SAN ANTONIO │ Official Hemisfair Redevelopment Thread

[theOGalexd]

That's disappointing... hopefully it doesn't pass.

I wonder if it's too late for Weston to take this one over and get something done lol.

[Montirob]

Agree with all the above.

This is really, really bad. It's suburban architecture that does not deserve such a prominent site.

It will probably pass because the HDRC's Design Review Committee had such comments like, "very nice overall" and "a nice improvement from previous design," which is very surprising to me.

[kornbread]

That is like building a shed in your front yard.

https://sanantonioreport.org/hemisfa...ail-buildings/
“The project misses the opportunity to relate to the new Civic Park,” Krnavek said. In addition, “the Conservation Society of San Antonio believes the building’s bland and institutional design reflects poorly on the city’s culture and downtown streetscape. The design does not reflect the rich architectural and cultural legacy of downtown San Antonio.”

Amen to that. This building is so out of place. It is completely non complimentary to its surroundings and location. No effort could have possibly gone into this design. This is offensive.

[JACKinBeantown]

I think they shouldn't build anything on the entire block. It they really want to compare Civic Park to Central Park, make the park as big as possible... and as visible as possible.

And thanks for the photo links, SAhometown.

[Restless One]

Originally Posted by Spoiler

Fixed.

Thx Spoiler.

[Restless One]

Originally Posted by SproutingTowers

Travis Park is older than Brackenridge. The name Civic Park sounds temporary where I bet will be renamed to Nirenberg Park.

Yup, I was actually thinking about San Pedro park. Prestige wise, none of them live up to Central Park.

[KevinFromTexas]

I mean, the old design wasn't exactly cutting edge either. I know this hurts, but I also wasn't thrilled with the idea of a tower blocking the view of the entirety of downtown from the Tower of the Americas. Based on the renderings, they simply omitted the tower section of the development and kept the base. I still feel like there are a ton more and even better opportunities for high rise development in downtown.

[Tornado]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

I mean, the old design wasn't exactly cutting edge either. I know this hurts, but I also wasn't thrilled with the idea of a tower blocking the view of the entirety of downtown from the Tower of the Americas. Based on the renderings, they simply omitted the tower section of the development and kept the base. I still feel like there are a ton more and even better opportunities for high rise development in downtown.

I was fine with the old design because of the height...but this one is just bleh. Put this on one of the many parking lots around downtown but not such a prime space. It just feels forced.

[CommandoLando]

Initially I thought this was a maajjorrr downgrade, but looking at the article and seeing them side by side the previous version wasn't very pretty either. Both are very basic designs. The old version is what you see popping up all over Austin/Fort Worth/Dallas and the new one is whats popping up all around the outskirts of every city. It seems like it is going to house a similar amount of people too. Of course every one of us in this forum is here because we love tall buildings, but I kinda get why scaling things down and removing the MASSIVE parking garage (that's basically the size of the entire new design) could make the area a lot pedestrian friendly and make the whole park more comfortable to spend time at. The old design is similar to the Grand Hyatt next door, which at the ground level of doesn't scream "lets have a picnic". I do think though that since they are decreasing the overall size that they should of spent the savings on creating a unique exterior similar to the adjacent building (which looks great). Hopefully the design can get touched up.

[jkill34]

How do we voice our opinion against this? This is shameful of the city to ok this. Can anyone share a link or an email?

[kornbread]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

I mean, the old design wasn't exactly cutting edge either. I know this hurts, but I also wasn't thrilled with the idea of a tower blocking the view of the entirety of downtown from the Tower of the Americas. Based on the renderings, they simply omitted the tower section of the development and kept the base. I still feel like there are a ton more and even better opportunities for high rise development in downtown.

The old design had more problems than just looks. They basically took the worst part of that building and made it worse. The parking is a problem. Why did they go away from the proposed underground parking? There has to be some kind of obstacle that killed it, or maybe it was the cost?

[chancla]

The only thing I liked about the old design was not the height, but that the height was going to help fill in that large gap in the skyline between the eastern and western edges of downtown. Now that's not going to happen.

