop pop getting on that bus coming into downtown from Acres Properties, dreaming and being impressed by these massive buildings, and now this constructing is devoted to his pop,” she mentioned. “That’s simply a tremendous approach to honor him.”
The county’s buy
Harris County’s acquisition of the 1010 Lamar constructing and its adjoining storage was a roughly $26 million deal.
County agenda paperwork additionally present that commissioners had approved negotiations for the acquisition of 1010 Lamar and the adjoining parking construction at 1111 Predominant as a part of a broader amenities technique downtown.
The Turner constructing additionally joins a cluster of downtown websites that commemorate figures tied to the political legacy of Congressional District 18, a seat that has functioned for many years as certainly one of Houston’s most seen pipelines for Black political management.
The Turner constructing sits alongside the Mickey Leland Federal Constructing, a website named for Barbara Jordan and a county constructing renamed in honor of Sheila Jackson Lee.
Leaders weigh in
Harris County Decide Lina Hidalgo spoke as somebody who labored alongside Turner by way of overlapping emergencies and disagreements.
“This metropolis formed Mayor Turner, Congressman Turner, simply as a lot as he formed it,” she mentioned, itemizing what their partnership confronted: Hurricane Harvey, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the winter freeze.
Commissioner Adrian Garcia shared how Turner pushed him to construct relationships.
He recalled a standout instance from Turner’s time as a state consultant, the senior’s utility compensation program, describing it as proof Turner thought past his personal district. He framed the constructing’s identify as a immediate for future generations.
“Generations after us will have a look at this constructing, see this identify, and start to inquire who was Sylvester Turner,” Garcia mentioned.
