SAN ANTONIO | Urban Core Development Thread

[PDD]

Great pics! Thanks for posting! Why folks decided to cheaply plaster the Hedrick Building in the first place is a mystery.

[mklunder13]

Is there something planned for the Sunshine Laundry property?

[Montirob]

Originally Posted by mklunder13

Is there something planned for the Sunshine Laundry property?

The property is owned by Weston Urban... aka the ones who developed the Frost Tower project. The property extends west to San Pedro Creek, and rumors are that the area is being proposed for a multi-family development, though I don't know the timeline.

[Fryguy]

I only just now saw those pictures posted on August 24th. Wow. Such beauty. Definitely some special architecture in those buildings!

[Spoiler]

Construction on the new TPR headquarters at the back of the Alameda.

[Spoiler]

Progress on the restoration of the Witte Building, aka the Chinese Restaurant building, continues.

[UrbanTrance]

Interesting article about Weston Urban's future plans:

https://saheron.com/with-frost-tower...on-to-housing/

In the partnership, Weston Urban is obligated to build at least 265 housing units on nearby properties it purchased, or will purchase, from the city and Frost Bank. Those properties are the Municipal Plaza Building, 114 W. Commerce St., the original Frost Bank building where City Council now meets; the San Fernando Gym, 319 W. Travis St.; three parking lots in the area; and the green space east of the new tower which Weston Urban is currently redeveloping into a more useful park space. It’s worth noting that Weston Urban also received an incentives package worth $3.9 million in city and SAWS fee waivers for the office tower and new apartments.

Smith said the company’s housing production will go beyond the 265 units.

“We will far exceed that,” Smith said. “We will build multifamily down here until the market tells us to stop. We have the land. We have the development pipeline.”

Smith said the company plans to build a mix of housing types at different rent levels. He said Weston Urban will seek development partners and incentives for some of its projects in this area.

[UrbanTrance]

Here's an image of the proposed land for a refresher:

[Rynetwo]

The concept site plan submitted only provides a comparison of the building footprint (135′ x 65′ or 8,774 square feet) versus the total lot area, which is slightly under four-tenths of an acre. Given that there is almost no room left for surface parking outside of the building footprint, it appears the structure will include a parking garage.

https://www.virtualbx.com/constructi...ise-apartment/

New high rise apartment building is planned near SAC.

[Keep-SA-Lame]

Oh nice, something new in my neighborhood. Not sure I'd be keen to live a block from that horrible Raggae bar/club at San Pedro/Laurel though, which is usually literally on fire when there isn't a fight or shooting happening there. However, besides besides that, that whole area between Five Points and Tobin Hill is really prime for stuff like this. Tons of parking lots and crappy low rise commercial buildings just begging to be torn down and replaced with something more urban. Sounds like this will be in the 10-ish story range if it gets going, hope it works out.

[SAguy]

Originally Posted by Keep-SA-Lame

Oh nice, something new in my neighborhood. Not sure I'd be keen to live a block from that horrible Raggae bar/club at San Pedro/Laurel though, which is usually literally on fire when there isn't a fight or shooting happening there. However, besides besides that, that whole area between Five Points and Tobin Hill is really prime for stuff like this. Tons of parking lots and crappy low rise commercial buildings just begging to be torn down and replaced with something more urban. Sounds like this will be in the 10-ish story range if it gets going, hope it works out.

I thought it would around 12 floors.

[TSK18]

Originally Posted by SAguy

I thought it would around 12 floors.

If I read the article correctly, the proposed building in question has a maximum height of around 120 feet. So it really depends on floor to floor heights, but I'd wager that those are probably a little greater than 10 feet, so the building should be less than 12 floors.

[JACKinBeantown]

How about 10-12 floors?

[Dan In Real Life]

Originally Posted by JACKinBeantown

How about 10-12 floors?

[LakeCourtland]

Originally Posted by Rynetwo

https://www.virtualbx.com/constructi...ise-apartment/

New high rise apartment building is planned near SAC.