If the current design is the best they can do, I'd rather have more greenspace. Greenspace is extremely valuable in any downtown.

This is just a huge disappoint but I guess I shouldn't be surprised. This is about what I expected when they chose to go local. Over promise and under deliver.

[Dan In Real Life]

The phrase "waste of space" comes to mind...

[SAonFire]

I hate that this design submission is considered acceptable by the HDRC! What a shame and missed opportunity at designing and building something unique, beautiful, and on a grand scale to be proud of! I would rather scratch the construction of these buildings for now and wait until a better design or firm stepped into the picture to deliver a quality proposal. I'm sorry but Post Lake Capital Partners dropped the ball on this one! ������

[texboy]

Originally Posted by SAhometown

https://s.hdnux.com/photos/01/33/30/...5/3/1200x0.jpg

https://s.hdnux.com/photos/01/33/30/...1/3/1200x0.jpg

https://s.hdnux.com/photos/01/33/30/...2/3/1200x0.jpg

https://s.hdnux.com/photos/01/33/30/...3/5/1200x0.jpg

I rather just leave it open space for now until financing is resolved. Wasted opportunity.

This has to be some sort of sick joke. FUUUUUGLY. Its literally just another beige Texas Donut! What a total crock of shit! HDRC strikes again!

[Rynetwo]

Indicators are pointing to an impending lull or, at the very least, a flattening of apartment units under construction in the Alamo City – and across Texas.

With a record 19,000 apartment units under construction in San Antonio, the multifamily sector has been booming. Those figures are attributable, in part, to a construction backlog caused by the pandemic, which is finally beginning to loosen.

The reasons behind the slowdown are multifaceted. Rent growth numbers are flat on the year – and maybe even slightly in decline – and 12-month absorption is a lot lower now than it was a year ago.

"Those are realities that multifamily developers are going to have to wrangle with and that's going to discourage development," Khalil said.

With approximately 43,000 units under construction in Austin – accounting for a staggering 16% of the total rental product in that market – the city was the first to see multifamily permitting decline. Investors are hesitant to commit equity to a market at risk of oversupply, especially in the face of reduced demand and rising vacancies.

https://www.bizjournals.com/sananton...partments.html

I wonder if this has anything do with the scaled back version.

[KevinFromTexas]

I think the best way to make changes to what you guys are seeing, if you aren't liking it, is to change the public's opinion on the HDRC and its effect on what IS being built versus what isn't. What I mean is, there certainly are some people who are anti-tall buildings and will gladly go along with the HDRC's fear of height and anything modern, and the two will mutually reinforce each other's position on them to create the "popular opinion" on what should and shouldn't be built in San Antonio. A good strategy against that, however, is to show what seeming low quality development and design standards they are approving, and make a point to note that what is being built is the face of San Antonio and does make an impression on anyone who sees a photo of San Antonio or who visits the city. While I don't think the previous taller version was particularly good, this isn't either, but it wasn't the design quality or materials they disliked, it was the height and size of it. If a commission is going to call itself a historic design commission, then they should be heavily scrutinizing design, kicking out the poor quality to favor the good, and whatever will be built should be of a quality standard that does make the end product historic. No one cares about cheap hotels or stucco facades of your average building. Those will never be historic and using the word design in a sentence when referencing them is a stretch. And, no, I'm not beating up on San Antonio. Believe me, we just got back from driving up to North Austin and I saw the row of fugly hotels along I-35 in the Waterfront/Rainey Street area of downtown Austin.

It's odd, because for the most part, I see a lot of pro-development support for San Antonio in social media related to San Antonio, mostly on news websites. So there is a desire for some modernization in San Antonio, as well as better design standards. I think public opinion needs to be swayed a bit, though, to acknowledge that what the HDRC pushes for and settles for and approves isn't always good.

