Reinvesting in Downtown San Antonio Top Priority
Great article about the soon to be downtown renaissance which centers around Hemisfair Park.
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The Local Government Corporation (LGC) has yet to meet amongst themselves (let alone the public) and O.P.'s Mr. Smith is sharing a plan to move Marmon Moks's iconic HemisFair '68 Theatre (John Woods courthouse)?...how much will that cost? Will we also be moving the Tower of the America's and the HemisFair '68 Mosaic Mural on the facade of the facility that Marmon Mok is in the process of renovating?
Certainly, before announcing that we are going to rip into what is widely recognized as our city's most important 20th century event/legacy, it would be prudent to consult with the citizens of San Antonio at large. Mayor Castro, in the article above, recognizes that "HemisFair" is tied to our identity....or does he? Let's take a few steps back and start with the analysis of the LGC's business plan and financial scenarios .... oops? |
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The John Woods Courthouse was outgrown many years ago. I think the plan is to build a new Federal Courthouse where the Police HQ's is at. I think it is in next years budget with the GSA for the courthouse to get designed with construction to start in fiscal year 2011. Oh, and I don't think the Tower is going to be moved. Also, I think this planning is due to the fact that the Federal Courthouse is set to move, not the other way around. Nothing wrong with making some plans a couple of years early instead of letting the land sit unused. Anybody else see the work done on the Hayes St. Bridge? |
You're correct, the Tower will stay. The concern is that the courthouse is part of an "ensemble" of architectural modernism that represents both our city's identity and our city's most important 20th century event....this is why the 1988 ordinance renamed these grounds "HemisFair" Park is it not??
That engineering firms HAVE ALREADY provided cost estimates to physically uproot the HemisFair '68 Theatre (courthouse) is concerning. Vigorous and transparent dialogue about adaptive reuse needs to be the first step. |
Don, you have a much higher option of those Hemisfair buildings than most of us that is for sure.
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I had to wait and sit a minute to think of what kind of reuse this could be turned into; the courthouse itself is a nice looking building (as we can see in your pic.) Took me back to a couple of weeks ago when I was in DC and took a little tour into the Old Post Office Pavillion. For those who haven't been, the Old Post Office was outgrown in 15 years, and you can read the rest of the history on the webpage. While walking through it, I couldn't imagine them wanting to tear it down. Plus, it now offers some of the best views of the District. I too think that reuse should be considered. The elimination of the fed building, not the courthouse, would still give plenty of space, especially if the parking lots disappear as well. |
http://www.marmonmok.com/about/class...r-hemisfair/#1
http://www.marmonmok.com/about/class...high-school/#1 Agreed, the Fed Building is post '68, A footnote in the history books is sufficient. |
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Hemisfair was created to be a moment in time event. We should remember it, not dwell on it. Tear down the Courthouse and Federal Building and reinvite Marmon Mok to create a similar design reflecting the Hemisfair '68 experience, maybe with a marriage of Hemisfair architectual styles. As long the Tower, the Convention Center, the artificial Riverwalk Extension area, and the Hilton Hotel are still around, the imprint of Hemisfair will persist. The rest of the buildings can be footnotes in the history books. |
When was there ever a time San Antonio didn't invest in its downtown?
After 40 years of investing, ever since the Hemisfare in the late 1960s, the central business district should be able to walk by itself by now instead of crawling. My only conclusion is that past public investments in the CBD weren't wisely chosen. |
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The city hasn't had a pointed investment in downtown in decades. The last "investment" before the Main Plaza redevelopment was Henry Cisneros' East Houston reworking, which narrowed it to two lanes by the Alamo. Your conclusions are often wrong. |
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Like I wrote before, past investments by the city may have poorly chosen or as I add now, poorly placed. |
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Again, not many if any since Hemisfair. |
Actually, there have been several investments in downtown and some have not turned out well. Some have been public/private projects.
