SAN ANTONIO | Urban Core Development Thread

[@sabydesign]

News on Frost Tower coming this Sunday.

Express-News

Renderings and more on the way.

Happy reading!

[SAtown]

Originally Posted by llamaorama

New rendering looks way better! Something I noticed is a new side alley that goes to the riverwalk. While I guess its on the property of the hotel, I'm assuming the public could use it. Maybe that could help with foot traffic flow and get more people down in that area.

I hope that whole block of Soledad cleans up. It's such a nice contiguous piece of historic downtown, and with river frontage to boot. I'd hate for it to remain vacant any longer and possibly be lost.

The proposed tower kitty corner from it behind riverview towers might also bring a bit more energy to that immediate vicinity too, I'd hope.

New Rivard Report article said they're turning a piece of the Solo Serve property into a park "temporarily". The design also passed HDRC approval pending clarification of that "historic wall"... I'm disappointed they didn't push for a better design.

http://therivardreport.com/historic-...o-serve-hotel/

[SanDiegoGuy]

Originally Posted by @sabydesign

News on Frost Tower coming this Sunday.

Express-News

Renderings and more on the way.

Happy reading!

That's good news.

[SAtown]

Has anyone else noticed they tore down those old, boarded up Donut Shop and Dog Day Care buildings on Broadway? Right across Broadway from Butterkrust and just south of the Enterprise. Does anyone know what is going on there?

Looked up the owner online, and from their address I found their other developments. They own few older office buildings, but they also have developed a couple somewhat uninspiring townhomes...

http://msgmanagement.com/#terra-alta-homes
http://www.museumtownhomes.com/#about

I wonder if they are going to try to rezone that land for residential... I guess that might be better than a Chase Bank...

[UrbanTrance]

This sounds pretty cool

GrayStreets' plan to combine Houston St. buildings opens space for SA's first food hall

GrayStreet Partners has come up with another forward-thinking amenity for downtown San Antonio — its first food hall.

And the firm has submitted extensive plans to the Historic Design and Review Commission regarding this project, which calls for connecting two of the neighboring properties it owns along Houston Street.

The food hall, which is expected to span at least 18,000 square feet, would occupy most of the ground floor of the Grant Building — otherwise known as the former children's museum. Covey said it would be an experienced-based concept that would deliver high-quality, healthy options at an affordable price point.

The space would include about 10 separate dining concepts that Covey said would give local chefs the chance to "try out new ideas."

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanantoni...buildings.html

[Restless 1]

Originally Posted by UrbanTrance

This sounds pretty cool

GrayStreets' plan to combine Houston St. buildings opens space for SA's first food hall

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanantoni...buildings.html

"If we want to compete for great companies to relocate here, to bring jobs and residents downtown and spur development, then we need to step up our game and create an environment that is competitive with other markets — that is our goal. " - Kevin Covey

Like this statement. We are woefully behind other cities as pertains to amenities such as this. We need more forward thinking like this.

[Keep-SA-Lame]

Here's the EN write up on the same project:

http://www.expressnews.com/real-esta...photo-10563953

The development will include a food hall with about 10 vendors modeled after the Mercado Roma in Mexico City, Graystreet’s managing partner Kevin Covey said in an interview Friday. The hall would have at least 15,000 square feet of space, he said.

Covey said his firm is negotiating leases with companies for the space and expects to begin renovation work in November or December.

A mini version of my favorite market in my favorite city in the world?

Also, perhaps this deserves its own thread now?

[Keep-SA-Lame]

Speaking of food halls...

http://www.expressnews.com/business/...17-8393410.php

The Pearl will add a food hall to its complex of trendy, independent restaurants and retailers next spring.

The 5,500-square-foot hall — located on the ground floor of the Bottling Department building at 312 Pearl Parkway, near the Hotel Emma — will house about seven independently owned food vendors and include beer and wine service, Pearl spokeswoman Elizabeth Fauerso said Tuesday.

The Pearl is currently in talks with potential tenants to fill the space, Fauerso said, but the complex hopes to attract vendors eager to create new food concepts.

I guess it's the trendy new thing?

