San Antonio | Deep In The Heart.

[josh]

$175 MILLION SAN PEDRO CREEK PROJECT RECEIVES DESIGN APPROVAL
TWO MILE CREEK REDEVELOPMENT WILL REMOVE 40 ACRES FROM DOWNTOWN FLOODPLAIN

Bexar County Commissioners have approved nearly half of the designs for the $175 million San Pedro Creek project.

"(San Antonio) really grew up first around the creek before the river, so it has a great history," said Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff.

The transformation would take place along the creek from Fox Tech High School to Cesar Chavez. The plan calls for the construction of a new amphitheater, foot and bike paths, and other amenities for tourists and residents to take advantage of.

"You're going to see housing. You're going to see some retail, office space, and some hotels along the creek," Wolff said.

San Antonio city staff will recommend that the City Council vote in favor of donating city-owned property to the San Antonio River Authority, which is leading the design process, for the project. SARA is working with other downtown organizations and the public to further develop the project.

"This is an opportunity to infill, develop (and) create another place for all of San Antonians to enjoy and to see economic prosperity along this particular corridor in our downtown and even surrounding neighborhoods," said Centro San Antonio President and CEO Pat DiGiovanni. "This has the opportunity to really change the west end of our downtown and really be more of a locals gathering place and a revitalization area of our city."

Officials hope to have the first phase of the project complete by May 2018, just in time for the city's 300th birthday.

SAN PEDRO CREEK REDEVELOPMENT


Please watch the video to the end!

[HangryHippo]

Damn, I love what San Antonio is doing.

[josh]

Wish I could edit the post and remove a few images. I think I took too many screen shots of the Tree of Life. lol

$175 MILLION SAN PEDRO CREEK PROJECT RECEIVES DESIGN APPROVAL
TWO MILE CREEK REDEVELOPMENT WILL REMOVE 40 ACRES FROM DOWNTOWN FLOODPLAIN



SAN PEDRO CREEK REDEVELOPMENT


Please watch the video to the end!

[josh]

H&M TO OPEN A THIRD SAN ANTONIO STORE
THIRD STORE WILL BE LOCATED AT NORTH STAR MALL

Price-sensitive shoppers may soon have a bit more to celebrate now that European retailer H&M is looking at opening yet another San Antonio location.

H&M is looking at North Star Mall on San Pedro Ave. for its newest store. According to a state permit filing, the retailer would open after spending $1.6 million remodeling retail space, which is expected to begin in July and be completed by October of this year. That's in addition to a $1.75 million construction project for a new store at the Rivercenter Mall, which is on schedule to open this August.

Improvements at North Star Mall will include new storefront systems, interior walls, flooring, finishes, ceiling, fixtures, and possibly most important, ADA-compliant toilets. The existing elevator and stairs in the space will be reused. According to Dustin Christensen, marketing manager for North Star Mall and the Shops at La Cantera, the mall isn't able to confirm any opening for the retailer since it is still something "in the works" and negotiations are still in play. However, typical leases are 10 years.

"(H&M) would be a great addition anywhere they go," Christensen said. "They have been a great addition to the Shops at La Cantera, and since it shares a lot of the same customers with North Star Mall, we would expect it to be very successful there as well."

By the end of 2015, H&M will have three stores in the city, with the first opening at the Shops at La Cantera a little less than a year ago. The three stores will give the retailer an expansive footprint throughout San Antonio, starting up in the Northwest, moving through North Central and stretching downtown.

The North Star Mall location will be the 13th Texas storefront for the retailer, but based on the rapid expansion it has demonstrated here, is unlikely to be the last for San Antonio.

[josh]

WESTON URBAN AND CITY OF SAN ANTONIO AGREE ON NEW TOWER DEAL

The city of San Antonio, Weston Urban and Frost Bank have finally agreed on the details of a complicated downtown land swap that will likely bring the first office tower to downtown in more than 25 years.

In the deal, Weston Urban builds a $142 million, 400,000-square-foot tower in which Frost Bank will occupy 250,000 square feet as its headquarters. That leaves 150,000 square feet of Class A office space for third party tenants.

Aside from the tower, the agreement yields at least 265 new residential units, 20,000 square feet of new retail space and 732 new public parking spaces available on nights and weekends.

