Tobin Center Renovation
 

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/met...n.39753dd.html

Web Posted: 06/02/2008 11:34 PM CDT

By Jennifer Hiller
Express-News


A conceptual design released Monday for the new Bexar County Performing Arts Center shows Municipal Auditorium — the center's home — re-created as a “glowing space” along the San Antonio River.

The city, county and a nonprofit foundation gave the first clues to what the 1920s-era Municipal Auditorium might become — essentially a building with a personality split between old and new — when it is transformed.

The design shows that the venerable, iconic stone facade would remain reassuringly the same, easily familiar to residents as a place beloved for its long history of hosting high school graduations and Fiesta coronations.

But from behind, expansive glass walls and an outdoor amphitheater stair-stepping its way down to the San Antonio River would open the building to the River Walk for the first time.

The Bexar County Performing Arts Center Foundation, the nonprofit group overseeing the plans, commissioned San Antonio architecture firms Lake/Flato and Ford, Powell & Carson to create the conceptual design.

The conceptual master plan doesn't address the particulars of the project — how the interior halls will look, the acoustics, the materials palette or the exact exterior design.

Instead, it sketches out the biggest challenges of the existing building and gives suggestions for how to solve those problems, including the need to connect with the river, the preservation of the historic facade and the need to break the existing 4,800-seat hall into something useful to a variety of performing arts companies.

Resident companies at the Bexar County Performing Arts Center would include the San Antonio Symphony, San Antonio Opera and Ballet San Antonio.

Voters on May 10 approved extending the venue tax on hotel rooms and rental cars. Among a variety of civic projects to be funded is $110 million for the performing and visual arts, including $100 million to transform Municipal Auditorium into a performing arts center. (The other $10 million will go to the Alameda Theater and the Dolph and Janey Briscoe Western Art Museum).

Preliminary plans for Municipal Auditorium include an exterior restoration and an interior redo that would divide the building into a series of smaller halls that could host anything from a pop concert to an opera or local theater production and still have spaces that people could rent for receptions and events.

A 1,700- to 2,000-seat main hall would be the centerpiece, but a 3,000-square-foot rehearsal hall and a 250- to 450-seat flexible theater could accommodate local performing arts groups and theater companies. Many of those groups do not have a dedicated home for performances.

Although plans currently call for preserving the building's facade, Ted Flato, founding partner of Lake/Flato Architects, said one unavoidable change is that the existing roofline will need to be raised to achieve the ceiling height needed for good acoustics.

Another problem is the lack of on-site parking. Mayor Phil Hardberger and County Judge Nelson Wolff have been talking with nearby churches and owners of parking garages to create a parking plan for the venue.

“There will be parking. The deal has not been cut,” Hardberger said. “If you don't have the parking, you won't get the people. We realize that.”

The performing arts center foundation is starting an in-depth program study, talking to resident organizations and other performing arts groups to figure out priorities, hall size and acoustic needs.

The foundation also will hire a consultant to help it with a worldwide search for architects, acousticians and designers.

“This will be a very thorough, very methodical process,” said J. Bruce Bugg Jr., who heads the performing arts center foundation.

The architect-hiring and design process will take two years, during which Municipal Auditorium will remain open. Construction then is expected to take another three years.

Bugg said the foundation plans to follow the process used during the recent expansion of the McNay Art Museum. In that, the McNay's board used a consultant to find 30 architects worldwide to consider hiring. Museum trustees narrowed the list to five, from whom they heard proposals before making a final decision.

The performing arts center foundation also is working on a plan to raise $32 million in private funds toward construction and design costs, along with an operations and maintenance fund to help get the center started.

The foundation will operate the center under an agreement with the city and county.
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There's a rendering in the article. I can't wait for this project to kick off! :banana:

Thanks ;) I'm at work right now, so posting pics is tricky.

No problem. Just don't let it happen again. ;)

Happy, Happy to see they will use the '26 building! Look forward to seeing the details! Congrats!

So glad to hear they're keeping it. I hope whatever they do with the roof with it being raised, I hope they retain the style. I LOVE this building. I really need to go explore it some more next month when I'm in town.

The city is finally seeing it's potential. Downtown is going to be awesome!

