{San Antonio} Cresta Bella - Mixed-Use - Finally a Rendering

[sirkingwilliam]

Cresta Bella is a 426-acre mixed-use development located 3 miles north of the IH-10 and Loop 1604 interchange. Plans call retail, office, housing, commercial, and two hotels. Cresta Bella will also house be home to the new HQ for one of its developers, Post Oak Development.

February 22, 2008 Construction pictures

More pictures here:
http://postoakdevelopment.com/proper...a_progress.php

[sirkingwilliam]

Far northwest San Antonio large scale mixed-used developments map:

[sirkingwilliam]

This is the plotted land behind the Cresta Bella development that will be luxury housing.

[Boris]

That's a shit load of development in that area.

The area around the waterway looks like it's going to be very nice.

[sirkingwilliam]

Originally Posted by Boris

That's a shit load of development in that area.

Yeah it is.

If you add up just the retail of The Shops, The Rim, Eilan, The Landmark and Cresta Bella you'd have a little over 5 million square feet. That's not including La Joya.

The area around the waterway looks like it's going to be very nice.

I do too. There also seems to be some type of walk way over the water. That should be nice.

[Boquillas]

It's a shame this stuff isn't happening inside the loop. Used to be you could walk around the hills of Friedrich Park and not see a house or subdivision.

[matttwentyeight]

wow, that is really nice!

it's gonna be funny when i come back in a few years and see all these place either done or in their last phases. that'll be fun to see the "AFTER" and be sort of shocked and surprised rather than watch week by week.

but then again, i gotta tell you that seeing those cranes above the grand hyatt, when it was being built, was adrenaline pumping

[sirkingwilliam]

Looks like this project is creating some seriously unnecessarily noise with the Government. This thing is nowhere near Bullis.

Another development near Bullis stuns Army

Web Posted: 07/12/2008 12:39 AM CDT

By Sig Christenson
Express-News

Fort Sam Houston officials, stunned to learn of a development project near Camp Bullis that would include hundreds of high-end homes and shops, told city officials Friday that an endangered species survey should be done before it is allowed to continue.

The project, Cresta Bella, would include single-family homes, apartments and businesses on a 410-acre tract west of Interstate 10 between Heuermann and Camp Bullis roads.

After getting word of the project Thursday, Fort Sam wrote a letter to a pair of city officials Friday expressing concerns on how it would affect the range, used to train Army medics and other troops deploying to war.

Cresta Bella is part of the “Camp Bullis Master Development Plan” approved in January by the Planning and Zoning Commission.

Final comments on it will be taken Monday, prompting Fort Sam spokesman Phil Reidinger to complain that the post too often has been out of the loop on matters affecting Camp Bullis.

“We're consistently frustrated that we are not provided adequate information to influence intelligent management of development around Camp Bullis,” he said. “We're not trying to stop development, but certainly there should be features in place to protect our mission in the face of intense development in our area.”

The post and area officials have launched an offensive in recent weeks to control development around the 27,994-acre Camp Bullis. Post commanders say they fear further destruction of nearby golden-cheeked warbler habitat will drive the birds onto the facility, limiting land use at Bullis and threatening the Army's medical training mission there.

A main focus of attention this summer has been a project just off the perimeter fence at the camp. INTCO-Dominion Partnership cleared 12 acres of land as part of its plans to develop a 340-acre site that Fort Sam says could have as many as 700 homes.

The post and environmental groups contend INTCO's tract contains habitat used by the warbler, which nests in the Hill Country each spring.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials last month told INTCO that the bird, as well as an endangered spider and two beetles, could be on the land. Destroying their habitat, the agency warned, could violate the 1973 Endangered Species Act.

Fish and Wildlife officials in Austin could not be reached, but Fort Sam's Reidinger said the agency had notified Cresta Bella that its property is home to cave-dwelling species like the endangered spider, Cicurina madla, and beetles — Rhadine exilis and Rhadine infernalis. He said he didn't know the details of the conversation or when it occurred.

