SAN ANTONIO | Urban Core Development Thread

[oldmanshirt]

Thanks for setting us all straight, SKW.

[jaga185]

That's exciting, the art's and entertainment district is really going to take off.

[sirkingwilliam]

I recently read a story on the sacurrent site about a man I had never heard of before. Arthur Veltman Jr. or as he was known to everyone, Happy.

http://www.sacurrent.com/news/story.asp?id=69584

He seemed to be a pioneer in the gay movement of San Antonio and he also have great vision and a huge passion for San Antonio as the article maintains.

I then got to thinking, why don't we name the gay district north of downtown the Happy District? I think it would be a tremendous honor for the guy and quite frankly, it sounds pretty cool.

Anyone else agree or disagree?

[sakyle04]

first, SKW, thanks for the vidorra vistana explanation.

if i get you straight, cross is looking near vidorra for a new parcel for another project (potentially a cousin to vistana)... vidorra's long term plans are unchanged.

now that i have re-confused everyone...

i didn't know there was a gay district. i knew that there were areas of town that were more friendly and progressive towards the gay community. where then is this gay district?

and, if the gay community (well-represented here), didn't find the Happy District to be a bit of a patronizing term....that is, if they liked it I'd be happy with it.

[sirkingwilliam]

Originally Posted by sakyle04

first, SKW, thanks for the vidorra vistana explanation.

if i get you straight, cross is looking near vidorra for a new parcel for another project (potentially a cousin to vistana)... vidorra's long term plans are unchanged.

now that i have re-confused everyone...

Yeah. Hopefully Cross is going for a bigger and taller cousin...lol

i didn't know there was a gay district. i knew that there were areas of town that were more friendly and progressive towards the gay community. where then is this gay district?

and, if the gay community (well-represented here), didn't find the Happy District to be a bit of a patronizing term....that is, if they liked it I'd be happy with it.

I honestly don't know if it's a full on district or just a small gathering spot where there's like 4 or 5 gay clubs. It's off Main just north of the Central Loop. It's also where they hold the gay pride parade (Main Ave) and from what I've been told, it's growing quite nicely with more planned nightclubs.

But I also thought about the connotation of Happy as being patronizing but I think if people where informed in time it would just be the name and as the district grew with signs displaying the name people would see it for what it really was.

[Keep-SA-Lame]

Originally Posted by sirkingwilliam

I recently read a story on the sacurrent site about a man I had never heard of before. Arthur Veltman Jr. or as he was known to everyone, Happy.

http://www.sacurrent.com/news/story.asp?id=69584

He seemed to be a pioneer in the gay movement of San Antonio and he also have great vision and a huge passion for San Antonio as the article maintains.

I then got to thinking, why don't we name the gay district north of downtown the Happy District? I think it would be a tremendous honor for the guy and quite frankly, it sounds pretty cool.

Anyone else agree or disagree?

I didn't know him, but I know people who did. He's my new favorite San Antonian after reading that article.

Also, I would prefer Cross and Co tackled the damn Broadway Lofts before they go to the east side.

[miaht82]

Originally Posted by ryan5021

Heard a rumor this weekend that a Vistana II is in the planning stages. Cross is looking at buying land about a block away.
.........................................

Pretty solid. I know someone who is working for Vistana. Apparently the land they are looking at is a block east and the second tower will be a mirror image of the first, so it won't be taller. Cross & Co. is in negotiations with the city.

Originally Posted by ydoc14

Ok, so we're talking about Vistana then afterall? So, VISTANA is set to have a twin then?

Originally Posted by sirkingwilliam

[*]Vidorra, east of downtown/central loop, is being developed by DTMLS.

[*]Cross and Co is developing Vistana, on the west end of downtown, as well as other downtown residential projects. Cross and Co are possibly buying land a block from Vidorra for "?".This should be Vistana not Vidorra.
[*]Vidorra, being developed by DTMLS, will have a mirrored tower next to it like it's always been planned. Though like I said, because of it's more northern location it can be built taller if the developers want to.[/SIZE][/LIST]
Hope that helps.

