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  #1  
Old Posted Nov 14, 2015, 7:26 PM
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SAN ANTONIO │ Lone Star Brewery Redevelopment Thread

It finally seems things are getting underway at the Lone Star Brewery site. After years of talk and potential buyers who were interested in the site but ultimately did nothing, there seems to be a developer willing to revitalize the long abandoned Southtown brewery.

If all goes as planned, the urban core could be book-ended by the Pearl to the north and the Lone Star to the south.

Could the Lone Star be as game changing for the urban core as the Pearl has been?

The developer is talking about bringing back Lone Star to brew on the site in some way, adding a Texas Music Hall of Fame as well as an outdoor music venue. That plus, housing, retail and other commercial options, could lend this development to be a true gem for the urban core and Southtown.





Quote:
Roughly half a year after buying 36 acres at the former Lone Star Brewery site south of downtown San Antonio, Aqualand Development’s vision for what the long-neglected area can become is taking shape. And those plans will focus on elements that helped keep the once popular destination afloat decades ago — beer and entertainment.

“We have started work on our redevelopment plans and started to clean up the site so we can bring this place back to life,” Aqualand Development founder and CEO Mark Smith said.

San Marcos-based Aqualand Development has acquired the Historic Lone Star Beer Brewery site south of downtown San Antonio and plans to transform the area into a mixed-use destination for locals and tourists.

Over the next six months, the San Marcos, Texas-based company plans to lock up the balance of the 65 acres and firm up plans for the existing buildings. Meanwhile, what is already clear as the water from the artesian wells beneath the former brewery is that Aqualand officials want to tap into as much of the area’s history as possible.



That starts with beer. And one of the more intriguing elements of Aqualand’s redevelopment plan is to return Lone Star Beer to the brewery it abandoned years ago.

“One of our main focus is to bring Lone Star Beer back. We’ve been in very high level talks with them,” Smith said.


“They are going to have a presence here. It’s just a matter of how far they want to take it,” Aqualand Vice President Mark Evans said.

Preliminary plans also call for other microbrewery establishments, as well as a new beer garden that would further reinforce the connection between the area and its brewing heritage.


Other complementary economic developments are also in the works. Among the venues Aqualand is attempting to bring to Lone Star are a Texas Music Hall of Fame and a 1,200-seat live music hall.

“There is no Texas Music Hall of Fame,” Smith said. “We want to bring one to San Antonio.”

Aqualand officials have already begun to reach out to industry leaders about the development of a new museum tied to a brewery that has long had ties to country music in the region.

Aqualand officials also have their sites on other entertainment venues, including a dine-in movie theater complex.

While the total redevelopment of Lone Star Brewery could cost more than $300 million, according to Smith, the investment could be far more astronomical were it not for the existing infrastructure, which will be renovated and repurposed.



“We’ve spent the last six months figuring out where we are with the buildings. We didn’t know,” Evans said. “We used local engineering firms who have inspected the buildings individually. There is nothing that we want to do with the mixed-use plans that can’t be supported by the buildings.”

“This is like an open canvas. This property hasn’t been touched in years,” Smith said. “This is the biggest project in the history of our company. But we believe in this. We put our money into Lone Star because we can see what it can be.”

LOCATION
INCLUDING THE PEARL

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  #2  
Old Posted Nov 17, 2015, 12:27 AM
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  #3  
Old Posted Nov 18, 2015, 10:33 PM
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I had tried to look at other projects this company had worked on and this is pretty ambitious for them. Trying to remember the site itself, I don't think it lends itself to being something like the Pearl, but I can certainly see it having a southtown feel; maybe a polished blue star.

I can't imagine Lone Star would start brewing there again in any way more than some kind of Lone Star brew pub type of thing. The dine-in movie theater probably says more about the place it's going to be. Hopefully it won't be a Quarry or Rim type development. I understand they intend to make money on this but who likes strip malls?

The idea of a music hall of fame seems wrong unless that focuses and celebrates the actual history of San Antonio and South Texas. A country music based place will go the way of the old Fiesta Texas or the Aztec Theater's San Antonio Rose (they won't work in that limited way). If they did go forward with the HOF idea, it should mainly be a live music hall with the memorabilia on the side.