A letter written Friday by Col. Wendy Martinson, Fort Sam garrison commander, told the city's Office of Military Affairs and the office of Development Services that Cresta Bella's master development plan raised the specter of more ruined warbler habitat.

The two-page letter said the project's 865 homes, 841,000 square feet of commercial businesses and 1,625 apartment units to be built 11/2 miles from the rocky range “could be detrimental” to Camp Bullis.

The project is a venture of Baruch Properties Ltd., a Dallas-Fort Worth firm; and San Antonio-based Post Oak Development. Baruch Properties' managing partner, Shaul Baruch, said he was not overseeing the project and couldn't comment.

Al Briseño, general counsel for Post Oak Development, said he didn't know if endangered birds or invertebrates were on the land, and was unaware of Fort Sam's letter and its objections. But he said he was ready to talk with the post, adding: “I'd be willing to discuss whatever the concerns are, obviously.”

City Councilwoman Diane Cibrian said she discussed the matter with Martinson, and that she had arranged a meeting with the developer and Fort Sam officials next week.

But it is not clear what the meeting might accomplish. Annalisa Peace, executive director of the Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance, said the planning commission's approval of the master plan was the final step in the process. Cibrian said she wasn't sure, and would have to research the matter further.

Peace called on the city to immediately impose a moratorium on development around Camp Bullis and create a buffer zone similar to one for Toyota.

“I don't understand how all these things are raining down without being addressed. I mean, the Army has been pretty clear about what their needs are,” she said, calling the latest incident proof the city “is not taking it seriously” and “denotes a huge lack of respect for the Army.”

Fort Sam's Reidinger stopped short of that.

“I think it shows a disrespect for the community where developers continue to destroy habitat and to continue potentially destroying habitat and aquifer recharge zone,” he said.

[tgannaway89]

Originally Posted by sirkingwilliam

Looks like this project is creating some seriously unnecessarily noise with the Government. This thing is nowhere near Bullis.

Cresta Bella isn't very close to Camp Bullis. It is across the interstate from Camp Bullis! The Rim is much closer and much larger. The Army needs to get their problem situated as there are numerous developments that have already begun construction. It sounds like the city and Army should have begun working together about 40 years ago to prevent development around Camp Bullis. It is unnerving that they have waited until now to complain.

They should sell sections of the 40+ square miles of land (areas that border The Dominion, The Rim, and the huge area that borders Stone Oak) and use that money to purchase a new military training reservation (specifically for crucial night-time medical flight training). The remaining portion of Camp Bullis could still be used for numerous other operations. I'm not sure how close to the city they'd be able to put it, but this time they can plan it out and prevent development. Sure the development is sprawl, but at least it's the best sprawl in San Antonio. It isn't just strip-malls and parking lots.

[oldmanshirt]

^^^All the same, if Ft. Sam were to close because some development forced a stupid endangered bird onto Camp Bullis, it would be a huge, huge blow, especially with all the money and jobs the Defense Dept is investing there. Losing AT&T would suddenly seem like losing Luby's, in comparison.

If the military is making a fuss, SA needs to listen, regardless of whether or not this should have been discussed decades ago (and make no mistake, it should have been discussed decades ago).

[Schertz1]

Regardless, developers should not be permitted to displace endangered species. The developers are illegally effecting the value of government land. Many areas of Bullis are restricted to training because of the very animals developers are displacing. Where do you think they will go? The Army is far more important to San Antonio than some stupid shopping center or another upper scale housing area.

[Texas Tuff]

It looks like a nice project overall, although from the article above it sounds like it may have some hurdles to get over. The one thing I don't like is that it looks like it has a lot of surface parking. It would have been better if they could have included some parking garage structures to reduce that.

[Trae]

I don't even see a parking garage in the rendering.