We're going to pack in the central loop area, aren't we? Yay, new urbanism is going to finally hit central texas!

And with the streetcar, we'll make sure we aren't the last to get reliable local rail service in Texas!

I know! Can we just fast forward 3 or 5 years so we can see the new San Antonio?? :banana:

The squeeze is starting to happen, and those parking lots are suddenly going to become podiums for 20-30 story office/condo buildings.

I'm so happy for the streetcar, though! And it's going down small streets and will more than likely have its own lane in most places. Kaching!

Good things come to those who wait ;) ....like AT&T? :yes:

My theory is that they're waiting for River North to get going

ATTENTION! KSAT is doing a story on light rail tonight.

I'm in Seattle-- can you paraphrase the story when it comes on?

Same here, I'm in Kansas City.

Eh, who am I kidding, I'm sure somebody will post a complete transcript of every word ;)

Evening or at 10?

There's nothing on their site and I haven't seen a spoiler.

Well?

It's only 9:47 CST :-) KSAT comes on at 10

I know, it took me a sec. I just noticed what time it was here and was going to edit it to say something like "Can't wait!"

Bussssssssssssteddddddd

Sorry about the late answer. The 10 PM "Nightbeat".

I just hope, and with KSAT this may be asking for too much, but I just hope it's not a irrelevant piece about how SA last time turned it down but with gas prices the way they are now and will be in the future that the most logical choice for the city is to go with light rail. And then accompanying said piece is shot after shot of 1604 or 281 or 410 congested.

^^ Oh, actually I'm pretty sure that's exactly what it's about

A lot of cities have run pieces like that lately. "Why didn't we do it before? Will this be the time? Probably not, but WHYYYYYYY?"

Now? :(

I'm shocked and not shocked. It wasn't anything like I described above (thank gosh!) and it did shed some new light. However, the entire piece centered around an interview KSAT had with Nelson Wolff and not at any time before they introduced the piece did they actually say that. So that's a not so shocking thing coming from KSAT.

Ok so, here's some new info:

• A study is currently being done and will be finished in the fall.
  
  
• He wants to utilize train lines already in place for the early phases.
  
  
• Wolff wants to possibly involve the Riverwalk extension (museum reach) with light rail. I'm assuming via Broadway St.
  
  
• When funding was brought up, Wolff said he wants to see the federal government spend more on mass transit options and less on highways. There was no clear answer given to that question aside from the feds. However, since it's so early in the process that's understandable.
  
  
• Once the study is complete, Wolff wants to get the ball rolling as quickly as possible.

Good news. He gets things done and he's in league with the people that are in charge of all this.

I think the museum reach will be a longer modern streetcar route from the way it sounds.

i cannot wait for the study now.

my wife and i bought a house in the deco district on fredericksubrg rd partly because of the fact that it is the busiest bus corridor in the city - with hopes that it will be the busiest light rail corridor in the city...

Fredricksburg and Broadway will be the busiest I predict.

How about a light rail line on Military Drive connecting Port San Antonio to Brooks City-Base? Or possibly a street car line.

I could see that being very popular for southsiders.

How will a Military Drive line connect to the other lines?

I assuming there will be a north to south line with stops at Port San Antonio and the future A&M campus.

Well, at least PSA. A&M, dunno-- they're getting commuter rail for sure, so I don't know if they're going to duplicate service.

Dude, that commuter rail is a LOOOOONG shot at best. The city shouldn't depend on that and instead go with a local light rail line.

Also a light or heavy rail line between SA and New Braunfels should also be talked about.

Commuter rail is the most simple thing to implement ever. It took a few years and very little work to get the rail line in the Puget Sound and will take even less time and money to get the rail line in the Detroit metro up and running

Commuter rail won't happen until both SA and Austin have their own light rail.

Highly doubt that, KSAL, especially since commuter rail is its own monster and is so easy to implement. It's regional service, which seems to go over much better than local service like light rail.

Sounder Commuter Rail has been running for near-on a decade in Seattle, and we just now got our first light rail/streetcar line and haven't even opened up an actual light rail system yet.

This isn't the PNW, this is Texas.

Believe us, this's a long shot at best.

Then why is Houston expanding? And Dallas? And why is Austin looking at so many forms of rail?