And finally, they are located on the river! They should completely invite and link to the advantage of the linear park and any changes related to world heritage inclusion of the missions.

The recycling center next door looks toxic
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Old Posted Nov 30, 2015, 8:51 PM
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I took this shot the last time I was up in the helicopter.
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Old Posted Apr 28, 2016, 1:25 AM
txex06 txex06 is offline
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Got a sneak peek at the rendering and the whole project looks awesome! Looks much cooler then what the Peal has turned into. The renderings included a huge European style glass atrium market with multiple craft breweries, a cinema, retail, beer garden, apartments with multiple pools, and a hotel. The old pool on site right now will be a large fountain. Parking garages will be located along the outer perimeter of the property.
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Old Posted Apr 28, 2016, 1:27 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by txex06 View Post
Got a sneak peek at the rendering and the whole project looks awesome! Looks much cooler then what the Peal has turned into. The renderings included a huge European style glass atrium market with multiple craft breweries, a cinema, retail, beer garden, apartments with multiple pools, and a hotel. The old pool on site right now will be a large fountain. Parking garages will be located along the outer perimeter of the property.
Intriguing. Were you at some kind of event where they were showing off the plans? What's the scale like (high rises or low rises)?
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Old Posted Apr 28, 2016, 8:23 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by txex06 View Post
Got a sneak peek at the rendering and the whole project looks awesome! Looks much cooler then what the Peal has turned into. The renderings included a huge European style glass atrium market with multiple craft breweries, a cinema, retail, beer garden, apartments with multiple pools, and a hotel. The old pool on site right now will be a large fountain. Parking garages will be located along the outer perimeter of the property.
Where did you see these renderings? I know that they have an office on site at lone star. Also, do you know when they are going to start construction? I've been so fascinated by this abandoned factory for the longest time.
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Old Posted Apr 28, 2016, 9:31 PM
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Originally Posted by Keep-SA-Lame View Post
Intriguing. Were you at some kind of event where they were showing off the plans? What's the scale like (high rises or low rises)?
Saw the plans through a friend who is working on the project. He is supposed to keep everything hush, but he gave me a look. Right now the scale looks like the buildings will be 4-5 stories.
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Old Posted May 19, 2016, 5:00 PM
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Aqualand adds heavy hitter to help redevelop Lone Star Brewery
W. Scott Bailey Reporter/Project Coordinator
San Antonio Business Journal
May 19, 2016, 10:02am CDT Updated May 19, 2016, 11:10am CDT
http://www.bizjournals.com/sanantoni...e.html?ana=twt

Quote:
CBL & Associates Properties has signed on to help Aqualand Development transform the long-shuttered Lone Star Brewery into one of the largest mixed-used destinations south of downtown San Antonio.

“We’ve brought CBL in as a partner to help us with this,” Aqualand President Adam Schneider said. “We brought them on because of the horsepower they have behind them and because they have a very good reputation in the market. They will help us get the project off the ground.”
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Old Posted May 19, 2016, 6:23 PM
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There are some renderings as well as the site plan for Lone Star Brewery on their website http://lonestarbrewerydistrict.com
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Old Posted May 19, 2016, 7:27 PM
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Very interesting. It's like part Pearl, part suburban town center-type development. By suburban town center I mean that it has a fuckton of parking and is pretty much not connected to anything around it except the river, but that's really more a function of the context of the site than anything I guess. Overall this should be a very positive development for the south side if it ever gets off the ground.
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Old Posted May 19, 2016, 7:33 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Trillhippy210 View Post
There are some renderings as well as the site plan for Lone Star Brewery on their website http://lonestarbrewerydistrict.com
After all the hype, it's disappointing how mundane this development looks. There are opportunities to develop this in a more urban way but that is not evident in this plan. This is designed like a suburban shopping center when it could have been designed like an actual "district".
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Old Posted May 19, 2016, 7:38 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Spoiler View Post
After all the hype, it's disappointing how mundane this development looks. There are opportunities to develop this in a more urban way but that is not evident in this plan. This is designed like a suburban shopping center when it could have been designed like an actual "district".
How does it look like a suburban development? This is great for DTSA & moreover Southtown, though I'm not really looking forward to all the people. Blue Star is gonna be packed a lot more.
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Old Posted May 19, 2016, 7:49 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Trillhippy210 View Post
How does it look like a suburban development? This is great for DTSA & moreover Southtown, though I'm not really looking forward to all the people. Blue Star is gonna be packed a lot more.
A suburban town center development. Google "sugarland town center" for one example, Dallas is also full of similar projects, La Cantera is part way done building one well.

