This makes sense.

I thought this would have been a good option for USAA when they announced they were expanding but instead opted to stay outside the loop. Then they ended up buying property downtown anyway.

This seemed like the obvious choice especially after Beneby left and you always knew cost was going to be the big factor with a public utility.

This campus will do a lot to fill up the space between downtown proper and River North, and it opens up the CPS tower for something new. But 2019?!

I would imagine that the significant renovations and possible construction of a parking garage (only like 100 parking lot spaces at the buildings now) would be what is guiding that move. Then add on top of that the time they'll have to spend planning out who goes where in the building, 2019 doesn't seem so far away! All in all, very exciting! The timeline matches up with Frost Tower and San Pedro Creek--2019 cannot get here fast enough

At least they're renovating them. They could end up with a new facade.

Yes! I'm definitely hoping for a new facade or something new to give it a fresh look. I wish AT&T would remodel the current building they're in. That ugly box building.

I'm willing to bet that the only significant exterior renovations will involve connecting the buildings to the river and creating space for businesses to operate. I could see a cafe and a bar opening there. It would be a pretty nice work environment if the employees' needs for lunch and happy hour were both met inside their building, and along the river no less.

Also, something that hasn't been mentioned yet is the space along Villita street this deal creates. Maybe residential will take over the old headquarters, or maybe offices for new tech companies. Or maybe they'll knock the dang thing over and start again.

From what I've been hearing, Spoiler is right on the money. CPS is going to try to keep the exterior renovations to a minimum (tough to justify when taxpayers fund you), but they will improve connectivity to the River. It's going to be so cool! I think a café or even a big cafeteria (like SAWS has) wouldn't be out of the question. I can also see a bunch of restaurants popping up around to service all those people.

Again, agreed with Spoiler--the most exciting part of this are the possibilities with CPS's current buildings. I love those buildings! CPS has a lot of leverage owning them. I hope they consider using the buildings as a bargaining chip to lure a company to relocate here from out of town. Aka, Company XYZ can go in the building for free or next to nothing if they move from another city or Downtown. With the new CEO of the EDF as a former CPS VP, this doesn't seem too far-fetched to me... Am I crazy?

"Also, something that hasn't been mentioned yet is the space along Villita street this deal creates. Maybe residential will take over the old headquarters, or maybe offices for new tech companies. Or maybe they'll knock the dang thing over and start again."

Well, one of the buildings is a former Mexican Consulate or something like that, and definitely has historical significance. It's kind of small, so maybe a boutique hotel, or some kind of historical center?

The newer building across the street has always seemed a waste of space to me. There are only 4-5 floors of usable space on top, with the rest being a parking garage, (and still employees had to park across the street as well.No wonder they need a bigger space), which I can't see being used as any kind of hotel or condo venture as is.

I wasn't referring to the Mexican Consulate, which is still the Mexican Consulate. I'm referring to the two buildings connected by an upper-story walkway.

I never liked that there was a parking garage bumping up against historic La Villita. If someone could propose something really nice that blends with La Villita, I would be in favor of razing the garage. I would miss that sky bridge. I think that is the only sky bridge in downtown, for sure it's the tallest one in downtown.
The current parking lot across the street I have always imagined a Flatiron type building like in New York at the corner of the St. Marys, Navarro street split. Of course the back of this dream building would go around the Mexican Consulate.

You got me.
 

My bad. Ever so sorry.

Still think the parking garage is an eyesore, and not very useful as is.

Yeah, that building bugs me too. I don't like that it's built over Villita street. I don't like the way it looks. I don't like Riverwalk property in the heart of the heart of downtown being misused for parking. Knock it down!

I think by itself it wouldn't be the worst (if nothing else, it has a nice shady arcade on the Navarro St side. But the fact that it kind of looms over La Villita (especially with that huge blank wall) is unacceptable imo.

i LOVE this project if it actually looks likes this.

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanantoni...to-new-hq.html

Very nice addition along that portion of the Riverwalk!!
It looks modern and polished!:cheers:

Wondering about the night time lighting....
Hopefully it will not change too much, as these are preliminary design plans.

I'm definitely here for that design. I was hoping someone would do something like that with those buildings. Now if only AT&T would renovate their building, that'd be great.

Cool! I didn't realize they were planning on doing so much renovation work to those towers. This looks infinitely better than they do now.

http://media.bizj.us/view/img/102211...hq-sketch3.png

for those who don't want to click on the Bizjournals article.

I was curious about how they would dress up those buildings. That is much more of a makeover than I thought they would do. It looks very promising.

Not bad at all. Quite the upgrade from the look of the site currently.

Beautiful design. So happy to see CPS utilizing the extra space on top of their new parking garage for solar panels, but I'm wondering what they be powering? Parking garage lights maybe?