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Reinvesting in Downtown San Antonio Top Priority
Great article about the soon to be downtown renaissance which centers around Hemisfair Park.
Quote:
Reinvesting in San Antonio’s downtown is priority
Mayor targets HemisFair Park as a key step
San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro believes that the Alamo City is on the verge of a center city renaissance. He says the next 10 years can and should be “the decade of downtown.”
But the key to any such sustained reinvestment in downtown, he contends, is the revitalization of HemisFair Park, site of a World’s Fair more than 40 years ago. Castro says he is convinced that the elements are finally in place for such a historic remake.
“HemisFair is a jewel for our city,” Castro says. “It is so tied to our identity in San Antonio. Where else in America do you have in the middle of downtown, in one of the largest American cities, that kind of public space (being underutilized)?”
Ten San Antonio mayors have held office since HemisFair ’68 closed. Castro’s predecessor, Mayor Phil Hardberger, was among those who tried to build enough consensus in the community to move forward with some sort of revitalization plan.
“That place has just been sitting there,” Hardberger told the Business Journal in 2008. “If we can get the dialogue going, we can get the ball rolling,”
Hardberger and others have worked over the years to try and spur momentum for the redevelopment of HemisFair Park. So what hope does Castro have that he can inspire such a redevelopment?
“What’s different now is that there is a real resolve in this community to make some progress,” Castro explains. “And we have $2 million of planning money, of city dollars, in place. So there are actually some resources allocated.”
San Antonio City Council approved in August the creation of the HemisFair Park Area Local Government Corp.
That nonprofit group will assist the city with the planning and management of HemisFair redevelopment projects.
The HemisFair Park site, including the land controlled by the City of San Antonio, the federal government and the University of Texas at San Antonio, covers roughly 75 acres. The site is situated in the heart of downtown, immediately north of Durango Boulevard. Nearby landmarks include the Alamodome, La Villita and the South Town arts district.
Madison Smith, a principal in Overland Partners architectural firm, will chair the new nonprofit’s board. Does Smith believe that Castro will be the mayor who can help push through the consensus necessary to redevelop HemisFair Park?
“Yes, I believe the mayor can and will get HemisFair done,” Smith says. “The big change is that Mayor Castro, in creating a local government corporation to manage its planning and redevelopment, has for the first time provided an effective mechanism for HemisFair to achieve its great potential.
“Now, for the first time since the World’s Fair closed in 1968, the resource and the mechanism are coupled,” Smith adds.
There are other factors that could provide the extra momentum needed to push through a redevelopment plan. One, says Smith, is the planned relocation of the John H. Wood Federal Courthouse from HemisFair Park to the western edge of downtown.
Smith says that move “frees up a large piece of land and makes re-development much more attractive.”
Castro sees unlimited potential for the HemisFair site.
“We have almost a blank canvas in which to work with as long as we respect the history of the space,” he says.
His vision for the land: A mixed-use development incorporating existing historic structures and green space but also a new element — a residential component.
“We need a space,” Castro says, “that is truly attractive to both visitors and residents, that links up to our River Walk and links up to neighborhoods (near South Town).”
Ben Brewer is president of Downtown Alliance San Antonio, a nonprofit stakeholder in the center city. He is a staunch proponent of inner-city redevelopment and reinvestment.
“City and county leaders should work to enact policy that promotes and provides incentives for inner-city development,” Brewer says. “... There should be reasons put in place to attract development interests to the inner-city.”
There are currently about 3,500 residents living in and around downtown, according to Brewer, who says, “We really need somewhere north of 10,000 to really have an impact.”
Castro’s overall goal for downtown includes more residents.
“My vision,” Castro says, “is a vibrant, 24-hour downtown sprinkled with impressive residential, commercial development and with the kind of significant transportation infrastructure that speaks of ... the seventh largest city in the United States.
“There is an immense interest among people who want to live downtown,” he adds. “For the first time in maybe five or six decades, we are going to have a residential base downtown and a commercial base downtown that can attract the things that people have been looking for — dry cleaners, grocery stores, book stores. We’re on the cusp of that.”
The redevelopment of HemisFair Park is central to any downtown renaissance, Smith suggests.
“Our immediate task is to better understand the enormous potential of HemisFair and then to craft the mixture of economic, aesthetic, cultural and historic ingredients which will help propel San Antonio to the forefront of great urban places,” he says. “Just as HemisFair transformed San Antonio in 1968, its redevelopment will transform our city in this 21st century.”
Castro says San Antonio must reinvest in downtown or risk self-inflicted wounds that could take decades to heal.
“Downtown is the heart of a city. If your downtown isn’t successful, the rest of the city tends to decay from the middle,” he warns. “As downtown goes, so goes the rest of the city.”
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