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{SA} 300 Houston - Downtown Mixed-Use

300 Houston

Located in the center of San Antonio's historic Houston Street Corridor, 300 Houston is a 54,000 s.f. , mixed-use development for Federal Realty Investment Trust. The newly designed project seeks to enhance the streetscape and improve the marketability of the property by providing a new, modern structure with intricate brick detailing that complements the surrounding buildings. The design allows for flexible lease space capabilities as well as much needed downtown parking.

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http://www.douglasarchitects.net/ind...s/300__Houston

http://www.douglasarchitects.net/var...s/houston1.jpg

http://www.mysanantonio.com/business...8.2ec0dca.html

Quote:

Downtown demolition to clear path for new project

Web Posted: 04/08/2008 08:16 PM CDT

Creighton A. Welch
Express-News Business Writer

Demolition crews began making way for a new mixed-use project downtown Tuesday morning, demolishing the building that previously housed the defunct Mando's seafood restaurant -- known for its shrimp tacos -- at the corner of Navarro and College streets.

Crews will work their way along Navarro toward Houston Street, eventually demolishing the former Walgreens and Stuarts buildings in a clearing process expected to last six weeks.

But by the end of 2008, a new 54,000-square-foot building called 300 Houston Street will open on the site. It again will house a Walgreens in a 16,500-square-foot space, about twice as much space as its former site. The nearby Nix Medical Center will occupy the second floor with administrative offices, and there will be 1,600 square feet available for a retailer along Houston Street at the former Stuarts location.

By mid afternoon Tuesday, a yellow Caterpillar backhoe perched atop the small mountain of concrete and shredded timber left over from the demolition job. The only sign that a seafood eatery once stood there was a faded red lobster painted on the single narrow sliver of wall still standing.

Louis Medina, a bellman at the nearby Hilton Palacio del Rio hotel, said he was saddened by the destruction. During his 25 years with the hotel, he'd become accustomed to seeing the old building.

"It's been around so many years -- generations, decades," he said.

But the project's architect says it's a development whose time has come.

"300 Houston Street will bring new energy to Houston Street as a quality redevelopment that will complement the existing streetscape while providing some much-needed modern retail and office space," said architect Andrew Douglas, principal at Douglas Architects.

The developer of the project, Federal Realty Investment Trust, owns the land under the name Street Retail San Antonio LP and owns several other properties along Houston Street, including Hotel Valencia.

"This project sets the gold standard for downtown development, and it sends the message that not only is downtown San Antonio open for business, it is thriving," said Bebb Francis, a development adviser for Street Retail San Antonio.

Of the buildings set to be demolished, it seems the old Walgreens building, with its retro signage and tiled exterior, is the one San Antonians are most nostalgic about.

"It's been amazing how many people stop us on the street and say they miss the Walgreens," Francis said.

As a concession to that nostalgia, developers chose to keep the original Walgreens sign, which was hung in 1936, on the new building.

"In interviewing people about the importance of Walgreens downtown, we learned that the one feature people remembered was the Walgreens sign," Francis said. "Everybody remembered coming downtown and seeing that sign."

One downtown worker, Daisun Derijk, said he shopped at the old Walgreens all the time, but was ambivalent about its impending demolition -- partly because he knew Walgreens would be coming back as a tenant.

"I suppose we have to become a real city at some point," he said.

The new structure will be two stories -- the same height as other buildings along that stretch of Houston Street.

"The design in this urban context of Houston Street, unlike a suburban big-box retail center, is derived from the character of the street and the pedestrian experience," Douglas said.

Though the new site will have one building, the façade will be designed to look like two, to help give the retail space along Houston Street its own identity.

Douglas said the retail space will have 18-foot ceilings, an open floor plan and large glass windows along Houston Street, what modern retailers are looking for.

Francis says he expects that in the next six months, there will be more redevelopment activity along Houston Street, and not just from the 300 Houston Street project.

http://mysa.mycapture.com/PHOTOS/MYS...os/235826E.jpg
Demolition of Mando's Restaurant. Corner of Navarro and College Streets. Pictures taken from the Nix Medical Building by Joan Korte with an iphone. Submitted April 8, 2008

http://mysa.mycapture.com/PHOTOS/MYS...os/235814E.jpg
Demolition of Mando's Restaurant. Corner of Navarro and College Streets. Pictures taken from the Nix Medical Building by Joan Korte with an iphone. Submitted April 8, 2008

Good Lord! Is it really so viable that they must still build only two-story structures downtown!? There will never be any density at this rate if all we build is parking lots and one and two story structures.