I'm involved in the neighborhood association and saw a presentation on this project. I'm pretty sure this is the one being built to house the residents of the nearby Aurora, which now houses budget-constrained senior citizens. Every former Aurora resident will receive an apartment--at the same rate--in the new building. (This is a condition under which the owner purchased the Aurora.) That will make space for a full rehabilitation of the Aurora into a high-end historical hotel--which it once was. It sounds like a great project. The Aurora is such a beautiful building, and I love that the owner is building the new high-rise right next door to make sure former residents don't lose their homes or their community. I think the neighborhood will fully support this project. It seems to be planned in just the right way.

[AwesomeSAView]

Originally Posted by LakeCourtland

I'm involved in the neighborhood association and saw a presentation on this project. I'm pretty sure this is the one being built to house the residents of the nearby Aurora, which now houses budget-constrained senior citizens. Every former Aurora resident will receive an apartment--at the same rate--in the new building. (This is a condition under which the owner purchased the Aurora.) That will make space for a full rehabilitation of the Aurora into a high-end historical hotel--which it once was. It sounds like a great project. The Aurora is such a beautiful building, and I love that the owner is building the new high-rise right next door to make sure former residents don't lose their homes or their community. I think the neighborhood will fully support this project. It seems to be planned in just the right way.

That IS great and wonderful news!
The Aurora Building is beautiful and should get restored to what it once was, a beautiful high end hotel near downtown!!
The Bushnell Building, however, built in 1926, I believe around the same years the Aurora Building was built, was never a hotel and was San Antonio's first luxury apartment building. The Bushnell Building has always housed apartments. At one point, they did try and go condo, but that fell through for some reason or another. Just a little of San Antonio history.....
I just love how the developer is thinking about the tenants at the Aurora.
A VERY GOOD piece of GOOD NEWS in this STRANGE, CRAZY world we are currently living in today!!!!
A toast to these GOOD DEVELOPERS!!!

[Spoiler]

Another hotel, huh. Well, a fancy hotel will probably be a good thing for the area around Crockett Park.

[Fryguy]

Aurora Building, from a distance, really isn't special, but when viewed close up, it's breathtaking.

I have said this many times: San Antonio needs something like the Aurora Building, the Nix, or the Milam Building but significantly tower. Now that would be something special. Chicago has many buildings similar to the design and style, and built during the same period of time, as the buildings in downtown San Anotnio only taller. This is definitely something downtown San Antonio needs.

[Spoiler]

Originally Posted by Fryguy

Aurora Building, from a distance, really isn't special, but when viewed close up, it's breathtaking.

I have said this many times: San Antonio needs something like the Aurora Building, the Nix, or the Milam Building but significantly tower. Now that would be something special. Chicago has many buildings similar to the design and style, and built during the same period of time, as the buildings in downtown San Anotnio only taller. This is definitely something downtown San Antonio needs.

Too bad this style of building will never be built again. All we can do is preserve what we have.

[SAguy]

From SA Heron- A glimpse at west downtown in 10 years

In a recent interview, Craig and Jensen described two to four multifamily developments, with an average of 250 units per project, beginning in the next two years. Consider this to be the first phase. Do the math: That could be as much as 1,000 apartments populating west downtown, on land west of North Main Avenue, in the near future.

Jensen says the company plans to break ground on the first housing development “within about a year.”

Craig and Jensen said the company prefers projects that rise more than five stories—more of the taller, steel-and-concrete variety than the shorter, wood-framed structures that have predominately been built during the downtown area’s revitalization the last decade—most with retail space. Seems like a no-brainer to have retail, but it’s not. See 120 Ninth Street or the Encore SoFlo as examples of developments that are strictly apartments.

“Everything will have some sort of a (street) activation component,” Jensen said. “Just because we’re describing this as a big push of residential space, a lot of these projects will be mixed-use in nature.”

https://saheron.com/a-glimpse-at-wes...n-in-10-years/