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  #21  
Old Posted Sep 18, 2013, 5:39 PM
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I must have passed by that building hundreds of times and I never knew that it was the site of the first Spanish speaking station in the country. Wow! Knowing that does make a difference to me. I can't adequately describe why it does, but it does! Maybe because its yet another of this city's "first in the country" that I was made aware of. Gives me a boost of pride, but it means alot more to other people. Yes, the building is dated and not architectually impressive to me, but to simply say "tear down the building and put up a plaque" is heartbreakingly ignorant. Yes, I'm clearly more sensitive to buildings being torn down. And it is unfortunate that preservationists came to the site's defense at the 11th hour. The location has been for sale forever and a day. Steps should have been taken way before the property sold, to ensure that was somehow protected. I also understand that measuring the historical significance of a building against the potential influx of hundreds of new residents is probably going to happen again and again. There is alot of money to be made downtown, and I fear that a little old building is not going to get in the way of big time development. Judging by the comments made in this thread alone, the "out with the old, in with the new" mentality is gaining popularity.

I know I wrote a novel of cynicism, but I'm trying to be optimistic. A huge postive in my eyes is that we will be left with a 500+ foot tall "blank canvas" that, if an artist were to get their hands on it (say the likes of Rolando Briseno or Bill FitzGibbons), we would have something that would do more for its history (and our city) than any plaque ever could.
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  #22  
Old Posted Sep 18, 2013, 5:50 PM
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Maybe instead of a plaque, the apartments should house a public room for the history of the site. A model of the building/site. A very tiny museum of sorts for the Univision history.
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  #23  
Old Posted Sep 18, 2013, 5:50 PM
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San Antonio has a nasty habit of landmarking itself out of potential economic growth with a lot of different sites, glad this one wasn't part of that.
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  #24  
Old Posted Sep 18, 2013, 6:47 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jaga185 View Post
Maybe instead of a plaque, the apartments should house a public room for the history of the site. A model of the building/site. A very tiny museum of sorts for the Univision history.
Excellent point, jaga. It would be a great gesture on the developers part, considering they aren't soured by our "nasty habit of landmarking (ourselves) out of potential economic growth"
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  #25  
Old Posted Sep 18, 2013, 8:22 PM
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As one of San Antonio’s biggest boosters I hate to say this, but San Antonio and most San Antonians have a huge problem with living in the past and reactive behavior. San Antonio needs to get over its glory day mentality and focus on what will once again make this city great. I couldn’t care less if this building is torn down or that it is the location of the first Spanish speaking station in the United States. I do care that outside our abundant mariachis and Mexican Restaurants the city is uneventful in modern Latin, Mexican, or Hispanic culture. I care more that Univision is headquartered in New York or most production is done in Miami, while San Antonio doesn’t even produce telenovelas, than I do about this insignificant building. Over time, complacency has made San Antonio less significant and it will only continue unless the mentality changes. San Antonio is forfeiting a bright future by trying to re-experience the past. Sorry for the rant.
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  #26  
Old Posted Sep 18, 2013, 11:04 PM
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This building does have historical significance. If you consider the whole reason the HDRC exists and their stewardship in helping preserve history in the city, they failed in this case and you really have to question the battles they do choose to fight. This shows how little power they actually have.

It would have been easy for the developer to have incorporated this building into their development. In fact, if you look at what they are actually putting on this site (apartments), it's not like they are replacing a low key building with something impressive. They are adding more simple, low key buildings. Really under-utilizing the site.

While it may be true that Univision does much in other cities, that in no way has anything to do with San Antonio's actions in respecting the past. It is more in line with the economics of the city in general. While you can argue that complacency does exist in within the population, the idea that something like the HDRC and preserving history stops progress is misguided.
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  #27  
Old Posted Sep 19, 2013, 8:22 PM
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Judge me all you want but I just don't see how this building has any historical significance what so ever. It housed the first spanish-language tv station, big deal. A plaque or little monument would suit the "historical significance" just fine.

