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  #21  
Old Posted Dec 14, 2017, 11:06 PM
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Originally Posted by JACKinBeantown View Post
The HRDC gets a bit of grief on this forum, but you have to give them some respect this time.
I think they've had some turnover, so perhaps more level headed people are getting it over there.
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  #22  
Old Posted Dec 14, 2017, 11:10 PM
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Originally Posted by Fryguy View Post
I just hope, when the time comes, that they do not have issue with the JMJ Tower.
That thought crossed my mind as well, but, as I've stated before, as the DT core grows, some views will be sacrificed.

Someone said a couple of weeks ago that we could take a page from Austin, and try to protect view corridors. Not sure how that would work with JMJ though.
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  #23  
Old Posted Dec 15, 2017, 12:40 AM
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Originally Posted by Restless 1 View Post
That thought crossed my mind as well, but, as I've stated before, as the DT core grows, some views will be sacrificed.

Someone said a couple of weeks ago that we could take a page from Austin, and try to protect view corridors. Not sure how that would work with JMJ though.
The closest we have is the area behind the Alamo. Tower Life is worth protecting s few views though IMO. Property owners might not agree.
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  #24  
Old Posted Dec 15, 2017, 1:07 AM
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Originally Posted by JACKinBeantown View Post
The closest we have is the area behind the Alamo. Tower Life is worth protecting s few views though IMO. Property owners might not agree.
The Tower Life building is my favorite as well, but someone pointed out how NYC protects views of their iconic buildings, (not sure that's true, but...), while missing the fact that those buildings are twice to three times as tall as our older, iconic buildings.

Saving views of the Tower Life is important, but I don't know that it's feasible.

At least we'll always have a good view of it from a river barge.
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  #25  
Old Posted Dec 15, 2017, 3:29 AM
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I found this about New York. (Scroll down to Visual Corridors.) The requirement is a certain number of visual corridors from inland streets to the water. Nothing I can find about preserving views of buildings... that would be restrictive in a place where real estate premiums are some of the highest in the world.
https://www1.nyc.gov/site/planning/z...nt-zoning.page

Austin's CVCs are mostly for areas not in downtown proper, though a few are. The majority cover land not south of the capitol, where downtown is located. Thus the most expensive parcels are not affected. So it would be tough to make the case for San Antonio using Austin as the example... mostly.
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  #26  
Old Posted Dec 15, 2017, 4:54 AM
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Austin's Capitol view corridors illustrated.

https://imgur.com/gallery/70i1s#NGRASBA
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  #27  
Old Posted Dec 15, 2017, 6:22 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JACKinBeantown View Post
I found this about New York. (Scroll down to Visual Corridors.) The requirement is a certain number of visual corridors from inland streets to the water. Nothing I can find about preserving views of buildings... that would be restrictive in a place where real estate premiums are some of the highest in the world.
https://www1.nyc.gov/site/planning/z...nt-zoning.page

Austin's CVCs are mostly for areas not in downtown proper, though a few are. The majority cover land not south of the capitol, where downtown is located. Thus the most expensive parcels are not affected. So it would be tough to make the case for San Antonio using Austin as the example... mostly.
My point, exactly. Preserving highway views of the older, iconic buildings, will be a tough row to hoe.

There is no view of the Capitol, save from South Congress, anymore. The views are being taken away. Even the areas adjacent to the Capitol are being developed. One only need drive or walk on the grounds to see this.

It is somewhat sad, as views from I35 going through Austin are now obstructed, or soon will be.

The view from South Congress is pretty well preserved, but you do have to deal with the Austonian.

(That said, SoCo is still the coolest part of Texas.)
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  #28  
Old Posted Dec 15, 2017, 6:48 AM
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Originally Posted by Restless 1 View Post
(That said, SoCo is still the coolest part of Texas.)
South Congress isn't even the coolest part of Austin. That would be the corner of Westminster and Manor, where Taquerita Mi Trailita is located.
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  #29  
Old Posted Dec 15, 2017, 7:02 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Restless 1 View Post
An article from the Rivard Report on this:

https://therivardreport.com/hdrc-cal...artment-tower/

The Historic and Design Review Commission last week readily approved the first three floors of a luxury apartment tower near Southtown, but it didn’t like the remaining nine due to perceived interference with views of downtown San Antonio’s skyline. Commissioners suggested that the tower be designed taller and more slender.

