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-   -   SAN ANTONIO │ AC & Element Hotels (Building Conversion) │ 230 FT │ 20 FLOORS (https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showthread.php?t=216619)

sirkingwilliam Apr 13, 2015 11:08 PM

SAN ANTONIO │ AC & Element Hotels (Building Conversion) │ 230 FT │ 20 FLOORS
 

JACKinBeantown Apr 14, 2015 2:14 AM

Not a stunning design but I like it for its retention of historic buildings, ground-level retail and multiple levels of parking below the hotel floors.

KevinFromTexas Apr 14, 2015 7:57 AM

I like it, and I love the way it interacts with the old buildings at its base. Anyway, I added it to SkyscraperPage's database.

fordman2800 Apr 15, 2015 8:33 PM

Any details for phase 2? The second building on the rendering looks taller than the hotel....overall great news for downtown SA :cheers:

UrbanTrance Apr 15, 2015 8:56 PM

I can't wait to see the residential/office tower.

kornbread Apr 16, 2015 7:20 PM

http://www.therivardreport.com/river...drawing-board/

Feedback from the HDRC. It mentions that some members and the historical society are concerned about some of the demolition. Also, this particular developer does not have a plan for the second parcel. Demolition would happen for the solo serve building and they are requesting they do something with the empty space.

JACKinBeantown Apr 17, 2015 1:39 AM

On second inspection, there's not really any ground level retail in the new building. There's space for a restaurant on the Riverwalk level, but not at street level. They're actually planning on removing ground level retail space that currently exists but doesn't have a tenant.

http://www.therivardreport.com/river...drawing-board/

sirkingwilliam Apr 17, 2015 2:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kornbread (Post 6993136)
http://www.therivardreport.com/river...drawing-board/

Feedback from the HDRC. It mentions that some members and the historical society are concerned about some of the demolition. Also, this particular developer does not have a plan for the second parcel. Demolition would happen for the solo serve building and they are requesting they do something with the empty space.

The developer has plans for the second phase.

arkitekte Apr 17, 2015 3:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sirkingwilliam (Post 6993660)
The developer has plans for the second phase.

They're not developed plans though. That's the problem.

sirkingwilliam Apr 17, 2015 4:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by arkitekte (Post 6993708)
They're not developed plans though. That's the problem.

Not really. They know it'll be a highrise of either office and residential or strictly residential.

Restless 1 Apr 17, 2015 12:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sirkingwilliam (Post 6993753)
Not really. They know it'll be a highrise of either office and residential or strictly residential.

Yeah, but HDRC wants a firm plan for the interim, like a temporary park.

We'll see what they come up with in two weeks.

STLtoSA Apr 17, 2015 8:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JACKinBeantown (Post 6993589)
On second inspection, there's not really any ground level retail in the new building. There's space for a restaurant on the Riverwalk level, but not at street level. They're actually planning on removing ground level retail space that currently exists but doesn't have a tenant.

http://www.therivardreport.com/river...drawing-board/

Quote:

The hotel would include 12 levels of hotel rooms, eight levels of above-ground parking, and about 10,000 sq. ft. of street and river-level restaurant and retail space.
Why would you say that there is no room for retail at street level? The above quote, by the way, was pulled from you link.

Just because the plan is to gut the Book building that doesn't mean that street retail could/would not be built into the new structure.

10,000 sq ft is a good amount of space... Too big for a single restaurant.

Fireoutofclay Apr 17, 2015 9:50 PM

Switch the hotel lot with the "phase 2" lot. The developers would have more design freedoms with both the main entrance and the interior, encounter less resistance form demolition opponents, and have no demolished surface area to deal with. Make Soledad St. a two way street for that area, have the city redo the sidewalk, maybe put in some landscaping, more and better lighting, clean up the facades of the existing buildings on either side, a couple of taxi stands, and voila. :tup: Save the "Phase 1" lot for office, retail, & residential. They can take advantage of federal and state historic tax credits. I think the existing buildings would be better suited for those purposes anyway. But I suppose if I was the owner/developer, I would want to know how far I can go with a design before I encounter any resistance.:hmmm:

arkitekte Apr 18, 2015 3:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sirkingwilliam (Post 6993753)
Not really. They know it'll be a highrise of either office and residential or strictly residential.