“It’s a complicated project, a complicated transaction, that’s taken several months to work through the details,” City Manager Sheryl Sculley said of the public-private partnership.

The deal, conceived by Weston Urban three years ago, goes to the Planning Commission May 20. A public hearing is scheduled for May 28. And the City Council is scheduled to vote on the proposal June 4.

The new tower

In the deal, Weston Urban, backed by Rackspace chairman Graham Weston, will build the new office tower at the northwest corner of Houston and Flores streets — on a parking lot and motor bank currently owned by Frost and that’s cater-cornered to Frost’s current headquarters at 100 W. Houston St.

The design and height of the tower has not been determined.

In the next couple of months, Weston Urban will hold a national and international design competition, company president Randy Smith said. A prominent national or international architecture firm will ultimately be paired with a local firm to complete the design team.

After a 12-month design process, building the skyscraper (Weston Urban is teaming with Dallas developer KDC) will take about 30 months, Smith said.

Local officials spoke about the synergy they say the new tower will create when coupled with million of dollars of infrastructure upgrades to San Pedro Creek project — a literal stone’s throw from the new tower — and West Commerce Street.

Weston said he hopes the building will become the tallest downtown.

“San Antonio needs a thriving business district and this is the beginning of the next era,” Weston said. “If the city is going to change its image, it needs to change its skyline.”

Frost chairman and CEO Dick Evans admits he’s already heard a lot of comparisons between the potential new tower and Frost’s recognizable skyscraper in downtown Austin.

“I don’t think it’s about comparing them,” Evans said. “It’s about having a new iconic building. Just because it’s been so many years (since an office tower was built), I think there’s going to be a lot of excitement.”

The city’s part

For approximately $80 million, the city would purchase and upgrade Frost’s old headquarters (the attached parking garage is included in the purchase) at 100 W. Houston St. and consolidate 1,200 center-city employees into 12 of its 18 floors, parts of the ground floor and the basement.

The Bexar County Appraisal District appraises the properties at $32.9 million. But, during negotiations, the city and Frost conducted their own appraisals of the properties, which came in at $47.5 million and $54 million, respectively.

The two sides settled on $51 million as a purchase price for the properties.

Another $32 million will be needed to upgrade the building: $6.7 million in HVAC and sprinkler systems and asbestos removal and $26 million to remodel the 12 floors from Frost’s office-oriented format to an open desk layout.

To fund the project, the city plans to acquire two debt issuances — one for the purchase and the other for the improvements.

The city estimates the entire deal to be a net positive of roughly $1 million over the 30 years of the debt. City officials described that as a conservative estimate. The variables include a $3.5 million annual savings from not having to pay leases at four existing locations and — when the city takes over the Frost — to revenue generated from leasing the remaining six floors and 17,000 square feet of new street-level retail facing Houston and Commerce streets.

“When you talk about $80 million of investment, that’s over time (30 years),” Sculley said. “And the (lease) savings that we achieve over time cover all of those costs and more. So it comes out net positive to the city. This was all part of the negotiation. Given the use of the building, the tenants of the building, what we need to accomplish, we think it’s a fair price.

“And we’ll have an asset at the end of it.”

Revenue from the 732 public parking spaces on nights and weekends will serve as another stream to help pay the debt, officials said.

And when city employees are centralized into the Frost building, city-owned downtown buildings will become available for sale. That’s exactly what the city wants to do with the former Continental Hotel, 322 W. Commerce St. In the next few years, when MetroHealth moves into the Frost, city officials want to sell it to a developer.

In about a year, after Weston Urban has designed and secured financing for the new skyscraper, the city will purchase the current Frost building. The city then will master lease the space back to Frost while the bank waits for its new home to be built.

In the meantime, the city’s Center City Development & Operations and Economic Development departments, already located in the current Frost building, will lease space from Frost at a discounted rate.

Over the course of the next three years, as Frost moves out its employees, the city will be able to move in other departments at no cost. City officials estimate a savings of at least $1.9 million, which they plan to apply to the initial improvements to the current Frost building.

Rest of the deal

For $6.4 million, Weston Urban will purchase from the city the Municipal Plaza Building, 114 W. Commerce St.; the San Fernando Gym, 319 W. Travis St.; and a parking lot at two blocks north of the Frost.

