Urban apartments planned on Broadway
Web Posted: 07/19/2007 08:16 PM CDT
http://www.mysanantonio.com/business...0.2b700a0.html
Rachel Stone
Express-News Business Writer
Urban living options in San Antonio are about to expand.
A Dallas-based developer is planning about 200 rental apartment units for the 1800 block of Broadway at Grayson Street.
Regent Communities Inc. bought the 3-acre site earlier this year. It includes a Snow White Cleaners & Tailors and a vacant building that used to house Fox Photo.
The developer received approval from the San Antonio Historic and Design Review Commission on Wednesday and expects to begin demolition in November. Construction could start in December, and the apartments would be ready about 18 months later, said Chad Carey, Regent Communities' acquisitions manager.
The Eighteen Hundred, as the project is named, will include apartments for three income levels, with the lowest starting at about $800 a month for a small one-bedroom, Carey said. Other prices for the planned 18 floor plans haven't been released.
The four-story complex will include interior courtyards with a pool and fountains and a parking garage. The four buildings will extend all the way to a wide sidewalk on Broadway.
"This will be a great place to walk," Carey said.
It's close to the Pearl Brewery, Sam's Burger Joint, Liberty Bar, Timbo's and several other restaurants.
The design from Dallas-based James, Harwick + Partners Inc. is contemporary, but not "hyper-modern."
"It's going to be pretty cool," Carey said.
And "cool" is the operative word. Apartments, as opposed to condos, are more likely to draw the young, hip people that Carey thinks are necessary for urban renewal.
"Urban revitalization almost always begins with younger people because they add that 24/7 vitality," he said. "We want it to be a place where the residents are going to be out in the streets and in the restaurants."
And Regent Communities' demographic research showed that there is unmet demand for downtown rental units.
There are about 1,019 market-rate apartment units in downtown San Antonio and more than 1,000 are planned or under construction, according to an April study of downtown housing from PKF Consulting. Among the projects planned is San Antonio-based Cross & Co.'s the Vistana, a 250-unit complex near Market Square.
Several projects are aimed at revitalizing Broadway just north of downtown. Most notable is Silver Ventures' Pearl Brewery, where eight live/work apartments ranging from 650 to 1,300 square feet are under construction. Those are expected to rent for between $1.40 and $1.50 per square foot.
The Eighteen Hundred is a "great idea in a great location," said Bill Shown, Silver Ventures' managing director of real estate.
"Broadway, from downtown to Hildebrand, appears poised for a rebound, and this is just another part of it," Shown said. "San Antonio's downtown living options are scarce, so we just think there's a need for it and this will help fill that need."