Generally, towers appear taller than they are wide, but that’s not the direction developers and architects took for the 75-unit Durango Apartments project at 421 S. Presa St. They wanted to keep it short, Laney Development Manager Tim Proctor told commissioners last Wednesday, so as to respect the pattern of neighboring buildings’ heights.


If it looks anything like the massing images, then the city is correct on this. Can't really say without seeing actual design proposals.
I'm all for making it taller, though, that would actually be what would make it block some views more if that's what they're worried about. 134 feet isn't very tall, and it doesn't appear too bulky either.

Anyway, the most important view, the one I enjoy seeing in San Antonio from time to time, is the one looking down the San Antonio River from the Cesar Chavez Boulevard bridge toward the Tower Life Building and others. That is a really unique view, iconic even. I've got postcards of it. Of course, that view is destined to go away also as the lots around Navarro and Nueva Streets get developed.

https://www.google.com/maps/@29.4179...7i13312!8i6656
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  #30  
Old Posted Jan 8, 2018, 9:38 AM
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This is only slightly related to the Durango development, but I noticed that there's a for sale sign up at 700 S. Saint Mary's, the property on the southern side of Cesar Chavez, so right across the street from the parking lot where they're building Durango:

http://www.loopnet.com/Listing/700-S...io-TX/9175446/

Looks like it's been operating as an aquatic pain relief/therapy center, and is now up for sale. Maybe just a pipe dream on my part, but someone could snap that up and turn that intersection of St Mary's and Cesar Chavez into a really great hub. You'd have the Agave apartments on the NW corner, Durango on the NE corner, and then a new development (high rise?!) on the SE corner. King William Park just a couple hundred feet away, the new Hemisfair a few minutes walk as well.

Here are some snaps from Google, 1) a bird's eye looking at the two properties, with the Durango parking lot on the left and the Pain Center on the right, and 2), the same view when you're on Cesar Chavez looking east toward the Tower of the Americas, with the Durango lot on the left side of the street and the Pain Center on the right:




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  #31  
Old Posted Jan 8, 2018, 2:45 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by micahinsa View Post
This is only slightly related to the Durango development, but I noticed that there's a for sale sign up at 700 S. Saint Mary's, the property on the southern side of Cesar Chavez, so right across the street from the parking lot where they're building Durango: ...
I saw this the other day and I was thinking the same thing. This intersection could be really cool in 5 years. Hopefully someone buys that Southeast corner and develops it with retail.
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  #32  
Old Posted Jan 31, 2018, 3:36 PM
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From the preliminary agenda...

Quote:
Address/Description: 421 S PRESA
Historic District Name: La Villita
RIO District: RIO-3
Applicant: Timothy Proctor/Laney Development Group, LLC
Request: Approval of tower massing and facade materials of a
thirteen story, mixed use tower
City Council Dist.: 1
Looks like the floor count went up to 13.
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  #33  
Old Posted Feb 5, 2018, 7:04 PM
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  #34  
Old Posted Feb 5, 2018, 7:14 PM
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13-stories confirmed in the design and I like it, both the height increase and design.
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  #35  
Old Posted Feb 5, 2018, 7:36 PM
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Is this the city's first green roof? I can't remember seeing one anywhere else here before.
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  #36  
Old Posted Feb 5, 2018, 7:52 PM
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It's like Miami in the 50s. I'll take it.
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  #37  
Old Posted Feb 6, 2018, 12:38 AM
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Meh. I liked the original more.
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  #38  
Old Posted Feb 6, 2018, 12:43 AM
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Originally Posted by micahinsa View Post
Meh. I liked the original more.
There was no original. What are you talking about?
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  #39  
Old Posted Feb 6, 2018, 1:22 AM
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Originally Posted by sirkingwilliam View Post
There was no original. What are you talking about?
Haaaaa. My fault. I was remembering back to the first renderings, where they hadn’t fleshed out the facade and had only included the ambiguous massing. In my brain, though, that flatness/blankness somehow translated to it mostly being a glass exterior. So I guess this exterior is what they had all along.
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  #40  
Old Posted Feb 6, 2018, 1:26 AM
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Originally Posted by Keep-SA-Lame View Post
Is this the city's first green roof? I can't remember seeing one anywhere else here before.
I’d be surprised if it’s the first green roof ANYWHERE in San Antonio, surely some smaller buildings must have them.

Slightly related, I drove by the new Security Service building they’re putting up over near 10 and 1604, I could’ve sworn that building not only has a green roof, but that they’ve actually planted trees on top of at least parts of the roof. Not even little ones, but live oaks and cedar elms or something.
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