SA - Work begins on PGA Resort
 

Work begins at PGA site

Web Posted: 06/01/2007 10:31 PM CDT
http://www.mysanantonio.com/business...t.2d9bdee.html

Melissa S. Monroe
Express-News Business Writer

A month before a deadline to begin construction on the Cibolo Canyons PGA Tour golf resort, Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff said Friday that work was under way.

He made the announcement at the northern Bexar County construction site, with Caterpillar tractors in the background near freshly turned dirt. While "it's been a rocky road," he said, "today you can see construction being done."

The work — on the underground sewage system — actually was not visible from the news conference because some blasting was taking place near the work site. The sewage work began a little more than a week ago, and construction on the golf courses will begin later this month or early in July.

"This is going to be a top environmental project that you won't see anywhere in the state of Texas," Wolff said at a media conference at the Cibolo Canyons construction site. "It's on schedule, and it's meeting the requirements for the nonannexation agreement."

Wolff worked with San Antonio-area legislators to push the deal through.

A PGA Tour representative has said the project will generate more than 2,000 permanent jobs, 5,000 construction jobs and more than $1 billion in tax revenues during the next 25 years.

The 29-year nonannexation agreement, which allows the operator of the resort to use its own tax proceeds to fund improvements on the property, would have expired next month if construction had not started by July 1. That deadline was approved in October, when the City Council approved a six-month extension of the construction date.

The agreement also stated that project developers must meet certain construction deadlines, wage guarantees and environmental safeguards. Developers also were given 18 months to complete construction after the July 1 start date.

Throughout the eight-year fight to build the resort, opponents have expressed concerns that the golf courses would endanger San Antonio's water source since they're partly over the Edwards Aquifer recharge zone and would use Edwards water.

"On behalf of Save Our Aquifer, it's a sad day for democracy and the people of San Antonio for generations to come, especially at a time when water is precious around world," said Amy Kastely, a pro bono attorney representing Save Our Aquifer. "San Antonio will be known as a city willing to pollute one of the world's largest aquifers merely to have a playground for the rich."

Even though the city has been pressing for work to go forward, issues with the Marriott parent company have delayed developer Forestar Real Estate, formerly Lumbermen's Investment Corp., said John Pierret, executive vice president of Forestar development.

Marriott had faced some setbacks because of high oil prices following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Pierret said. The company also wanted to have full construction drawings done of the 1,000-room JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort and Spa before work began.

The hotel originally was planned with 800 rooms. The plans were expanded last year.

Pierret said he had hoped work would start last year. Marriott chose not to comment at Friday's news conference and funneled media questions through Pierret.

The JW Marriott, Marriott's high-end brand, will be one of the largest hotels in San Antonio when completed in January 2010. It will feature 138,000 square feet of meeting space, a 40,000-square-foot ballroom and a 26,000-square-foot spa. The grounds of the hotel will mirror the natural Hill Country landscape to provide a habitat for deer, birds and other wildlife.

Along with the hotel, two 18-hole courses also will be completed by 2010 to be a part of the Tournament Players Clubs network that hosts many PGA Tours. Golf industry legends Pete Dye and Greg Norman will design the courses.

In contrast to the hotel, the residential portion of the project has been going full speed ahead with about 500 of the 1,800 lots sold to home developers.

The Cibolo Canyons residential community will have homes ranging from the $200,000s to the million-dollar mark. An amenity center, currently under construction, will include a lazy river, lap pool, soccer field and community meeting areas.

Construction also is under way for Cibolo Canyons Parkway to Evans Road, which is expected to be completed this fall.

Pierret said it has taken him almost eight years to see this project come to life, and Wolff added that it has been Pierret's tenacity that has seen it come this far.

"With San Antonio's climate and terrain, there's no reason why San Antonio shouldn't be a great golf destination," Wolff said.

Renderings:
http://www.jwsanantonio.com/resort-p...ges/tour_1.jpg
http://www.jwsanantonio.com/resort-p...ges/tour_5.jpg
http://www.jwsanantonio.com/resort-p...ges/tour_2.jpg
http://www.jwsanantonio.com/resort-p...ges/tour_4.jpg
http://www.jwsanantonio.com/resort-p...ges/tour_6.jpg
http://www.jwsanantonio.com/resort-p...ges/tour_3.jpg

Nice...looks like 8 stories on the tallest building...

wow, that looks great!

That pool area is incredibly huge.

Nice

Recent aerial of Lady Bird Johnson High School being built near the PGA resort.

http://www.sahelicopter.com/images/B...eRd.School.jpg

The road to the left is Bulverde and the road at the bottom under construction is Cibolo Canyon Parkway.

Yeah, not bad. I'd say 80 feet or so on the lowest part of the roof, and around 100 feet to the very highest part.

actually cibolo canyon parkway doesn't start until you east of bulverde road. the segment you are speaking of is actually the extension of stone oak parkway (check it out) http://www.cibolocanyons.com/NewMap1.html

im not trying to sound rude by correcting you!

With the three projects at Stone Oak Parkway and 281, the PGA resort and all the housing going up in that general area, why are people fighting for 281 not to be tolled???

Because the money for non-tolled improvements was allocated for 281 but TxDot spent it on non highway related projects. That what i've been hearing anyways.