For an amount that’s being negotiated, Weston Urban will also purchase four properties from Frost the lot and motor bank where the skyscraper will go, two nearby parking lots and the greensward across the current tower.

The real estate company, backed by Rackspace chairman Graham Weston, wants to convert the Municipal Plaza (the original Frost headquarters) into 65 to 75 residential units while adding between 3,000 and 4,000 square feet of retail facing Commerce and Flores streets. City Council chambers and a couple of related rooms will remain untouched and under city ownership.

Weston Urban plans to build another 200 residential units across several of the buildings and lots it’s buying, excluding the tower site and greensward. Urban Weston chief Smith said the company plans to invest heavily in the greensward compared it to Bryant Park in New York.

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[josh]

FROST BANK CHAIRMAN: COMPANY WILL MAKE 'ICONIC' STATEMENT WITH NEW HQ

San Antonio leaders have had plenty of time to imagine what a new downtown office tower might look like in the Alamo City. It’s been more than a quarter-century since the last one was built.

Frost Bank Chairman and CEO Dick Evans has one word for what he envisions in terms of a new headquarters tower for the bank, should City Council members approve in June a public-private partnership proposal that also involves Weston Urban: “Iconic.”

The city has negotiated a deal that would have San Antonio acquire the existing Frost Tower on Houston Street and an adjoining 732-space parking garage for $51 million. The transaction would allow the city to eliminate nearly $4 million in annual rent payments, while consolidating its downtown operations.

Weston Urban would, in turn, acquire real estate from the city and from Frost. It would then develop a new headquarters tower for the bank on a site at Flores and Houston streets.
Evans said the new tower will house at least 400,000 square feet of space.

“This will be a catalyst for further redevelopment downtown,” he said.

Weston Urban co-founder Graham Weston said the new tower could become one of San Antonio’s signature buildings. But a number of factors, including its eventual design, will dictate just how much of the San Antonio sky this structure scrapes.

Weston suggested there could be an international design competition for the new Frost tower, with a goal of delivering a “flagship building” he said has been needed in San Antonio “for a long time.”

Weston said the tower would be iconic in design and perhaps in size.

“We certainly hope it will be the tallest building in the city,” he said.

City Manager Sheryl Sculley said regardless of the size of the new headquarters building, the proposed deal is a cost-neutral opportunity for San Antonio that comes with a potentially significant upside.

“We expect to save money as a result of this deal,” Sculley said.

Sculley said that while the city would sell the Municipal Plaza Building at 114 West Commerce to Weston Urban as part of the negotiated deal, it would maintain control of the Council chambers space in the facility.

[josh]

GRAYSTREET MAKES MAJOR DOWNTOWN REAL ESTATE PLAY

One day after officials announced the City will go forward in partnership with Weston Urban and Frost Bank on the biggest downtown real estate development deal in decades, a second major transaction involving multiple historic buildings on East Houston Street and Travis Park has been confirmed. The sale of seven East Houston Street buildings and a parking lot by Federal Realty Investment Trust of Maryland to San Antonio-based GrayStreet Partners was first disclosed in a story published by the Express-News. The deal under contract has been widely discussed for months, but confirmed only now.

Sources in the development community also are saying that GrayStreet has two other significant downtown properties under contract not owned by Federal Realty, but those rumors appear to unfounded or unconfirmed. Kevin Covey, GrayStreet’s managing partner, and Paul Covey, his father, did not return calls or respond to emails.

One of the additional properties is the now-vacant San Antonio Children’s Museum at 305 E. Houston that became available with the construction of the new DoSeum on Broadway, set to open in June. DoSeum Executive Director Vanessa Lacoss Hurd said GrayStreet is one of three entities interested in the building, but there have been no offers to date.

The Children’s Museum is the only remaining property in play on the north side of the 300 block of East Houston Street not under contract to GrayStreet, which will now own the properties on both sides of the museum.

The second property is the Travis Park Plaza building and parking garage at 711 Navarro St., a seven-story Class B office tower built in 1970, that has been for sale since late last year. It includes a six-story, 799-space parking garage, a major asset. The building’s name tenant is Jefferson Bank, which also has a motor bank on the property. The rest of the building includes law firms, foundations, the San Antonio Symphony and others.

