SAN ANTONIO | Urban Core Development Thread

[Keep-SA-Lame]

Originally Posted by JACKinBeantown

I agree with the sentiment; there are some messed up people out there who need to have a little empathy and understanding. So a win-win would be to move the ITC somewhere that takes up less land. It's something they've considered anyway, so maybe the Spurs/city could help finance the move as part of an agreement to use the land. Hell, maybe even incorporate a new museum design into the arena project so it's right there for sports fans to easily discover and visit. Have mandatory promotions at Spurs games as well to encourage people to check it out. Ad space on the electronic signs and have the announcer mention it before games/at halftime.

I'm here for it. Spurs fans are going to love hearing about random Wendish colonies in Central Texas

[forward looking]

I know and agree that a museum- stadium complex is, a rather odd couple of venues. A bunch of tipsy sportsfans enjoying historical
museum exhibits put together by a bunch of very sober, nerdy, university professors.
This could happen.... Maybe the museum must go, but I never disliked its' "Apelike" design very much at all.

Originally Posted by Keep-SA-Lame

I'm here for it. Spurs fans are going to love hearing about random Wendish colonies in Central Texas

[JACKinBeantown]

Originally Posted by forward looking

I know and agree that a museum- stadium complex is, a rather odd couple of venues. A bunch of tipsy sportsfans enjoying historical
museum exhibits put together by a bunch of very sober, nerdy, university professors.
This could happen.... Maybe the museum must go, but I never disliked its' "Apelike" design very much at all.

Attendance at the ITC is never going to increase much, especially by tipsy sports fans. It's a boring place to visit. But having its new home paid for by a Spurs/city PPP would check all the boxes to make a new arena happen on the current huge piece of property taken up by this sparsely attended museum.

[JACKinBeantown]

What's happening at 531 South Flores Street? The lot is cleared on Google Maps.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/53...kyzm?entry=ttu

[jaga185]

Originally Posted by JACKinBeantown

What's happening at 531 South Flores Street? The lot is cleared on Google Maps.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/53...kyzm?entry=ttu

This was supposed to be another HEB garage mixed use. Not sure what happened with it

[Keegan-B-SATX]

Originally Posted by JACKinBeantown

I agree with the sentiment; there are some messed up people out there who need to have a little empathy and understanding. So a win-win would be to move the ITC somewhere that takes up less land. It's something they've considered anyway, so maybe the Spurs/city could help finance the move as part of an agreement to use the land. Hell, maybe even incorporate a new museum design into the arena project so it's right there for sports fans to easily discover and visit. Have mandatory promotions at Spurs games as well to encourage people to check it out. Ad space on the electronic signs and have the announcer mention it before games/at halftime.

I love this idea, have the arena and surrounding sports district be a meseum at the same time. You can have exhibits and cultural art pieces on display so fans and visitors alike can get a glimpse of the past while enjoying the present .

[forward looking]

A Ballgame-museum complex is a good idea. The Texas cultural museum probably belongs in Austin near the Capitol or else inside a new building just outside San Jose Mission grounds. The Texas History museum might fold if it were moved by itself off the Hemisfair grounds.

Originally Posted by Keegan-B-SATX

I love this idea, have the arena and surrounding sports district be a meseum at the same time. You can have exhibits and cultural art pieces on display so fans and visitors alike can get a glimpse of the past while enjoying the present .

[JACKinBeantown]

Originally Posted by forward looking

A Ballgame-museum complex is a good idea. The Texas cultural museum probably belongs in Austin near the Capitol or else inside a new building just outside San Jose Mission grounds. The Texas History museum might fold if it were moved by itself off the Hemisfair grounds.

Thanks.

[SproutingTowers]

Hopefully the new owners, Alamo Capital Advisors, will transform this section of the River Walk. I believe the parking garage between the two properties are in dispute, but really like to see it removed and a new one built on the surface lot across the street.

[SpiritofSeguin]

Whatever your opinions on the Institute of Texan Cultures might be (personally I'm a sucker for the space age Futurama designs), you can't deny it's content is a literal smorgasboard of history. It would be criminal to box it all away never to be seen again, but I sincerely doubt if there comes a time when the building is demolished for the eventual Wembydome would it ever re-open? The ITC is not an actual legitimate museum, it is not accredited as such. The building lacks a proper loading dock, or adequate fire safety system, or security command center. It has asbestos. In that sense it's not really comparable to something like the Witte or the McNay, big established legitimate organizations that turn profit (I'm assuming, at least more than the ITC ever does/did). If it is to be closed it's unlikely it would ever re-open in the downtown or elsewhere.