Cause it's all about the rumors on the forum here lately.

With the exception of landscaping and the occasional highway rest stop, TxDOT is pretty much limited to spending its funds on actual transportation projects. On the otherhand, the state legislature can divert funds from TxDOT earmarks, or taxes that were dedicated to transportation infrastructure projects (like how they do with the lottery by telling us it goes to the doe-eyed school childeren of texas, when in fact it all gets deposited into the states general fund, and then education is funded directly out of the general fund - but lotto sales dont go directly to education)

The money for the non-tolled construction inprovments to 281 is still there; however the problem is that because of lawsuits, injunctions by individuals who claim to be speaking on all our behalfs (i wasnt consulted) and development delays, a project that could be completed for $100 million in 1999 dollars, would now complete about half the project. No one seems to understand the incredible construction inflation that is hitting the area here. Hurricanes Rita and Katrina with Iraq raised the cost of fuel and materials produced from petrolium. The hurricanes drove up the cost of materials because of supply and demand as there is now a huge demand for cosntruction materials on the US gulf coast. Add in China's unquenchable thirst for steel (also a large part of construction projects) and the fact that yankees and west-coasters WONT QUIT MOVING HERE, necessitating more housing and the current rate of construction inflation has been between 8% to 20% over the last 6 years or so.

Your ever-increasing home appraisal valuations are proof of this trend. Another example: I'm wondering what it cost to build O'Connor HS a decade ago versus what it is costing to build Brandeis right now. Same size schools, same student population in the same part of San Antonio - just 2.5 miles from each other, yet Brandeis is slated to cost $80 MILLION. I can guess O'Connor was in the $40-$50 Million range. The oldest school with bond information available is Warren (Opened in 2002), and it only cost $52 Million (but was budgeted for $42 Million). All these schools are increasing in cost, and are exceeding their budgets because of this construction inflation. Most of these only had a 3 year lag time between funding and construction. Take a project like 281 which was funded 7 years ago and it's pretty clear that TxDOT just cant stretch the dollar far enough.

Of course the secret reason people don't want tolls on 281 is because folx in small-town SA just cant get cosmopolitan enough to wrap their big-red soaked brains around the concept of having to pay to drive on a highway. Every other descent sized metro in Texas has 'em, smaller and larger.

I don't live over there so the soccer moms and retirees are busy making their beds and they can lie in it for all I care. I actually cant wait till a commute from Bulverde to DT takes an hour while a similar length drive from Fair oaks takes half the time. I'll be the first damn one to remind them why they are in such a mess. Enjoy the smog, jack-asses.

Wow. That, my friends, is a post. :yes:

^^^ Yes, yes it is.

I love golf. This will be an awesome addition to San Antonio!!

he's so right... and i say that because i live @ 281 and bulverde rd... right in the middle of all that shit!

pure speculation
 

i think the bottom line is, zachary is busy working on the 410-airport interchange. soon as that is over, and they don't get any other lucrative contracts, we will probably see 281 worked on.

the toll road project stalled right about when the airport interchange started.

Actually, construction stopped because of a lawsuit.

The SA Chamber newsletter mentions this here:
http://www.sachamber.org/councils/aci/Advocate.html
The court upheld the lawsuit which put a halt to construction on the starter toll system located on US 281. In their lawsuit, both groups claim that TxDOT failed to comply with the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act in regards to the Environmental Impact Analysis.

You can read about the impetus for the suit here:
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/tra....17e19556.html
Bureaucratic bungling let raw sewage intermittently seep into Edwards Aquifer recharge zone land for almost a month, environmental activists said Wednesday...

If you want to know why some are against the 281 toll, go to the source:
http://satollparty.com/index.php

I can understand feeling cheated when they turn existing roads into tolls. Tolls have traditionally been alternate routes that are built to alleviate the traffic on major thoroughfares and these are paid for with the toll. In this case, the toll is to begin construction sooner. Although, the toll would never go away.

The people who live north of 1604 should have known a commute would be slow. Like the point/counter-point segment in the movie Airplane! says:
"Shanna, they bought their tickets, they knew what they were getting into. I say, let 'em crash":cheers:

And that my friends, is how rumors get turned into fact and become fuel for the anti-toll folks.

Speaking of speculation, Zachary isn't building the 410-airport interchange. Williams Brothers Construction is the contractor. But whatever, right? I'm not one to let the facts get in the way of a good conspiracy theory.

Drive by the site sometime and read the signage.

:previous:

man on a mission!!!

i would have corrected him sooner if i had seen it myself... but txlifeguard is doing a pretty damn good job of setting the record straight (or in my case forward...LOL) and putting up the facts!

and not to use trafficdogn as an example, but the truth is, that kind of uninformed input is the exact same that the BITCH terri hall used, to have the the toll roads stopped! she doesn't care about the environment yet she acted like she did and got all those "save our aquafer" people to rally on her side. the woman doesn't even drive down 281 often whatsover; she lives in spring branch and has kids she homeschools and if she needs to get groceries or anything else she can go to the HEB or home depot in BULVERDE which is 5 miles south of her!

i'm not gonna go on anymore.. she makes my bloodpressure skyrocket!