Obviously Lone Star is different and better than those because of its location and the fact that it's at least partially adaptive re-use, but in a lot of ways it looks, in my opinion, functionally very similar to something like Sugarland Town Center (isolated, privately owned/maintained streets, lots of parking, "galleries" and private parks).
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Old Posted May 19, 2016, 7:54 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Keep-SA-Lame View Post
Very interesting. It's like part Pearl, part suburban town center-type development. By suburban town center I mean that it has a [explotive] of parking and is pretty much not connected to anything around it except the river, but that's really more a function of the context of the site than anything I guess. Overall this should be a very positive development for the south side if it ever gets off the ground.
Not sure what you are seeing, but I see a ton of parking in parking garages. I don't see any problem with that.

I'd wager a bet that the Pearl currently has more surface parking than what Lone Star shows to have in its plans.
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Old Posted May 19, 2016, 7:59 PM
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Originally Posted by Spoiler View Post
After all the hype, it's disappointing how mundane this development looks. There are opportunities to develop this in a more urban way but that is not evident in this plan. This is designed like a suburban shopping center when it could have been designed like an actual "district".
This development is very urban, aside from the surface parking in front of the hotel, which btw, is no different than the surface parking in front of Hotel Emma in the Pearl. Surface parking is always going to have a place in urban planning in car centric cities. LA has them, Houston and Dallas them. Look at Victory Park in Dallas. Look at LA Live in LA. I can go on. ANYONE complaining about this development, of a currently vacant wasteland, is just complaining for the sake of complaining, imo.
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Old Posted May 19, 2016, 8:02 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sirkingwilliam View Post
Not sure what you are seeing but I see a ton of parking in parking garages.

I'd wager a bet that the Pearl currently has more surface parking than what Lone Star shows to have in its plans.
I'm not talking about parking lots, I'm talking total parking (lots + garages). Pearl has the same problem, too much parking. If you provide parking, people will drive. As someone who had lived car-free by choice in this town for five years, this is something that needs to change.
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Old Posted May 19, 2016, 8:05 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sirkingwilliam View Post
This development is very urban, aside from the surface parking in front of the hotel, which btw, is no different than the surface parking in front of Hotel Emma in the Pearl. Surface parking is always going to have a place in urban planning in car centric cities. LA has them, Houston and Dallas them. Look at Victory Park in Dallas. Look at LA Live in LA. I can go on. ANYONE complaining about this development, of a currently vacant wasteland, is just complaining for the sake of complaining, imo.
I disagree.
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Old Posted May 19, 2016, 8:07 PM
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Originally Posted by Keep-SA-Lame View Post
A suburban town center development. Google "sugarland town center" for one example, Dallas is also full of similar projects, La Cantera is part way done building one well.

Obviously Lone Star is different and better than those because of its location and the fact that it's at least partially adaptive re-use, but in a lot of ways it looks, in my opinion, functionally very similar to something like Sugarland Town Center (isolated, privately owned/maintained streets, lots of parking, "galleries" and private parks).
I'm sorry, but no. This development does not resemble sugarland town center. If any development in SA resembled Sugarland Town Center, it'd be the Rim or on a smaller scale Legacy.

I'm sorry, but that comparison is just hyperbolic rubbish imo.
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Old Posted May 19, 2016, 8:10 PM
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Originally Posted by Spoiler View Post
I disagree.
And you are more than allowed to. But you can't disagree with the fact that Victory Park has surface parking lots, or that LA Live has surface parking lots.

Just be thankful that an abandoned brewery is being transformed into an absolute gem of a development on the near south side of San Antonio. This will eventually be called part of "Southtown", but make no mistake this was the "Southside" ten, five years ago.

Now, that's being built there. Great times ahead for the urban core.
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