Historic Coffee Building Revived as Music & Arts School

In Houston, The historic Folgers Coffee Plant in Houston’s East End will be revived and repurposed as the Frank Liu Jr. Academy of Music and Arts, a public charter school slated to open in Fall of 2027.

In Flama, a tuition free, open, enrollment school, fulfills a wish of the late Frank Liu Jr. to create a school combining creative expression and academic rigor. The son of Houston developer Frank Liu, Liu volunteered, tutored, and co-founded a music and arts summer camp serving youth in the area, which includes Houston’s Second, Third, and Fifth Wards.

The school will be part of the transformation of the 255,000-SF, 1930s era industrial building at 235 N. Norwood St., just south of Navigation Boulevard in the Second Ward neighborhood. Located east of downtown Houston, the site is across from Buffalo Bayou Partnership’s Turkey Bend redevelopment of a former barge terminal into a recreational and cultural destination along Buffalo Bayou.

Frank Liu, owner of Lovett Commercial, has been instrumental in developing the school as a tribute to his son who died in 2022. Lovett purchased the property in 2019 and leased it back for a few years to Farmers Bros., the last coffee company to operate at the site.

“I come from three generations of teachers. I know what a strong education does for a child. It does not just open doors,” said Liu. “Every child has potential burning inside them, and FLAMA exists to make sure they get the chance to unleash it.”

Lovett has tapped global design firm OMA (Office for Metropolitan Architecture) for the project. The school is envisioned as a three-story “learning landscape” where learning, making, and performing are intertwined. It will be part of Lovett’s Fabrica development, linking art, music, and commerce. Further details on Fabrica will be reported later.

Fabrica will bring together art, music, and commerce. OMA courtesy rendering.

Houston-based RDLR Architects is assisting with the project. The community-driven firm designed the nearby Harris County Sheriff’s Office & Community Center under construction on Navigation Boulevard.

OMA collaborated with Lovett on another significant adaptive reuse project. POST Houston transformed the former Barbara Jordan Post Office in downtown Houston into a 500,000-SF dining, office, retail, and performing arts complex in 2021.

“Our transformation of the historic Folgers plant selectively excavates and augments the existing structure to create a dynamic environment for children to learn, practice, and perform,” said OMA partner Jason Long.

Dr. R. Scott Allen, former principal of Houston ISD’s Kinder High School for the Performing & Visual Arts, will serve as FLAMA’s founding superintendent. He was most recently managing director of the Arts Schools Network, a nonprofit connecting leaders and educators of arts schools.

“What we know, and what the research confirms, is that children who receive a genuinely rigorous academic education alongside deep arts training don’t just do better in school,” Allen said. “They solve problems differently. They lead differently. They are precisely the kind of graduates that our nation’s universities and most innovative companies are hungry to find.”

The school is located in an industrial part of Second Ward, which has been undergoing revitalization with creative office spaces, townhomes, shops, and restaurants.

“The school is set in a neighborhood undergoing dramatic change while also holding on to its historic roots,” Allen said. “It’s a place where the school will be surrounded by history, artistic and cultural leanings. To offer FLAMA’s program in this context is exciting.”

The Frank Liu Jr. Foundation has pledged $20 million in support during the first years of operation. FLAMA will initially open for kindergarten and first grade, and grow to serve pre-K to eighth grade. The school will offer free afterschool activities, wraparound services, and meals through community partnerships.

FLAMA has partnered with the University of Houston, Rice University, Houston Christian University, and the University of Houston-Downtown for teacher training and other assistance such as curriculum development.