Perhaps they are trying to make it pedestrian friendly.

not very smart to demolish a d/t building and replace it with only 2 floors. not good use of space

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xeelee (Post 3473742)

Perhaps they are trying to make it pedestrian friendly.

What.

Quote:

Originally Posted by adtobias (Post 3473800)

not very smart to demolish a d/t building and replace it with only 2 floors. not good use of space

i recall reading awhile back that the building was becoming unsafe because of its age...

since it is in an historic area, the hdrc only approved a redesign that kept with the buildings original scale.

hope that clears up the confusion as to why they would bulldoze and not add height...:yes:

http://www.mysanantonio.com/business...s.2f27b53.html

from a 02.2008 article in the express-news...

Quote:

But go, it must. The floor undulates in places where the 100-year-old timber beneath warps and contorts. The basement, with its limestone walls, is crammed with empty shelves, the inventory having long been sold or shipped to other stores. Alvea points to spots where 4-by-4 wooden beams have been clamped together to keep the floor from crashing into the storage area.

A conveyor belt runs down from the street where the merchandise comes in. Another conveyor takes the goods up to the sales floor. Workers have to duck through parts of the basement where heating and air-conditioning ducts were added during one of a number of renovations.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sakyle04 (Post 3474064)

That's it, time for HDRC to go the way of Old Yeller.

Quote:

Originally Posted by oldmanshirt (Post 3474152)

That's it, time for HDRC to go the way of Old Yeller.

:twoguns: --> HDRC... :yes:

from complex01 in 2006 (full conversation with the link):

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/arch.../t-120235.html

Quote:

Historic and Design Review Commission

December 06, 2006

HDRC CASE NO: 2006-368

IDENTIFIER: Stuarts Bldg.

ADDRESS: 306 East Houston St.

REQUEST:

The applicant is requesting a Certificate of Appropriateness for Final Approval to demolish the Stuarts building under the city’s UDC requirements for unreasonable economic hardship and unusual and compelling circumstances. This is based on the financial burden of structural deficiencies, dilapidated buildings systems and non-conforming buildings requirements which hinder the redevelopment of the existing structure.
Applicant plans to construct new buildings at this site and state the will lead be developed according to the Houston Street Guidelines.

RECOMMENDATION:

The staff recommends denial of demolition based on economic hardship and approval of demolition based on unusual and compelling circumstances.

UNREASONABLE ECONOMIC HARDSHIP

Staff recommends denial of the demolition based on Economic Hardship. The applicant had failed to provide a preponderance of evidence supporting economic hardship. 1) The applicant is a sophisticated entity in the real estate industry, aware at the time of purchase in 1998 of the historic regulations associated with these two buildings. 2) The buildings have intrinsic value. The City had determined in 1987 that these buildings had value to the people of San Antonio and the designated them as significant landmarks. 3) The restoration and rehabilitation of these buildings will allow the owner to realize a profit.

UNUSUAL AND COMPELLING CIRCUMSTANCES

The staff recommends approval of the application for demolition based on Unusual and Compelling Circumstances.

The Definite plans for the site:

The applicant had presented to the Demolition and Architectural HDRC Committee two concepts for this corner. One is a two story structure with retail on the first level and office on the second level. The other is a five story building with retail on the first level, parking on the second level, and condominiums on the top three floors.

Sweet! Street level retail is always smart in a CBD. And low level buildings just mean the other space downtown will have that much higher a need for verticality.

That's a good point, I suppose. And with 18ft ceilings it'll be a tall 2 stories. But its still aggravating, as there's absolutely no reason this shouldn't be 3 or 4 stories, aside from some seemingly arbitrary rule enforced by a stupid, draconian committee that has become more antiquated than the architecture and design they're supposed to be "protecting".

I just can't shake the thought that this project would look more at home in downtown Kerrville than downtown SA.

still not good use of limited space