So what is UV?

I believe it's University Village by UTSA.
http://atuniversityvillage.com/

Unfortunately it looks like yet another sprawling complex that was designed in 1988... a lot of individual buildings with large swaths of parking lots in between and not very walkable. Especially during those 6 months of the year when the temperature is near or above 100º.

:brickwall:

http://atuniversityvillage.com/site-plan/#discover

This development is EXCELLENT news for the area. It will have a ripple effect AGAIN in the area. It will be nice strolling in the area during the fall, winter and spring months, when most of the country is buried in snow and the cold temperatures are miserable!!!!:cheers::cheers:
Wonder what retail will be coming in at this development:cheers:

Yes, sorry, it is University Village. Some are calling it The UV for short. When finished, it will feature 1 million square feet of Class A office space, 1,149 apartment and townhome units, a 136-room Aloft Hotel, and 108,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space. They're describing it as a walkable Pearl like development, centered around a green belt that connects to the Leon Valley Trail system. I hear there will be a grocery store & amphitheater also.

Hopefully I'm wrong, but I think they're being "creative" with their description. On the site plan (see link below) yes, there appears to be unbuilt green space on the left. But that is a completely separate area from where the indicated retail is. Each retail unit appears to be surrounded by parking lots, with lots of parking lot space between them. The elements of park space and retail are there, but not in the way they describe. It certainly doesn't look comparable to the Pearl in that regard. As I said, hopefully I'm wrong. (And that is not an invitation for snarky retorts. I'm just stating that hopefully I'm wrong.) :cheers:

http://atuniversityvillage.com/site-plan/#discover

More suburban sprawl. The greenbelt is floodplain that can't be developed, especially after they turn the rest of the property into impermeable surface parking.

Also, what the heck is "Commercial Properties stacked perfectly together" supposed to mean?

I'm wondering of there are renderings anywhere? The site plan looks like crap, plain and simple, and not something that should be built in a such a historic and unique city as San Antonio.

And no amount of capitalizing or beer glass clinking will change that.

At the very least, surround the parking with the retail, and make it somewhat walkable. The site plan just looks like a bunch of parking lots and a little retail/office/residential.

That sit plan you all are looking at is from a website that I dont think has been update since the project was announced. I've seen others showing trails & greenspace between the business & retail. That being said, I was actually by there today & the area on UTSA blvd where retail will be is completely cleared. Not one tree left. Kind of a bummer, so your concerns are valid. On a positive note, solar panels are going on the apartments and what landscaping they did so far behind the apartments looks very nice. Looks like they will be incorporating stone walls/boarders. Pretty cool.

Some new southside development near A&M

https://www.ksat.com/news/local/2019...jMitWlB_haSjVA

Here's a suburban development I can get excited about.

"The far Westside suburbs could start to look a lot more urban following the groundbreaking Thursday on San Antonio’s first neighborhood being built on New Urbanism principles.

At the intersection of West Military Drive and Potranco Road, less than a half-mile from Northwest Loop 410, a group of developers and city officials dipped shovels into a former cornfield to celebrate the start of Vicinia, a 97-acre mixed-use infill development."

https://therivardreport.com/san-anto...orthwest-side/

https://i.imgur.com/NMe0FWM.jpg

I wish more suburban developments were thought of like this. Some, like the rim, make it very hard on the pedestrian despite what they were probably trying to do originally. Maybe more parts of town will redevelop with urban design in mind in the future.

There are so many gigantic parking lots out there ripe for redeveloping. Since SA is supposed to be adding a million more people in the next twenty years, maybe a tipping point is not far away.

SA should also start accepting that building down is a good thing too. Especially with the climate getting hotter. The reason there are basements in the north is so that foundations of buildings lie below the frost line, so that the foundation is resting on soil that doesn't change temperature greatly and cause cracks and other problems.

It also provides a floor in houses that maintains a somewhat more constant temperature throughout the year, even without heating in the winter. The same is true for cooling in the summer, and that's something people in the south could take advantage of in the increasingly hotter summers.

Another OUTSTANDING project by Mr. Cross!!!!!:cheers::tup::yes:

Mr. Cross started it all with the Vistana in downtown SA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not a single family home in sight! Beautiful.

@Jack, I was under the impression there was some geological issue here that made basements prohibitively expensive (expansive clay soils/solid bedrock one inch under the grass depending on your neighborhood). But I could be off base here.

There is some clay in the soil at least at the house I grew up in on the northeast side. I don't think it's that difficult to dig up because people put in swimming pools all the time.

I think basements in the hot climate would be a good idea. The house I live in now (in greater Boston) has a basement of course. There's a room down there that was converted into sort of a small speakeasy decades ago before air conditioning. It's a storage room now but it still has the bar... it's kinda funny. Anyway, the people did it so they'd have a "cool room" to hang out in during the summer months.

We had to jack hammer all of our plants in because of the bedrock. Certain areas of the city are clay and/blackland soils but a large part is bedrock.

Basements make since in parts of the country where the frost line is more than 3'. It makes almost no sense in cities like San Antonio unless it is for parking. Even then, it is usually cost prohibitive. However, San Antonio is a great place for high-rise construction because it is so easy to hit bedrock. As an example, if you look at the Manhattan skyline, there are very few super talls between downtown and midtown. This is because the soil between them does not have very much bearing capacity. You can still build a highrise there but it would be very expensive.

Construction of 7600 Broadway on the north side.