Alamo Plaza bar refuses $2.5M buyout offer from San Antonio development group
The bar also wont give up its patio space.
https://www.mysanantonio.com/busines...t-17298708.php
A longtime Alamo Plaza bar named after a "coward" who left the old mission before the Battle of the Alamo has refused buyouts from Alamo Trust. The San Antonio development group is planning a $140 million revamp the property around the historic site into a museum. Here's what you need to know.
Vince Cantu, owner of Moses Rose's Hideout at 516 E Houston Street, has refused an offer from Alamo Trust for $2.5 million, the Express-News reported. While that is above the property's estimated $2.1 million value, it is vastly below Cantu's asking price of $17 million.
In February, the Texas General Land Office came to an agreement with the attractions of the neighboring Woolworth Building that forced them to break their leases and move out. This meant saying goodbye to Ripley's Haunted Adventure and Tomb Rider.
Now the Texas General Land Office has sent a letter to Cantu asking him to remove the railing and patio seating that is sitting on property managed by the GLO and Alamo Trust, Express-News reports. Cantu says he had a permit for the patio but it expired in February.
On June 27, GLO told Cantu in a letter that he would need to remove the patio by Monday or they would do it for him and then send him the bill, but they have given Cantu more time.
Owner of bar named for Alamo ‘coward’ refuses to surrender property — or patio
https://www.expressnews.com/news/loc...r-17297167.php
A bar owner near the Alamo isn’t ready to surrender his property — or his patio — to memorialize the historic battleground.
For 12 years, owner Vince Cantu has operated Moses Rose’s Hideout at 516 E. Houston St., next to the 1921 Woolworth Building, one of three state-owned structures in Alamo Plaza to be renovated as part of a $140 million museum and visitor center.
Alamo Trust has tried in recent years to buy his bar, whimsically named after a mercenary Frenchman who slipped out of the Alamo compound to avoid certain death in 1836. Cantu said he’s turned down three offers for the bar.
None of them came close to his asking price of $17 million.
In an April 18 letter, Alamo Trust Executive Director Kate Rogers offered to buy the property for $2.5 million, above its value of $2.1 million, as estimated by a national appraisal management company.
Cantu, 60, stood firm on the price he sent to the trust two years ago. It included the cost of paying off taxes and a bank note, and it accounted for a projected value increase after the museum opening. Cantu said the museum will be “an incredible attraction downtown.”
Alamo Trust officials have said a makeover of the historic mission and battleground is expected to generate $12 billion in economic benefits by 2031 — five years after the museum’s targeted opening in 2026.
Cantu seeks a purchase price that will allow him to retire and be financially secure.
He believes the museum will elevate the value of his property, currently appraised at $888,000 by the Bexar Appraisal District. Though parts of the 4,700-square-foot building date to the 1880s, it is not a designated historic landmark.
“We came up with a number that we thought was not too extreme and fair for both sides,” he said.
Alamo officials disagreed. The Texas General Land Office recently sent Cantu a letter demanding he remove railings, seating, bench swings and a shade structure from an alley known as Maverick Walk on the side of the business. His 10-foot-wide patio running the length of the bar is on city land overseen by the Land Office and Alamo Trust.
Cantu had a permit from the city to use part of the alley as a patio, but it expired in February 2020. Since then, the Land Office said, he has had “no legal right” to the patio.
But Cantu said he wasn’t aware of any provisions requiring him to remove his patio furnishings upon expiration of the permit. The city stopped billing him for about $500 in annual rent for the patio, but it required him to continue providing liability insurance for the space, he said.
Prev
Linear Mode