SKW you have confused everyone now; The VISTANA is set to have a twin a block east of its site, which would be either where the Alameda theatre is or one of the neighboring blocks.
The confusion started when you said;

Originally Posted by sirkingwilliam

It can, the developers of Vidorra said that the site for tower two wasn't in the historical area that has a height limit so tower two can be much taller.

Before that, there was no mention of VIDORRA.
Just trying to re-set everything straight and re-re-confuse everyone.
Now we can start speculating what block it will be, the Alameda block? or the Metro health offices and probation office block. If its the city, sounds like the latter to me.

[STLtoSA]

I made a quick map of the area under discussion. Hopefully it would be the Metro Health block. I know that the City wants to get them out of that building, and the Annex will be torn down in the near future for a "temp" surface parking lot. The new lot would be around 321 spaces. The lot at Metro Health is somewhere between 80-90 spaces.

I would rather see this section of Commerce developed rather than Houston St.

But maybe they are looking at a parallel twin along Laredo St. Eventhough, it would be an aweful idea.



This would be a great project for an area that currentlly has projects under construction and in the planning stages.

[jaga185]

I don't know if I like the idea of twins. Can't they do something different and still be Vistana II? If we do have twins though, they need to be right next to one another. Alameda or Metro Health, no others.

[sakyle04]

^^^

The city hall annex has a whole other set of possibilities.

my question is this: what would a twin look like? the lots are obviously not conducive to a direct mirror? so could something be taller in order to facilitate more units...?

[Schertz1]

I doubt the Alameda is going anywhere.

[sakyle04]

Originally Posted by Schertz1

I doubt the Alameda is going anywhere.

you're right on that one...

no chance for that to be demo'd...

[sirkingwilliam]

I totally effed everything up. lol

When I read first read Ryan's post I read VIDORRA. I read it as "Vidorra II is in the planning stages." Then I read that Cross was buying land a block away as if that was a separate deal.

I apologize.

Originally Posted by miaht82

SKW you have confused everyone now; The VISTANA is set to have a twin a block east of its site, which would be either where the Alameda theatre is or one of the neighboring blocks.
The confusion started when you said;

Before that, there was no mention of VIDORRA.
Just trying to re-set everything straight and re-re-confuse everyone.
Now we can start speculating what block it will be, the Alameda block? or the Metro health offices and probation office block. If its the city, sounds like the latter to me.

[jaga185]

Well, I guess the city hall annex would be a better option, I mean it's only going to be a parking lot. I just hope they do something different with the design, its going to look wierd with twins 3-4 blocks away from one another.

[STLtoSA]

The Vistana II is no way going to be located on the site of the Annex!

I just wanted to clarify that. A couple of people seem to think that the site is viable, by what I posted. I included the Annex site in my post because of the parking element, making the loss of a lot at Metro Health not a big loss.

The City is never going to give up the Annex site because it is too valuable for the city. Not to mention that the city already has plans for the property.

I think the metro health site and parking lot would be perfect. The retail space on the ground floor could help restore that part of commerce.

[sakyle04]

Originally Posted by jaga185

I don't know if I like the idea of twins. Can't they do something different and still be Vistana II? If we do have twins though, they need to be right next to one another. Alameda or Metro Health, no others.

considering we have inexact lots, i don't think we have to worry too much about twins.

i could accept something very similar though, especially if a different exterior product (a deep red brick perhaps) was used...

[oldmanshirt]

Who else thinks a 25 or 30 story tower with the same crown would look totally wicked??

[jaga185]

I always thought that about it. If it were to be cut in half and stacked on top of one another, it would look awesome!

[sirkingwilliam]

I think a 25-30 story apartment high-rise would definitely work downtown. There's not too many downtown apartments even with Vistana.

[jaga185]

I agree. The condo market might be just now taking off, but the apartment market is waaaayyy under served, I know I want one when I can finally afford to move out.