SAN ANTONIO | Urban Core Development Thread

[AwesomeSAView]

Originally Posted by Spoiler

"Across from the cluster of Broadway East properties it is selling, GrayStreet plans to develop a 20-story building with a W Hotel and offices.

The 195-room hotel is in the final planning stage, according to a report by data firm STR, which tracks the hospitality industry. Projects in that phase are confirmed and under contract, and hotel construction is expected to begin in the next 12 months, STR spokeswoman Haley Luther said."

https://www.mysanantonio.com/sa-inc/...photo-20533938

I'm taking that timeline with a grain of salt, but we'll see.

Looks like this project is still a GO!!!!

[kingkirbythe....]

Pandemic derails GrayStreet Partner’s plans for Broadway East, delays W Hotel

https://saheron.com/graystreet-partn...ay-east-covid/

It was GrayStreet Partner’s biggest project yet. In 2017, the firm bought 14 acres of warehouses and bus yards from the San Antonio Independent School District on a coveted site across Broadway from the Pearl.

There, it would build a whole urban district from scratch,

[aggie2008]

Originally Posted by kingkirbythe....

Pandemic derails GrayStreet Partner’s plans for Broadway East, delays W Hotel

https://saheron.com/graystreet-partn...ay-east-covid/

It was GrayStreet Partner’s biggest project yet. In 2017, the firm bought 14 acres of warehouses and bus yards from the San Antonio Independent School District on a coveted site across Broadway from the Pearl.

There, it would build a whole urban district from scratch,

Wow... That article was pretty brutal. I'm honestly a little shocked anyone is still loaning them money at this point. The part about a lot of loans maturing this year and explains why they've been offloading stuff recently. Hopefully they didn't pay above market for their other buys. I do recall a panel discussion with all the major players downtown 2 years ago where one of them chastised Graystreet for continuing to push up commercial land prices. Maybe someone can swoop in and buy up the land on the cheap...

[jaga185]

A new high-rise in Tobin Hill is planned to become a home for elderly low-income residents currently living in a nearby historic building, which is set for an extensive renovation.

Mitch Meyer, a local developer who works under the company name Loopy Ltd., plans to build The Cosmopolitan — a 105-unit apartment tower at 311 W. Laurel St. The new building will have a rooftop terrace, a fitness area, and increased security.

All of the units will serve residents relocated from the Aurora Apartments, a 1929 building in the same neighborhood with the same number of units, to prepare the historic housing complex for extensive renovations. Meyer has owned the building for 14 years. Work will not begin until residents move into the new development.

Meyer plans to renovate the Aurora Apartments in Tobin Hill, relocating its current residents to a new building.
Enlarge

“It’s just impractical to renovate a building with people living there," Meyer said.

Units will be at least 550 square feet to meet tax credit requirements. This will be an upgrade from the Aurora's 400- to 450-square-foot apartments. Residents will continue to pay an average rent of $250 per month, all bills paid, supplemented by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Meyer is seeking up to $1.5 million in competitive tax credits from the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, which will be critical to building the new apartments. He said he will not know until June at the earliest if he will receive the tax credits, so it is unknown when exactly the building will break ground, but he expects a construction timeline of 12 to 14 months.

San Antonio-based Joeris General Contractors will build the apartments designed by Gomez Vazquez International.

Improvements to the historic apartments will include upgraded elevators, air conditioning, and fire sprinklers to meet the city's new fire code. An ordinance that took effect in 2016 requires old high-rises to have sprinkler systems by 2028, the Express-News reported.

"We’re putting 105 people of the poorest of the poor in a new building with more amenities," Meyer said. “I’ve got a ticking clock, I can’t afford to put fire sprinklers in and be courteous for the people living there.”

I'm here for it. I'm glad they are building something for elderly affordable housing.

[Keep-SA-Lame]

Originally Posted by aggie2008

Wow... That article was pretty brutal. I'm honestly a little shocked anyone is still loaning them money at this point. The part about a lot of loans maturing this year and explains why they've been offloading stuff recently. Hopefully they didn't pay above market for their other buys. I do recall a panel discussion with all the major players downtown 2 years ago where one of them chastised Graystreet for continuing to push up commercial land prices. Maybe someone can swoop in and buy up the land on the cheap...

I bet they make money on the deal though. I guess it depends what they paid of course but you can add a lot of value by assembling parcels like that.

Overall I'm bummed this deal is likely dead or at least delayed (unless a new group just picks up the plans and runs with it as is). But on the bright side, I didn't like how this development seemed to be focused on boutique retail like the Pearl. Which is fun, but as a resident of lower Broadway myself I think I'd rather have something like an urban format Target or HEB, and this is likely the only opportunity the Midtown area will ever have to build something with that large of a footprint. So that's my silver lining, that maybe someone else will swoop in and deliver some non-boutique retail for me

[aggie2008]

I REALLY like the design for the proposed development off of San Pedro. I'm guessing there is very little parking which probably helps the design not be terrible. Hopefully it will get the funding. Really curious what they will do with the Aurora Apartments afterwards. Will be good to get those updated and to code and get more space for the residents in the new development.

Agreed on the value of bringing together parcels even though they bought the majority of what they are now selling from SAISD as a package. The value of getting the zoning changes approved is probably much higher, especially with all the NIMBY's in San Antonio. That term should probably be extended to Not in ANYONE's Backyard as most of the opposition wasn't even from neighbors, only 1 out of 15 property owners within 200 feet of the properties opposed the zoning case according to the Heron.

[kingkirbythe....]

