The thing is that the Commerce Bank Kempers assembled the block of Walnut, Main, 10th and 11th street and demolished all those existing, individual, historic buildings to build the new Commerce Bank tower there, the garage, and the Petticoat Lane building. They did this while already owning multiple blocks of surface parking lots in the North Loop that were catty-corner across Main from Commerce Tower.
There were some pretty tall buildings on that block that were all demolished.
Lee Building -- 8-stories, SE corner of Main and 10th.
National Fidelity Life Building -- 11-stories, SW corner of Walnut and 10th.
Sharp Building -- 10-stories, NW corner of Walnut and 11th.
Waldheim Building, 16 stories, NE corner of Main and 11th.
1005 Main, 3-story retail building
1007 Main, 2-story retail building
1009-11 Main, 5-story retail building
1013-15 Main, 4-story retail building
1017-19 Main, 5-story retail building
1021-27 Main, 5-story retail building
1004-06 Walnut, 2-story retail building
1008-1010 Walnut, 5-story retail building
1012-14 Walnut, 5-story retail building
1016-18 Walnut, 6-story retail building, aka Hewson Building
1020-22 Walnut, 5-story retail building
1024-26 Walnut, 5-story retail building
The block of Main, Walnut, 10th and 11th streets.
Lee Building, SE corner of 10th and Main 8-stories.
National Fidelity Life Building, SW corner of Walnut and 10th Street, 11-stories.
The
National Fidelity Life Building, and other retail buildings, on the west side of Walnut near 10th Street.
Sharp Building, NW corner of Walnut and 11th Street, 10-stories.
Sharp Building and other retail buildings on the west side of Walnut looking north from 11th to 10th streets.
Hewson Building, 1016-18 Walnut.
Waldheim Building, NE corner of Main and 11th Street, 16-stories.
This 1915 photo shows the west side of the block before the Waldheim and National Fidelity Life buildings were constructed.
Commerce Bank tower, 10th and Main
Petticoat Lane Building, 11th and Walnut
Here is one of my altered photos showing the North Loop with all the buildings that have been demolished since 1940.