[CWalk99]

Not to just reiterate all the good points everyone’s made up there word for word - but looking through the full HDRC document was a bit dreadful to say the least… I think mostly everyone on the forum thought the initial proposal was pretty mediocre in design but more so had an appreciation of the scale that was being offered for a residential project (the actual location was still an issue for some of course). But now just about every aspect of the original has just devolved into something that in terms of design is more befitting of being on a college campus or along Broadway if even that. It’s not the most important issue , but as you can see for the height/ scale, the new design will no longer block views of or from the Tower but on the other hand will hardly be visible from any DT streets besides Commerce/ Market nor from looking toward DT from just about any angle.

Also- I read from the Hemisfair CEO that the scaling down was because the financing for the 29-story pushed units to over $4 per sq foot

HDRC link:
https://sanantonio.primegov.com/Port...=198984&type=2

[SpiritofSeguin]

I really think I'm in the minority here when I say I don't hate the design, I'd even go so far to say I actually like it. For me personally, the long corridor that would be trailing Market back to the HBGCC and the emphasis of brown and beige reminds me a lot of the original Convention Center which I'm quite affectionate towards. A refuge from the rain, a place to mosey along on the way to the River, a meeting spot...lot of memories there. I'm confident it's just a coincidence, but the 29 story proposal lacked this design.



There's also the fact that although the building is reduced in height by half, I'd much rather have a short 'eyesore' than a tall one. This building would be among the tallest towers in the city and from the renders would've had an unfortunate 'canyon effect' when sitting on the Great Lawn next to that curving hotel they wanna construct. It would also seem that the tower would've blocked the view of the Tower of the Americas from the river going south towards Commerce, one of the most iconic sights for a tourist and as apart of the appreciation of the scenery and navigation in general. The Grand Hyatt did not need a twin tower, which was all they were really designing with the 29 story proposal with how parallel it was to GH. There's also my opinion that high rises shouldn't be anywhere near the Hemisfair district as any new towers would take away the oomph of Tower of the Americas. San Antonio should follow a thematic akin to Seattle, where there is the downtown district with unique skyscrapers and then there is the Space Needle with its own superblock area (which unfortunately Hemisfair in the long term is seemingly planning to break up with the construction of a new street heading up to the Tower).

The future of high rises will be in the Financial District; Frost Bank, IBC, Wells Fargo, PNC. God Bless Graham Weston, man, he's getting it done. There's gonna be a time where all those parking lots around Travis Park and Greyhound get developed into something truly beautiful.

[JACKinBeantown]

Originally Posted by SpiritofSeguin

I really think I'm in the minority here when I say I don't hate the design, I'd even go so far to say I actually like it. For me personally, the long corridor that would be trailing Market back to the HBGCC and the emphasis of brown and beige reminds me a lot of the original Convention Center which I'm quite affectionate towards. A refuge from the rain, a place to mosey along on the way to the River, a meeting spot...lot of memories there. I'm confident it's just a coincidence, but the 29 story proposal lacked this design.



There's also the fact that although the building is reduced in height by half, I'd much rather have a short 'eyesore' than a tall one. This building would be among the tallest towers in the city and from the renders would've had an unfortunate 'canyon effect' when sitting on the Great Lawn next to that curving hotel they wanna construct. It would also seem that the tower would've blocked the view of the Tower of the Americas from the river going south towards Commerce, one of the most iconic sights for a tourist and as apart of the appreciation of the scenery and navigation in general. The Grand Hyatt did not need a twin tower, which was all they were really designing with the 29 story proposal with how parallel it was to GH. There's also my opinion that high rises shouldn't be anywhere near the Hemisfair district as any new towers would take away the oomph of Tower of the Americas. San Antonio should follow a thematic akin to Seattle, where there is the downtown district with unique skyscrapers and then there is the Space Needle with its own superblock area (which unfortunately Hemisfair in the long term is seemingly planning to break up with the construction of a new street heading up to the Tower).

The future of high rises will be in the Financial District; Frost Bank, IBC, Wells Fargo, PNC. God Bless Graham Weston, man, he's getting it done. There's gonna be a time where all those parking lots around Travis Park and Greyhound get developed into something truly beautiful.

Welcome to the forum.

I agree with everything you said except the part about liking this building. I'd be happier with no building and more park space right up to the street.