Hemisfair’s Civic Park going out to bid as a two-phase project

https://sanantonioreport.org/hemisfa...ger-price-tag/

Hemisfair’s long-awaited Civic Park is looking for construction bidders, City Council heard Wednesday. But the project now will be split into two phases.

San Antonio voters allocated $26 million to construct Civic Park and finish out streets in Hemisfair in the 2017 bond program, when

[jaga185]

They should have just started the park right away. Now the funding is all messy with the delays in construction. I hope they revise Zachary's original plans too. That long 6 story office building was meh. I'd rather they building more housing than that short little thing. I mean I don't hate the entire thing... just wish it had more oompf.

[Sean1187]

Originally Posted by jaga185

They should have just started the park right away. Now the funding is all messy with the delays in construction. I hope they revise Zachary's original plans too. That long 6 story office building was meh. I'd rather they building more housing than that short little thing. I mean I don't hate the entire thing... just wish it had more oompf.

I wish the view of and access to the park wasn't so limited by the barrier the buildings seem to create. Just my two cents. If there have to be buildings there (and I understand why they're doing it), then I agree with Jaga, put some more housing.

[kingkirbythe....]

CPS Energy sells 10-story building on San Antonio’s River Walk to California firm

https://saheron.com/cps-energy-sells...walk-building/

CPS Energy has sold one of its surplus downtown properties, a 10-story office building and parking garage on the River Walk, to a commercial real estate firm from

[Rynetwo]

Originally Posted by aggie2008

I REALLY like the design for the proposed development off of San Pedro. I'm guessing there is very little parking which probably helps the design not be terrible. Hopefully it will get the funding. Really curious what they will do with the Aurora Apartments afterwards. Will be good to get those updated and to code and get more space for the residents in the new development.

Agreed on the value of bringing together parcels even though they bought the majority of what they are now selling from SAISD as a package. The value of getting the zoning changes approved is probably much higher, especially with all the NIMBY's in San Antonio. That term should probably be extended to Not in ANYONE's Backyard as most of the opposition wasn't even from neighbors, only 1 out of 15 property owners within 200 feet of the properties opposed the zoning case according to the Heron.

There was another article that came up months ago that his goal was to restore it and open it up a boutique hotel.

[Rynetwo]

Encore expects to begin demolition of existing buildings on the site in April or May. Completion is expected by Fall 2023.

https://www.bizjournals.com/sananton...-broadway.html

[Spoiler]

Originally Posted by Spoiler

Cool of them to mention the repurposing and rehabilitation of two historic buildings. Except they don't mention the displacement of two other historic buildings. The rendering is a view from the corner of Laredo and Dolorosa, making clear that the O. Henry House will be relocated (again)


and the other small mid-19th century house nearby, a surviving remnant of an old neighborhood called Laredito,


one of the very few structures to survive urban renewal in the '60s, will also be relocated. I'm not really mad about it, obviously both structures have just been wasting away in their current locations. I hope they will be well-utilized in their new locations, wherever they might be.

The new HDRC agenda makes clear Weston's plan for the de la Garza house, as I have just learned it's named, is to move it forty feet south, somewhere near but behind the O Henry house, where the two structures will occupy some kind of courtyard. They're doing this because relocating it further away would cause them to lose the historic preservation tax credit. So that rendering is not how the finished product will look. I hope they do something, anything, with it.

[kingkirbythe....]

Developer Weston Urban eyes plan to move historic De la Garza House

https://sanantonioreport.org/develop...a-garza-house/

Where hitching posts likely once surrounded a little adobe house, today cars in an asphalt parking lot leave the home barely noticeable to passersby in a historic district of downtown San Antonio.

That could change if a downtown developer wins approval to move the 200-year-old De la Garza House – without relinquishing its historic

[kingkirbythe....]

Developers of $400M Riverplace project sign incentive agreement with city

https://saheron.com/riverplace-proje...ntive-package/

A group of investors plans to build a $400 million mixed-use development on both sides of the River Walk, anchored by the Dream Hotel which was announced last year for the western bank of the river between East Martin and Convent streets.

The development, known as Riverplace, would fill about 3.2 acres of land with a 20-story multifamily building, a 17-story condominium building and an office building of undetermined height, along with the 21-story Dream Hotel and retail components,

[micahinsa]

Originally Posted by kingkirbythe....

Developers of $400M Riverplace project sign incentive agreement with city

https://saheron.com/riverplace-proje...ntive-package/

A group of investors plans to build a $400 million mixed-use development on both sides of the River Walk, anchored by the Dream Hotel which was announced last year for the western bank of the river between East Martin and Convent streets.

The development, known as Riverplace, would fill about 3.2 acres of land with a 20-story multifamily building, a 17-story condominium building and an office building of undetermined height, along with the 21-story Dream Hotel and retail components,

I love that. Let's hope the facade stays that way and doesn't get force-converted to San Antonio Beige™.

[KevinFromTexas]

Here's a slightly larger version of that rendering from the link.

[Tornado]

Come on financing, please come through for these guys! I'd love to see this project come to fruition within 3-5 years.

[Dan In Real Life]

Originally Posted by micahinsa

I love that. Let's hope the facade stays that way and doesn't get force-converted to San Antonio Beige™.

100% agree on this. I'm hopeful this project will happen as proposed and add some more diversity to our skyline downtown.

[Keegan-B-SATX]

Originally Posted by micahinsa

I love that. Let's hope the facade stays that way and doesn't get force-converted to San Antonio Beige™.

This looks awesome! I hope they get the financing and keep this modern look.