Off the top of my head my proposal would be to relocate it's collections database and archives to appropriate adopters; San Antonio College, the Central Library, Texas A&M Archives are some possible candidates or UTSA would just keep them all anyway, and to then refurbish the original exhibit areas into public displays to be installed mostly in the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center (which I predict will be expanded on again fairly soon), but these could also be offered for display in various tower lobbies (Weston Center, Frost Tower, the major hotels like Hyatt and Marriott). Texana-related items would have an obvious second home at the Alamo. At the very least moving the exhibits into the Convention Center assures it will forever be seen and enjoyed by the millions of tourists and locals alike who enter the space, but having them distributed as a kind of rotating art pieces across the downtown skyscrapers would keep their image around.



The only thing I wish that this future Wembydome has is it keeps the iconic Flags of All Nations (obviously not all of them, I think there's about 40 total) and walkup as you depart the ITC. Not sure what this could look like, but I hope that the image of the true flags of the nations beating and shaking against the wind is something kept as a callback to what once was.

[forward looking]

Yes the Institute of Texas Cultures was the Texas representation during Hemisfair. Only the singular Countries of the Western Hemisphere could erect their own pavillion at Hemisfair. Never to be outdone however, Texans had to have their own, why of course.
Even though Texas was not even a country- The Texas pavillion was, as I remember, the largest structure of all in the entire Fair besides the Tower. I have an odd attachment to the old place. And, yes, I do like the exhibits.
The entire thing, Hemisfair, would never had gotten off the ground were it not for LBJ interventions.

[futuresooner]

It would honestly behoove the city to push, heavily, for redevelopment of the Tower Life building and adjacent properties because that truly is the crown jewel high-rise of the city and needs to be treated as such.

[Keep-SA-Lame]

Originally Posted by futuresooner

It would honestly behoove the city to push, heavily, for redevelopment of the Tower Life building and adjacent properties because that truly is the crown jewel high-rise of the city and needs to be treated as such.

https://sanantonioreport.org/san-ant...on-apartments/

[futuresooner]

Originally Posted by Keep-SA-Lame

https://sanantonioreport.org/san-ant...on-apartments/

How in the world did I forget about this proposal?! Smh, well, get the lots around it done then.

[Keep-SA-Lame]

Originally Posted by futuresooner

How in the world did I forget about this proposal?! Smh, well, get the lots around it done then.

Yeah the big one behind the Mexican consulate is dying to be something amazing... though it does give you nice views of the tower life building.

[Keep-SA-Lame]

https://sanantonioreport.org/make-re...-fall-opening/

This one looks like it's turning out great. One tiny nugget of future news:

Hixon also plans to build a multifamily development in the block adjacent to Make Ready now used for parking, and is demolishing a structure behind the reopened Augie’s barbecue restaurant at 909 Broadway to establish a new parking lot.

That would be the block with the old Cavender showroom building on it.

[Spoiler]

GrayStreet talks about doing things.

https://www.expressnews.com/business...kiDhGoiyhWrGt4

In the next few weeks, San Antonio-based GrayStreet Partners plans to start renovating certain run-down buildings that the firm has owned in west downtown since 2018 to house retailers and coworking offices for lawyers.

La Panadería will open its second bakery and cafe downtown in the former Cadillac Bar in a row of largely vacant buildings on South Flores and West Nueva streets across from Bexar County’s Paul Elizondo Tower, GrayStreet managing partner Kevin Covey said.

There will be room for another yet-to-be-determined tenant next door, and a second floor in one of the buildings will be converted to a coworking space for about 30 attorneys. La Panadería is expected to open in the second quarter of 2024, and the remaining restorations likely will be completed several months later, Covey said.

When that’s finished, GrayStreet plans to take the same approach with another set of nearby buildings next to the University of Texas at San Antonio’s School of Data Science and across from City Hall.

Covey declined to disclose the cost of restoring the buildings, which he said are in poor condition and will require significant rehabilitation. A filing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation lists the cost to restore the first set of buildings at $6 million.