[sirkingwilliam]

Originally Posted by oldmanshirt

^^^All the same, if Ft. Sam were to close because some development forced a stupid endangered bird onto Camp Bullis, it would be a huge, huge blow, especially with all the money and jobs the Defense Dept is investing there. Losing AT&T would suddenly seem like losing Luby's, in comparison.

If the military is making a fuss, SA needs to listen, regardless of whether or not this should have been discussed decades ago (and make no mistake, it should have been discussed decades ago).

Fort Sam isn't going to close if the Camp Bullis mission had to be moved somewhere else.

People are getting the two confused. Losing a mission is COMPLETELY different than losing the post (Fort Sam).

How losing the Bullis mission because somehow synonymous with losing the entire post of Fort Sam and BAMC, is well, puzzling.

[sirkingwilliam]

Originally Posted by Trae

I don't even see a parking garage in the rendering.

Well, there is one large parking structure planned which is hard to see in the rendering.

Who knows, maybe Post Oak will modify the design to be a bit more dense to appease the Government. This could turn out to be a good thing.

[Schertz1]

Originally Posted by sirkingwilliam

Fort Sam isn't going to close if the Camp Bullis mission had to be moved somewhere else.

People are getting the two confused. Losing a mission is COMPLETELY different than losing the post (Fort Sam).

How losing the Bullis mission because somehow synonymous with losing the entire post of Fort Sam and BAMC, is well, puzzling.

The field exercises for medics, which train at Ft Sam, are all conducted at Bullis. If DOD determines Sam Houston and the San Antonio area can not support the training needs of these soldiers or the city has made decisions undermining the mission of Bullis they will move the entire command. The fact they are now pouring millions into transforming Sam Houston into the home of military medicine, not just Army medicine, means nothing. I can tell you, if it happens San Antonio will suffer a tremendous setback. Military retirees - and high level ones routinely settle here - will defiantly not choose to live here without Sam Houston. I know for a fact my parents will not stay in San Antonio and I will not move back without Fort Sam.

[sakyle04]

Originally Posted by oldmanshirt

^^^All the same, if Ft. Sam were to close because some development forced a stupid endangered bird onto Camp Bullis, it would be a huge, huge blow, especially with all the money and jobs the Defense Dept is investing there. Losing AT&T would suddenly seem like losing Luby's, in comparison.

If the military is making a fuss, SA needs to listen, regardless of whether or not this should have been discussed decades ago (and make no mistake, it should have been discussed decades ago).

Agreed.

The frustrating aspect is that the Dominion has been there for a long time now. Did the DOD not see this as an eventuality? And was there no way that they could have bought a 500' easement around Camp Bullis to protect the warbler habitat and limit encroachment onto their fenceline?

It seems like terrible foresight. If I were a developer who had long held such valuable land and now wished to build it out, I would be ticked.

From a legal/real estate background, I would think the optimal solution would be for the government to purchase perpetual easements on the land around their property (using eminent domain if they must) paying the landowners for the "highest and best use" possible for the land they are "taking". It would cost the DOD tens of millions of dollars, but it seems the only fair solution.

The benefit of the easement is that the land is still technically the developers and can be "released" back to the developer if Camp Bullis ever ceases to need the buffer. Also, the developer can retain some control over the land in utilizing it as a "green space" in meeting local regulations/ordinances within the scope of whatever development they might come up with.

[99jeep]

Here's a nice blog entry about the whole Camp Bullis/Cresta Bella issue: http://blogs.mysanantonio.com/weblog...camp_bu_1.html

And there was another article today about the issue: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/met...s.40e3fa6.html

[oldmanshirt]

^^^ Yeah, one of the guys on the E-N editorial board (Carlos Guerrera?) has been writing about it at least three times a week.

[sakyle04]

by the way...cresta bella. hills of tuscany or I-10 access road?

i shouldn't dog the place (development is development and at least this has some element of density), but the name made it too easy.