Remember the pink elephant? This was the west side shopping center on the site that is now UTSA downtown (the Radisson is all that is left). There was the major street repair (you know, all of the paving stones). There's the Central Library, the international center, the convention center expansion. Houston Street was mainly done by a developer from Maryland. The city did, however, limit the road to 2 lanes and widen the sidewalks. But in retrospect, some of these were things the city had no business getting involved in (like the shopping center and the convention center hotel). A lot of what they do is short-sighted. The arena should have been downtown. I can't see how anyone can argue against that. I suppose we could start a hindsight thread, so I'll stop. I worry about the rush to do away, or transform Hemisfair Park. There is no way that this is the key to downtown development. There are plenty of other lots available for development. Maybe the city can light a fire under downtown land owners who are letting their property rot by fining them for creating a public hazard. Giving them incentive to sell. I get the bad feeling that some sweetheart deal is the catalyst for doing something here. "Mixed use development" is not a vision, it's business as usual. How vague can you be? I see "growth and prosperity"! My personal feeling is that Hemisfair can be incorporated into the convention center and that the lot where the old SAWS building was/is should used for a transportation hub (it's in between the major east/west downtown roads, close to all highways and near the tracks at Sunset Station). |
Increasing the downtown population from 3,500 to 10,000+ residents is a wonderful objective. What's our objective to proportionately increase our downtown green space (at a minimum hold the line)?
As packaged and sold to the public, the close to $80 million on the Museum reach (and growing) was made to bring these residents and mixed-use projects. It's interesting that Castro's comment that the people are looking for drycleaners was in bold.. who else wants a drycleaners in HemisFair Park? Future generations will be better served by consolidating our central park. Seriously, can we not think about skyscrapers (buffer/density) on the south side of Durango? |
Transportation hub on the north side of the convention center (or Sunset Station area) = excellent idea/amentiy for our downtown visitors (especially business & tourist).
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This is the overarching problem with Hemisfair Plaza - it's an confused collection of dreary, dated "modern" buildings, segregated by uses and physically removed from the fabric of the rest of downtown. It's the posterchild of the worst sort of Robert Moses-inspired "planning" efforts from the middle of last century. It's the polar opposite of an authentic urban neighborhood, and a miserable use of public property. As I mentioned, the central city has great public spaces (and other important civic amenities). What it doesn't have (and desperately needs) is a critical mass of medium-density residential, built in accordance with the principles of the new urbanism (compact, walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods). That's not to say that the redevelopment of Hemisfair shouldn't contain parks/plazas/etc/; it absolutely should. But on the hierarchy of things to be concerned about, a lack of "green space" is pretty low on the list. Finally, the overall tone of your posts suggests a cynicism about the motives of the people trying to create a more livable central city. I hope that's not the case. Chad. |
Why would a transit hub be needed at the SAWS location when the Robert Thompson Transit Station/Sunset Station is 200 yards to the east?
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I think "drycleaners" is a general placeholder for local serving retail and services. I'm not quite sure if he was recommending that we put a drycleaners at Hemisfair. I think the idea is to have a healthy blend of projects on the site and in DT as a whole. If we use the site for 1 or 2 things, aren't we just going to use suburban-style development techniques to develop/create an urban public space? In suburban-style planning, "green space" means "nothing." People would rather have "nothing" next to them than an actual park or public area. |
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The SAWS site could have (big) parking garages built with pickup and drop off areas for buses, hotel vans and taxis, relatively easy access to Sunset Station, or maybe even a streetcar that runs down commerce from Sunset Station to UTSA. Wouldn't it be nice to reduce the downtown traffic? The site is huge (not really sure how much they could use). Do they really want to expand the convention center to an area that will be surrounded by roads and highway? Wouldn't it be nicer to expand into Hemisfair and incorporate what is there? |
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Garage with skywalks going over Commerce and Market to the convention hotels. I don't know what the Thompson Transit Station is used for either, but with some improvements, it could be useful. I know that VIA now plans to use it for charging up the batteries on their new buses they plan to roll out next spring. Reducing traffic downtown would be nice. I've always hoped that 1 lane could be made a full bike lane to have only 2 full lanes and a bus/right-turn lane. Do we really need 4 lanes? |
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The park is largely being used for children's amentities, cultural events, gallery/museum space and non-profit establishments like the Parks Foundation. Consolidating HemisFair's present uses with a Calvert Vaux / conservatory strategy will deliver far greater benefits than could ever be derived from an "undemocratic vision" of medium-density, mixed-income housing ..... POLAR OPPOSITES. I appreciate your "dreary modern" interpretation. I on the other hand believe the "Confluence Theatre" is a historic example of public art that is a creation of San Antonio's own genius. Its new formalism design still makes perfect dialogue with Ford's Tower of The America's. Fortunately, the Cyrus Wagner designed HemisFair '68 Women's Pavilion already has obtained protection, although I understand that a few LGC directors will attempt to reverse this decision so a greater density of mixed use condominiums can be layered around the edge of the park. Removing the Conlience Theatre from HemisFair distorts our city's history. Public discussion is warranted, and I hope the LGC professionally can handle this hot potato. |
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