Which is based off of what was stated and a vague rendering. More than that is required.

Quote:

Originally Posted by STLtoSA (Post 6994662)
10,000 sq ft is a good amount of space... Too big for a single restaurant.

There's multiple restaurants.

JACKinBeantown Apr 18, 2015 3:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by STLtoSA (Post 6994662)
Why would you say that there is no room for retail at street level? The above quote, by the way, was pulled from you link.

Just because the plan is to gut the Book building that doesn't mean that street retail could/would not be built into the new structure.

10,000 sq ft is a good amount of space... Too big for a single restaurant.

I guess the way I worded it didn't make my point clear. I meant that the renderings make it appear that they will remove the existing retail space in the smaller buildings on the right next to Solo Serve, and turn that space into entrance and exit ramps for the garage. So while there will be restaurant space on the river level (which is nice) and maybe in the beautiful old building on the corner, there will also be a loss of existing retail space (although the retail space that gets taken away is currently vacant anyway).

Don't get me wrong... I think this building is a plus overall and makes a pretty good use of space.

STLtoSA Apr 20, 2015 2:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by arkitekte (Post 6995040)
There's multiple restaurants.

Does it really matter whether the space is used for retail or restaurant? The fact that it would front Houston or the River is key. Instead of being buried inside of the hotel that is.

STLtoSA Apr 20, 2015 2:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JACKinBeantown (Post 6995096)
I guess the way I worded it didn't make my point clear. I meant that the renderings make it appear that they will remove the existing retail space in the smaller buildings on the right next to Solo Serve, and turn that space into entrance and exit ramps for the garage. So while there will be restaurant space on the river level (which is nice) and maybe in the beautiful old building on the corner, there will also be a loss of existing retail space (although the retail space that gets taken away is currently vacant anyway).

Don't get me wrong... I think this building is a plus overall and makes a pretty good use of space.

When I read your post I figured that you were talking about the retail space in the Book Building. As for the frontage along Soledad...It looks like they would be keeping the facades of two of those buildings, it will be interesting to see what they do with those store fronts. As for Solo Serve, there are not too many redeeming qualities there. It would be nice to see more allocated space for retail; especially on Soledad, but a hotel squeezed onto a site like this needs vehicular access somehow.

arkitekte Apr 21, 2015 3:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by STLtoSA (Post 6997011)
Does it really matter whether the space is used for retail or restaurant? The fact that it would front Houston or the River is key. Instead of being buried inside of the hotel that is.

I was just pointing out there's multiple restaurants; all of which will more than likely be managed by the same company.

But to answer your question, it matters quite a bit if it's used for retail or restaurants unless you expect people to shop two to three times a day while they meet and sleep under your roof.

STLtoSA Apr 21, 2015 3:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by arkitekte (Post 6998045)
I was just pointing out there's multiple restaurants; all of which will more than likely be managed by the same company.

But to answer your question, it matters quite a bit if it's used for retail or restaurants unless you expect people to shop two to three times a day while they meet and sleep under your roof.

Maybe I am interpreting this wrong:

Quote:

The hotel would include 12 levels of hotel rooms, eight levels of above-ground parking, and about 10,000 sq. ft. of street and river-level restaurant and retail space.
When I first read that, I interpreted it as River and street frontage, but the quote does say 'level', which could mean anywhere on the ground or river-level floors.

How ever looking at the diagrams they show that a lot of the first two-levels are Back of the House, meeting space and Lobby.

If the 10,000 sqft is frontage then it doesn't matter how many restaurants the hotel has. That was the point.

It could be interpreted either way though, and without seeing detailed lease-able space in any plans (of course this wouldn't come until later in the process) there is no way of knowing for sure.

Regardless, as to how the street or river-level space is allocated, the rest of the properties on Houston should benefit from a development such as this.

21bl0wed May 7, 2015 5:57 PM

HDRC okays it. I'm surprised they didn't find something historic about the Solo Serve..

http://www.expressnews.com/business/...ve-6247519.php


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