On campus housing has grown, but off campus housing is choice for most students. Here is a compilation of students housing around UTSA:

http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/233...ingmap2009.png

There are only 6 residential areas (including 3 phases of University Oaks). 2 of them (Chap and Laurel) are brand new. At least 11 of the complexes on that map didn't exist before 2000. The school is planning at least 3 new on-campus housing complexes for a total capacity of 5,500 students living on campus.

Sure only about 3,700 live on campus, but another 6,000 live within walking distance in other apartments.

UPDATES:

- A new student housing development will break ground soon at the intersection of UTSA Blvd and Babcock (the 10th new complex since 2000).

- A new ROTC building will be constructed North of the HSS building.

- A new ceramic studio building will be constructed at West Campus.

- Also planned is a new lab facility identical to the Tobin Lab at West Campus.

- Renovations are taking place or have recently finished in almost all original buildings.

Will the new housing complex be on campus or will it be on the other side of Babcock?

Off campus beside the existing church. It is being called "West Campus Apartments". I don't think anything will be built on the UTSA side of Babcock (except the fire station) because there is a creek (Maverick Creek).

Another apartment complex is under construction off Vance Jackson beside the existing San Miguel Apartments. Then there is also the apartments under construction in The Rim off Vance Jackson. A lot of new apartments going in the area (14 since 2000!).

Plans call for graduate housing near the isolated Lot 13 off Valero. That may be the next on-campus housing we see break ground.

The new apts are "low-density," whatever that means.
The backyard of my childhood home abuts the lot. A bunch of people in the College Park neighborhood where I lived (and my folks still live) have objected to more apartments built there, but my parents love it. They think it makes a lot more sense than students still commuting in from the Medical Center and beyond. It will be served by the campus shuttle as well.

Is there a website for the West Campus Apts.?

thanks to tgannaway, ydoc, boquillas, et al for keeping tabs on utsa.

the hope that exists in this rare instance of suburban density is kept alive by you guys. thanks!! :)

"UTSA unveils first draft of campus master plan"
http://utsa.edu/today/2009/06/masterplan.cfm

By the way UTSA just celebrated it's 40th birthday yesterday! :D

The final draft of the masterplan will be presented in August.

From the San Antonio Express-News
June 8, 2009
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/loc...ster_plan.html

By Melissa Ludwig - Express-News Bye-bye concrete jungle. Hello quadrangles and green spaces.

That's the major theme in a new master plan unveiled Monday by the University of Texas at San Antonio, which includes the Main Campus, Downtown Campus, the Institute of Texan Cultures and a planned athletics complex at UTSA Park West. The master plan aims to help UTSA morph from a commuter campus into a traditional urban university complete with bell towers and quadrangles, and connected by tree-lined walkways and a more logical system of roads.

Though the plan calls for land acquisition, new buildings and commercial developments to support 40,000 students, officials say it's a flexible blueprint; as of yet, no money or concrete plans are attached to most goals.

“This has been a long time coming,” said Pam Bacon, associate vice president of administration. “It's really the beginning of a journey... that will be carried out over decades.”

Designed by Barnes Gromatzky Kosarek Architects and Michael Dennis & Associates, the plan addresses complaints that UTSA doesn't look or feel like a “real university,” and that it's hard to navigate by car and on foot.

At the Main Campus, planners call for grassy quadrangles and bell towers visible from the two main entrances off Loop 1604 and UTSA Boulevard. To instill a sense of direction, the towers would line up with the main artery of campus, and roadways and signage would be redesigned to aid circulation.

Designed in the early 1970s, the Sombrilla Plaza and core campus provided a good “starter kit,” planners said, but later additions did little to connect the campus. Peppering the campus with more public spaces would complement the buildings and help glue everything together, said Michael Dennis.

“Those are the most memorable parts of campuses,” Dennis said of public spaces. “You can't just plop down buildings and parking lots. You have to have relationships between buildings and landscapes.”

Surface parking lots could be converted to garages, opening up land for green spaces, and the undeveloped eastern chunk of the campus could be a preserve with nature trails. Recreational playing fields could be redefined as an important part of campus, and linked to woods at Maverick Creek.

At the site of University Oaks Apartments, which UTSA leases to a private company, planners envision a “Collegetown” similar to Guadalupe Street, or “the drag” across from UT Austin. When the lease runs out, UTSA could partner with a developer to tear down the old complex and make way for a newer mix of housing and retail.

Athletics venues would move to UTSA Park West, a 125-acre tract of land near Hausman Road that will house an $84 million athletics complex. Eventually, UTSA may want to snap up another few acres and build a football stadium for its fledgling NCAA football program, planners said.

Downtown, planners envision a campus that is more connected to its urban environment.

The footprint shows UTSA expanding across Frio Street, taking over a city-owned service center and improving Frio so that it feels like driving through a campus, not behind one. The parking lot at Cattleman Square could be ideal for housing, and UTSA could nurture more student-friendly development around the campus.

Improvements to the Institute of Texan Cultures museum will be done hand-in-hand with the city's plans for redeveloping HemisFair Park, officials said.

UTSA has grown so quickly that space is at a premium. The university could freeze enrollment at 30,000 and it would still take nearly 20 years to catch up, planners said.

Enrollment may level off naturally as the university raises standards in hopes of becoming a national research university, said vice provost Julius Gribou.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/slidesho...ster_plan.html
http://i454.photobucket.com/albums/q...MasterPlan.jpg
http://i454.photobucket.com/albums/q...asterPlan2.jpg
http://i454.photobucket.com/albums/q...2010/UTSA5.jpg
http://i454.photobucket.com/albums/q...2010/UTSA6.jpg

Love the downtown renderings! They should implement the railway there into a stop.

The main campus looks pretty good as well. Does the athletic facilities actually have a connecting road into the neighborhood? Was that in the original proposal?

I stand corrected, its a drainage ditch/creek. :-(

best part of the above-linked article...

Can I just say I really hate most of the people who post comments on MYSA.com

I like that parking garages replace all the surface parking!

Not only can you say it, you can get a "harumph!" from me.

My favorite part...
University Hospital expansion, Haven for Hope, Westside Multi-Modal Transit Center, and now this. This whole area is shaping up nicely and I like that dead areas and parking lots are being used up and disappearing. Civic and public projects are a key part of downtown redevelopment and SA is definitely having its fair share of projects line up.
The upward spiral is slowly catching speed.

i am hopeful for this area.

haven for hope is the unlikely catalyst. we spent saturday under the commerce street bridge hanging out with the homeless folks (eating sloppy joes together) and the area is full of potential. but developers must see it as a leper colony.

as long as the homeless population is concentrated there, there will be very little development that i can see.

Frio St. is key to redevelopment of that area. It's such a great thoroughfare that can connect the Guadalupe Arts District to UTSA to University Hospital to San Antonio College.

I can honestly see Frio, developed correctly, lined with mid to even high rise buildings all the way from Martin to Guadalupe. I can.

But yeah, getting those homeless away from that area via Haven for Hope is the catalyst.

There are some warehouses and old industrial buildings around there that have great potential for lofts.

The layout for the athletics complex has changed in the master plan. It is an impressive layout. It would be awesome if it could be built within the next ten years. What this can do for the on campus environment is priceless. Can you just imagine espn gameday on campus someday, amazing!