Both properties have parking lots, which is an advantage in downtown, Covey said. They also are near San Pedro Creek, which the county and city of San Antonio are rehabilitating and beautifying; the Frost Tower; an H-E-B store; and local developer Weston Urban’s residential high-rise at 300 N. Main Ave.

“Those two properties are really in the middle of a lot of things,” Covey said.

GrayStreet is focusing on remodeling its existing holdings as rising interest rates and higher construction costs make it more difficult to line up financing for new developments and as concerns about a potential recession loom. After announcing ambitious plans for several of its properties, the firm has since sold some and postponed plans for others.

“Building a lot of new buildings right now is really hard,” Covey said. “Capital markets really don’t permit it.”

GrayStreet’s leaders are exploring what they could do with the circular Villita Assembly Building, including whether a food hall could be successful there, Covey said. The building opened in 1959 at La Villita, and GrayStreet bought it from CPS Energy earlier this year.

“We know food and beverage work on the River Walk, and so we definitely have that in mind,” Covey said.

“I think we can use its shape and make it cool and not harm the historic context of it,” he said. “It’s one of my favorite buildings in San Antonio, and I want to keep what’s cool about it, which is the entry, the arrival experience, the patio, the roof, the circular nature of it.”

He said he also has yet to iron out plans for a row of River Walk buildings, including the longtime home of Mexican Manhattan, that GrayStreet bought this year.

“I think it would be a great redevelopment site and build something new, but that’s hard,” Covey said. “We may not do much with that site for a while.”

A few blocks northeast across the San Antonio River, Covey is also working with potential tenants for space at the Court building that’s home to Bohanan’s Prime Steaks and Seafood, he said, and is redoing the adjacent courtyard.

Meanwhile, GrayStreet has paused other projects.

The firm proposed a tower with a W Hotel and office space close to Pearl in 2018, but it continues to be delayed, which Covey attributed to financing difficulties.

GrayStreet was previously looking at converting more than 20 acres in that area into a mixed-use development dubbed Broadway East and had teamed with Houston-based developer Midway on the $560.8 million undertaking. But the firm later sold much of the land to Fulcrum Development, another San Antonio-based developer.

GrayStreet still owns some acreage there, and earlier this year it bought the Pig Stand diner site. Covey said it’s too early to discuss the firm’s plans there.

“We think if there’s going to be anything developed in San Antonio (that’s) started in the next year or two, it’s probably going to be in the urban core,” Covey said. “It’s going to be around Pearl, and we’re focused on trying to get those going.”

The redevelopment of the former Lone Star Brewery complex south of downtown is at a standstill, too.

GrayStreet bought the 32-acre site in 2020 and planned to convert it to a mixed-use development with Midway, reviving hopes for the graffiti-riddled property along the Mission Reach section of the River Walk. But two years later amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the firm put the property on the market.

Covey said several parties were looking at buying it but that such activity faded as interest rates rose. GrayStreet leaders are discussing developing a project there, but figuring out financing is too difficult for now.

“Lone Star, unfortunately, is going to have to wait for a better capital markets climate,” Covey said.

[Keep-SA-Lame]

This guy is kind of a low key clown imo. Keeps talking about capital markets not allowing for new construction...meanwhile there's like a dozen major projects around the urban core breaking ground or about to break ground. Also his obsession with providing surface parking lots in the middle of downtown is pretty exasperating. Maybe that's a little harsh, I'm glad someone is willing to put the effort in to rehab these great buildings. But still, in the realm of downtown SA developers GS has wound up being pretty mid overall.

[jkill34]

Maybe he can find a niche into rehab. He did provide the capital to rehab the Light Building.

[Restless One]

Originally Posted by Keep-SA-Lame

This guy is kind of a low key clown imo. Keeps talking about capital markets not allowing for new construction...meanwhile there's like a dozen major projects around the urban core breaking ground or about to break ground. Also his obsession with providing surface parking lots in the middle of downtown is pretty exasperating. Maybe that's a little harsh, I'm glad someone is willing to put the effort in to rehab these great buildings. But still, in the realm of downtown SA developers GS has wound up being pretty mid overall.

Yeah, the comment about capital markets got my attention too, especially since Austin doesn't seem to have trouble lately, not that SA and Austin are the same thing people, just that there is money out there for investment. Maybe that money just doesn't see GS as a good bet.