Opposition to rail in the PNW makes the opposition in Texas look like girl scouts.

I'm not talking about light rail in general or other cities I am specifically talking about the commuter line. It's a long shot.

Looks like the planning and everything is in order. Is it because there's no funding at this point?

That's a major reason as well as other things.

I can definitely see lack of support from the population right here, but I don't see any major obstacles to getting this built.

alexjon - you are an east-side guy right? i just got to thinking...what does the east-side stand to gain from any of this - the commuter rail, light rail, or any of the recent bonds that passed.

if memory serves me, the commuter rail terminal in SA was on the west side of DT, the light rail would take people to ATT Center but probably not do much else for the east, and all of the bonds for river north/south ,soccer fields, performing arts...

i guess the freeman coliseum is getting a makeover, but what will that help mr and ms g or ma harper?

the east side stands to gain the least because it's the smallest.

One of the youth sports fields passed by the bonds will be on the east side.

I'm from the immediate east side, the very north part (if Fort Sam is the barrier between "East" and "Northeast") and it'll get the bulk of benefits of light rail (Broadway line), Streetcar, etc. With intended density boosts to Government Hill, I'm absolutely certain that the streetcar will be extended down Carson or Grayson to the old Fort Sam main gate

The East Side may be the most served part of the area at this rate.

Isn't it mostly just a matter of negotiating with UP or whoever to let ASA use the rail line?

This is exactly how false information gets put out there. Rick Reader comes on here, reads that, and next thing ya know a bunch of people think that its some law that we have to have light rail before we can explore commuter rail. I realize you were just posting your opinion- wrong that it is- but its confusing to those who dont know whats going on.

Since I have clients in Austin, and am up there 3-4 times a month, I've been jonesing for this to happen for some time. So I've been following it pretty closely. Here's where it stands.

1. The planned route would be from the Port of SA (to be used as a maintenance base) and run through DT on existing UP tracks up through New Braunfels, San Marcos, Austin, Round Rock and ending in Georgetown. I believe its 149 miles or so.

2. The Austin San Antonio Intermunicipal Rail Corridor has been formed as the agency to manage the project. All municipalities along the way have joined as members. They have completed their feasibility study and have put in requests for funding at the federal level.

3. The original plans called for using the existing UP trackage, and having UP build a new track parallel outside the cities in rural areas. The stalemate has been that it's gonna cost UP something between $500 million to $2 billion to do so. UP is down for it if the state, feds or cities will pay for it. No one is rushing to the front of that line.

4. The track relocation has been necessary to the project due to the amount of freight traffic on the existing trackage. The rail plan (as envisioned when the feasability study was completed noted commuter surveys that indicated people would only use it if the trip by rail was as fast or shorter than the same ride by car- but its important to note that this is when gas was $1.65 a gallon, not the nearly $4.00 it is now). UP obviously wants its freight to get to it's destination as quick as possible, and cant be forced to share its tracks, and delay its trains to allow a scheduled commuter service go through. So track relocation seemed the best option (except for the huge cash outlay that no one wanted to front). So the ASA sat by and looked for funding to get relocation going. Meanwhile, earlier this year, no one expected....

5. Amtrak sent the ASA a letter of interest in possibly operating the system. This was huge. If Amtrak operated the system for ASA, UP is responsible for the maintenance issues on the track; and most importantly, scheduled Amtrak service has priority over freight traffic, even on UP's own trackage as a part of the 1970 federal Rail Passenger Service Act.

So there we are. Amtrak is reviewing the feasibility study. If they are on-board (pun intended) then it could be a matter of 12-18 months before it gets off the ground, and would be significantly cheaper to the local governments to participate in. Personally, I couldn't imagine the interest not being there with gas what it is now. I drive a F-150 and it now costs me about 65 bucks to make the round trip from my apartment to north Round Rock. I'd gladly cut that by two-thirds and take the train.

Amtrak getting on board was what got BNSF to go ahead with setting up its tracks for usage by the Sounder.

This is why I keep saying this thing is in ink. Funding is going to show up and it'll be a-okay! Have a little faith, y'all

Why I think commuter rail isn't feasible until SA gets light rail is because once you get from Austin to San Antonio, how do you get around? I'm not saying the logistics and details aren't possible, because they are.