South Flores Arts District or more commonly referred to as:
By M.D. Kinkade
A small, graffiti-scrawled office with a large window and broken door stands out like the ugliest duckling at a swan reunion.
A chain-link fence separates the rubble-strewn former used-car lot from its South Flores Street neighbors. It seems to quietly watch as the warehouses, buildings and industrial spaces between Durango Boulevard and Cevallos Street are transformed into lofts, living spaces and art galleries.
It's only a matter of time before the useless abandoned lot is swept up in the growing development of SoFlo, San Antonio's newest downtown neighborhood. Would-be urban dwellers who don't want to pay premium prices for luxury addresses in the city center are increasingly looking to carve their niche out of SoFlo's long-dormant existing buildings and spaces.
"There is a tremendous stock of quirky under-utilized structures and empty sites just waiting for creative inspiration and the urban pioneering spirit," says Mike McGlone, a principal at Alamo Architects. His firm recently relocated to SoFlo from the King William District. The firm revitalized 14,000 square feet of existing space - and even recycled much of the materials - to create a building that is part homage to the industrial past and part picture of things to come.
With city and county offices to the north and an emerging art scene to the south, SoFlo has the potential to be one of San Antonio's unique addresses.
"It reminds me, in a way, of the gritty urbanity of the SoHo and Tribeca areas of lower Manhattan in the '70s and early '80s where people were living and working in lofts above steel shelving manufacturers or rag merchants, and eating and drinking at the local neighborhood tavern or Chinese restaurants," McGlone says.
SoFlo development got a kick-start in 2003 when artist, developer and noted local philanthropist Linda Pace opened Camp Street Lofts at South Flores and Camp streets (shown above). The district's proximity to King William, the Blue Star arts compound and the emerging Southtown scene - and the abundance of available space for transformation - has enticed a host of developers to put their mark on the area.
Whiddon Development Co. is building luxury townhomes near South Alamo, while an Austin developer is converting the 93-year-old Peden Iron and Steel Co. building to upscale condominiums. Whiddon also redeveloped a 1925 fire station as two 2,500-square-foot condos.
San Antonio developer Dan Markson is planning market-rate apartments in a 10-acre tract of urban industrial space near Cevallos Street. Even the long-empty Judson Candy Co. - a unique space that has had many suitors but no buyers since closing in the 1990s - is being developed as loft spaces.
SoFlo's bohemian vibe comes from a growing arts scene, including a cluster of art galleries known collectively as the South Flores Arts District. Six up-and-coming arts complexes make up the district, including Gallista, Fl!ght, Lonestar Studios, One9Zero6, Salon Mijangos and Triangle Project Space. Because the arts center straddles South Flores Street and Lone Star Boulevard.
And the art scene is growing. For example, Bill FitzGibbons, executive director of Blue Star Contemporary Art Center, along with his wife Ann, are working with the city to develop a mixed-use space featuring artist spaces and condos at the intersection of South Flores and Lone Star.
Alamo's McGlone sees SoFlo as a unique feature on San Antonio's downtown profile. "It will be a vibrant, mixed-use neighborhood, filled with traditional and new uses, accessible by pedestrians, bikes and public transit. It will be woven into the fabric of the river, the near West Side, King William and downtown," he says. "It has the opportunity to be San Antonio's first real 'new neighborhood.' "
With prices ranging from $145,000 to about $600,000, SoFlo is affordable for suburban dwellers interested in city living and urban dwellers looking for a change.
But SoFlo faces the same challenges other downtown developments have faced. The retail and services common to most suburban neighborhoods haven't established a significant foothold in the area.
The solution, McGlone says, lies in the build-it-and-they-will-come theory. "In the short term, (SoFlo) needs more residents. More residents will create the demand for more local retail and services at the scale of a traditional pedestrian neighborhood."
If more residents are the key to long-term success, SoFlo is well on its way. Lofts, condominiums and townhomes are sold before they are finished, and more are being built every day as people tune in to the vibe coming from San Antonio's new neighborhood.
"There is a tremendous energy and enthusiasm about the place," McGlone says. "Being a part of it at the beginning is very exciting. And I believe that there is a place for everyone."