[maxus]

[IMG]playland by marcus garza, on Flickr[/IMG]

[maxus]

[IMG]Screen Shot 2016-06-25 at 5.44.34 PM by marcus garza, on Flickr[/IMG]

[maxus]

http://therivardreport.com/box-store...-headquarters/

[UrbanTrance]

GrayStreet renovates Travis Park Plaza into tech space

Local developer GrayStreet Partners is transforming the aging Travis Park Plaza building into tech-oriented office space loaded with perks such as a bicycle storage room, fiber internet and 18-hour retail, bolstering efforts to create a tech district around downtown’s Houston Street.

The $5 million renovation began late last year on the eight-story building, with 162,000 square feet of office space, and is expected to last until spring of next year, said Kevin Covey, GrayStreet’s managing partner. Some tech entities have already signed up for space, including the San Francisco-based Dialpad business messaging application and the Codeup coding boot camp.

The renovated Travis Park Plaza will include common lounge areas and a passageway running through the building’s ground floor, creating access to 9,000 square feet of retail. To create an environment appealing to techie night owls, GrayStreet is upgrading the air conditioning so it can run economically day and night and is looking for retail tenants willing to be open 18 to 24 hours a day.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/real-est...photo-10632124

[jaga185]

New bottom floor retail in the middle of the city, this is going to be awesome! Especially across from Travis Park.

[Restless 1]

Originally Posted by jaga185

New bottom floor retail in the middle of the city, this is going to be awesome! Especially across from Travis Park.

Eighteen hour retail. Good for the workers and DT residents. Along with the proposed markets, and I may start looking for DT digs.

[Keep-SA-Lame]

That retail space is going to make a huge difference for Travis Park. It's an OK park, but if it ends up surrounded by retail, it really has the potential to be a much more interesting space.

[jaga185]

Originally Posted by Restless 1

Eighteen hour retail. Good for the workers and DT residents. Along with the proposed markets, and I may start looking for DT digs.

I already live DT and it's so nice. Especially with all the Pokestops they have lol. But travis park had a ton of pokemon go players this past saturday, so it would be awesome to get a coffee shop or something there.

[Spoiler]

For years I have looked at that building and imagined patio cafe seating under those nice oak trees. This is literally a (day)dream come true.

[whatdoyouwantandwhy]

Just a few years ago, the common perception was that investing into downtown and Houston street was a quixotic ambition. now not only are people investing into Houston street, but making moves on Travis?! the decade of downtown is finally seeing the first of it's seeds sprout up. hopefully this is just the beginning to a much more robust growth trend in the coming years and decades.

I'm in LA right now, and seeing how much urban development here is eye opening to what SA can accomplish if it keeps up this trend. Also... we definitely need to invest heavily in our transportation infrastructure.

[Restless 1]

Originally Posted by jaga185

I already live DT and it's so nice. Especially with all the Pokestops they have lol. But travis park had a ton of pokemon go players this past saturday, so it would be awesome to get a coffee shop or something there.

Surprised my youngest didn't demand I take him down there. If he had his own smart phone, I'd be in real trouble.

DT is looking like a great place to live, and as I get older, and responsibilities subside, would really like to live there.

Hopefully, I'll be able to afford it when the time comes.

[Sean1187]

Originally Posted by whatdoyouwantandwhy

Just a few years ago, the common perception was that investing into downtown and Houston street was a quixotic ambition. now not only are people investing into Houston street, but making moves on Travis?! the decade of downtown is finally seeing the first of it's seeds sprout up. hopefully this is just the beginning to a much more robust growth trend in the coming years and decades.

I'm in LA right now, and seeing how much urban development here is eye opening to what SA can accomplish if it keeps up this trend. Also... we definitely need to invest heavily in our transportation infrastructure.

I currently live just on the very edge of DT Phoenix and absolutely love it. I think it's on the same page as SA in regards to needing a little something more, but everything is real accessible; including a 5 min walk to the light rail which I can then take to Mesa, Tempe or further north in Phoenix. By far one of the best decisions I have ever made was to move to downtown. I can only hope that by the time I move back to SA I'll be able to find a place and job all in DT.