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Old Posted Feb 2, 2010, 6:08 AM
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KevinFromTexas KevinFromTexas is offline
Meh
 
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: there and back again
Posts: 57,324
Well no, I don't pretend to be an expert in economics.

Quote:
Originally Posted by tgannaway89
This increased the need for restaurants, hotels, stores, etc. in the area. Did that happen? No.
The reason for that thus far is that area of town is still zoned industrial. Even if the demand was there and even if a developer wanted to build there, they would first have to request a zoning change from the City. I think the AT&T Center was a poor example of your's for urban renewal or some attempt at it. That area is heavily industrial. Nevermind needing rezoning permits, where would the displaced industrial go if it were to move? That is a decent area for industrial since there's a Union Pacific(?) line through there. The reason the areas like those around the JW Marriott and 1604 grow like wildfires is that they require no rezoning. It's largely vacant land that hasn't even been zoned yet for one particular use. It's hard to move a city's industrial district or even chop it for new development. It's much easier to build farther out when the only things standing in your way are trees.

Quote:
Originally Posted by tgannaway89
These companies have spent just as much (even more in some cases) to build their sprawling suburban campuses versus a large high-rise downtown. Even a company located downtown (think AT&T) can pick up and move at any time.
That goes back to what I was talking about. The fact that none of these San Antonio companies are investing in downtown or building their headquarters there doesn't just say they don't have faith in downtown, but might not be fully committed to San Antonio. I really sort of saw the AT&T move to Dallas coming. The San Antonio forumers always hoped and called for AT&T to build a nice new headquarters downtown, but when they never did I took it as a sign they weren't planning on staying around. What the city should be doing is giving those companies incentives to stay and doing things downtown to entice them to move there, instead of nearly outside the city.

Quote:
Originally Posted by tgannaway89
I never claimed that a college student would (or could even afford to) purchase a condo. There is high-rise college student apartments under construction in Austin (such as 21 Rio).
That was my fault for not reading your post clearly enough. At first I thought you had said college students, not college professors.

Quote:
Originally Posted by tgannaway89
Most of "downtown San Antonio" is tourist oriented. Most of the high-rises are hotels. The historic San Antonio you (and most other visitors) see when they travel here is not the same city us residents see.
That's sad.

Quote:
Originally Posted by wwmiv
Um. 21Rio is a proposal that has three towers: A hotel, luxury condos, and apartments. It isn't under construction. Not even close. AND no college student could afford the price they will be asking.
He's talking about 21Rio, an 18-story, 236 foot apartment tower in West Campus. You're talking about 21C, which is in downtown. Two VERY different projects. 21Rio is complete and occupied, and 21C is still proposed.
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