One major tenant, the Strasberger & Price law firm, moved to the former ButterKrust Bakery building on Broadway north of the Pearl one year ago. The 1940s-era Deco building is now the corporate offices and test kitchens of C.H. Guenther & Sons, which owns Pioneer Flour Mills. Travis Park Plaza is on the county tax rolls at $10.5 million, but developers said it probably would sell for substantially more.

Real estate sources said the total value of the GrayStreet deal likely will exceed $100 million and that financing for the GrayStreet acquisition involves Houston billionaire Fayez Sarofim, 86, and his son, Christopher, 51. Fayez is part owner of the NFL’s Houston Texans, the founder of the investment firm Fayez Sarofim and Company, which is said to have more than $30 billion under investment. Fayez is a philanthropist and prominent supporter of the performing arts in Houston. He was born into one of Egypt’s wealthiest families, and was educated at UC-Berkeley and Harvard. Both father and son have been favorite gossip column targets in Houston where their respective marriage breakups and the ensuing financial and social aftershocks have made for salacious headlines.

Various commercial real estate brokers have been wooing institutional capital sources outside of San Antonio to invest in downtown properties, reasoning that rising prices in Dallas, Houston and Austin have made San Antonio a more attractive target. With the City’s new Vacant Building Ordinance that went into effect on Jan. 1, developers and brokers also expect more vacant and underutilized properties coming on to the market, as well as some of the downtown’s many undeveloped parcels.

The two announced deals have energized the urban core development community, long frustrated at the lack of big projects and outside interest in downtown San Antonio, which has lagged among all major Texas cities in central business district redevelopment. Suddenly, the market is heating up, amid rumors of more to come.

[josh]

Another residential development planned for River North. This one will abut the Riverwalk and feature 220-unit.

LOCATION

[Spartan]

Wow, surprised to see some cool stuff in this thread. As a side note, I'd be more inclined to stop by here if the thread title wasn't a bad tourism marketing pitch... "San Antonio Developments" would get many more clicks from me.

[Spartan]

Been quite busy but still updating. Here's a new batch of development news.

23 SINGLE FAMILY HOMES PLANNED FOR NEAR EAST SIDE VACANT LOT

LOCATION

By the way, this, urban development is not.

[josh]

Wow, surprised to see some cool stuff in this thread. As a side note, I'd be more inclined to stop by here if the thread title wasn't a bad tourism marketing pitch... "San Antonio Developments" would get many more clicks from me.

Good thing I'm not pandering to just you. You know what this thread is about. Title shouldn't keep you from doing anything. But your maturity, as we've seen, isn't great to begin with.

[josh]

By the way, this, urban development is not.

As you can see, theyre being built in a old single family housing neighborhood just east of downtown.

The homes are designed to be more urban compared to the other homes in the neighborhood.

[josh]

A rendering of Southtown Flats. Currently under construction in the Southtown neighborhood.

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[josh]

Plutonic, I sent you a PM.

[josh]

New renderings of the 9th and Riverwalk development.

[josh]

21-STORY HOTEL DEVELOPMENT GETS APPROVAL TO RAZE VACANT SOLO SERVE BUILDING

The Historic and Design Review Commission voted 5-2 in favor of allowing developers to proceed with plans for a 21-story, 252-room hotel on the River Walk. The project will essentially demolish and gut a majority of the blighted downtown city block on the southeast corner of Soledad and Houston streets.

The proposed AC Hotel by Marriott calls for demolition of the former Solo Serve building save for the River Walk-facing wall, and maintaining the facades of next-door structures collectively known as the Clegg Company Building along the 100 block of Soledad Street. The historic red-brick Book Building on East Houston Street that overlooks the San Antonio River would be “rehabilitated” to become the hotel’s main pedestrian entrance.

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.

Phase II calls for a highrise residential building.

[josh]

NORTHSIDE ISD BREAKS GROUND ON NEW HIGH SCHOOL ARENA

When Taylor Field House was built 42 years ago, only three Northside ISD high schools needed a court to play on.

When the district’s 11th high school opens up for the 2017-18 school year, NISD also will have another venue for its schools to use.

The district conducted a groundbreaking ceremony Friday at Farris Athletic Complex for the new Northside Sports Gym, an 88,400 square-foot venue that will be more than three times the size of Taylor.