If I were the developer, I'd leave the antennae and put a plaque next to it, with a little park-type place with benches and a patio for the residents. BTW are there any renderings up? I don't think i've come across any for this proposal.
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  #28  
Old Posted Sep 21, 2013, 12:40 PM
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You can see some renderings on this blog post of the Express-News:
http://blog.mysanantonio.com/downtow...univision-site

Here are some of the images returned from a google search of "Univision San Antonio"


In case you're interested, here are the findings of the Conservation Society. Take another look at the building. They could have incorporated the building and made that corner of the Riverwalk and Cesar Chavez more interesting. Also, in the renderings, the tower and satellite dish remain and are walled off. A plaque would only make sense on the outside of the building where you can point out its history. This used to be a gas station/law office/candy factory/fire station/jail/library/television studio. Otherwise what's the point?
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  #29  
Old Posted Sep 21, 2013, 10:44 PM
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Yeesssss, I had forgotten what it looks like. Thank you!
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  #30  
Old Posted Sep 22, 2013, 6:44 AM
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With land being very tight in that area you would think they would go taller with the building.
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  #31  
Old Posted Sep 22, 2013, 4:59 PM
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Yeah every time I see those renderings, I just think they screwed up on that plot of land. Especially along the St. Mary's street section of the land. They should have built it along the sidewalks and of course a few floors higher in my opinion.

Though I think they did great with the river section, the terrance looks pretty cool.
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  #32  
Old Posted Dec 14, 2013, 9:38 AM
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Updated renderings of Elan Riverwalk.











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  #33  
Old Posted Dec 16, 2013, 3:36 AM
kornbread kornbread is offline
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The title of this thread states 10 floors. I'm not sure where those 5 extra floors are coming from

Last edited by sirkingwilliam; Dec 16, 2013 at 5:14 AM. Reason: Nothing was changed. A posting error on my part.
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  #34  
Old Posted Dec 16, 2013, 4:04 AM
JoninATX JoninATX is offline
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Speaking of Elan Riverwalk, has this project already started construction? Last I heard it was on hold.
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  #35  
Old Posted Dec 16, 2013, 5:12 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JoninATX View Post
Speaking of Elan Riverwalk, has this project already started construction? Last I heard it was on hold.
It was never on hold. It was delayed by a group of conservatives who got an order to stop construction and it lasted less than a week and was thrown out. Construction began immediately (literally) after it was thrown out of court.. This was almost a month ago.
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  #36  
Old Posted Dec 16, 2013, 5:14 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kornbread View Post
The title of this thread states 10 floors. I'm not sure where those 5 extra floors are coming from
You are correct that the title was wrong. I changed it to 8 floors. I am counting the parking structure.
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  #37  
Old Posted Dec 16, 2013, 5:45 AM
JoninATX JoninATX is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sirkingwilliam View Post
It was never on hold. It was delayed by a group of conservatives who got an order to stop construction and it lasted less than a week and was thrown out. Construction began immediately (literally) after it was thrown out of court.. This was almost a month ago.
Thanks Sirkingwilliam, I'm glad it's moving forward.
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  #38  
Old Posted Dec 16, 2013, 3:40 PM
Rynetwo Rynetwo is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sirkingwilliam View Post
It was never on hold. It was delayed by a group of conservatives who got an order to stop construction and it lasted less than a week and was thrown out. Construction began immediately (literally) after it was thrown out of court.. This was almost a month ago.
Quote:
preservationists won an injunction to try to save it.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/loc...os-4956748.php

I like the design but like others have said it should have been taller...
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  #39  
Old Posted Dec 17, 2013, 12:32 AM
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Originally Posted by Rynetwo View Post
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/loc...os-4956748.php

I like the design but like others have said it should have been taller...
I meant to type conservationists but it looks like my phone changed it to conservatives. lol
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  #40  
Old Posted Feb 26, 2014, 1:34 AM
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Don't know if anyone has been keeping up on this project but I went by there the other day and they were doing site work.
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