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[Spartan]

As you can see, theyre being built in a old single family housing neighborhood just east of downtown.

The homes are designed to be more urban compared to the other homes in the neighborhood.

That's pretty ironic.

Good thing I'm not pandering to just you. You know what this thread is about. Title shouldn't keep you from doing anything. But your maturity, as we've seen, isn't great to begin with.

The title is everything. I don't have time to just click on every thread "Gee what will I find here??" Apparently I'm not mature enough to know what the **** Deep In The Heart TM means.

Before this I clicked on a thread titled "Flatiron Building." I did so because I was pretty sure it would contain discussion about the Flatiron Building. I wasn't pleasantly surprised when it did.

[warreng88]

That's pretty ironic.

The title is everything. I don't have time to just click on every thread "Gee what will I find here??" Apparently I'm not mature enough to know what the **** Deep In The Heart TM means.

Before this I clicked on a thread titled "Flatiron Building." I did so because I was pretty sure it would contain discussion about the Flatiron Building. I wasn't pleasantly surprised when it did.

I think one click on the thread and you could figure it out pretty quickly. I didn't know exactly what it was either, but I was pretty sure it wasn't going to be about open heart surgery in San Antonio or anything,

[josh]

That's pretty ironic.

Not at all sure how that was pretty ironic. Maybe you don't know what the word ironic means. IDK.

The title is everything. I don't have time to just click on every thread "Gee what will I find here??" Apparently I'm not mature enough to know what the **** Deep In The Heart TM means.

Before this I clicked on a thread titled "Flatiron Building." I did so because I was pretty sure it would contain discussion about the Flatiron Building. I wasn't pleasantly surprised when it did.

You seriously still need a title to tell you what's going on in this thread? Seriously? Are you 14 or something?

[josh]

New renderings for Confluence Park, a new park planned for the Mission Reach of the San Antonio River, just south of downtown and the urban core.

CONFLUENCE PARK RENDERINGS











MISSION REACH IMAGE

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[josh]

So, I've been quite the busy person and neglected this thread. Well, I'm back with a few tidbits and updates.

[josh]

SECURITY SERVICE HEADQUARTERS CAMPUS RENDERINGS

With ground breaking in March, a tower crane now makes its presence known at the southwest corner of 1604 and I-10 on the far northwest side.

A large scale corporate campus for Security Service Federal Credit Unit is under construction,

Here are some renderings of the first of many office buildings planned for the campus.

CAMPUS SITE PLAN


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[josh]

SAN ANTONIO IS FINALIST FOR NEARLY 1 BILLION DOLLAR ALCOA PLANT

San Antonio is one of five cities under consideration for $750 million manufacturing plant by Alcoa, the San Antonio Express-News reported Friday.

The newspaper quotes Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff and San Antonio Economic Development Foundation Mario Hernandez as saying the company could make a decision on where to locate within the next two to three months. No potential job count was available.

The Express-News reported that Alcoa already owns a 45-employee plant in Elmendorf in South Bexar County that manufactures an advanced, aluminum product used for the automotive and other industries.

“We are working with the company, but beyond that I cannot comment,” Hernandez is quoted as saying. “The community is working with them to make a decision to grow here. They have choices around the country.”

[josh]

CITY COUNCIL APPROVES $166 MILLION, 7-STORY CONSOLIDATED RENTAL FACILITY

Right now, travelers that need a car have to take a ride to the outskirts of S.A. International.

"If it was right here with would be awesome because we'd still have the cart (to haul our luggage)," said traveler Vicki Higman.

Higman's wish will soon be a reality. This summer, the 3-decade-old hourly garage will be demolished. In its place will be a new 7-story facility called the Consolidated Rental Car Facility, or CONRAC.

"I see it as a drastic improvement," said Franccek.

Airport officials told Eyewitness News, the upper levels of CONRAC will house up to 12 rental car agencies and the lower levels will be for public parking. Officials expect the public parking portion to be complete in about 20 months and the rental portion should be complete eight months after.

"It makes things a lot easier," said Franccek.

Airport officials said while construction is going on travelers will be able to park in a designated parking area and be shuttled to and from their terminal.

CONRAC will be paid for by people renting a vehicle only at the airport. Airport officials want to stress that it will not be paid for by tax dollars or city funds.

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