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  #141  
Old Posted Mar 17, 2015, 6:16 PM
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No. There just hasn't been any new development. Patience must be exercised.
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  #142  
Old Posted Mar 17, 2015, 8:08 PM
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The City is doing its due diligence. Environmental assessments, cost assessments, etc. From everything that I hear it is inevitable that the City will accept the proposal.

This deal is going to cost the city a lot of money. Sure it will save money over time, but there will be an upfront cost, and it will most likely be large. As a City this is not something that can be jumped right into. I wonder if any of the up-in-coming annexations, and aggressiveness of them plays into this at all.

The bottom line, is that it is too good of a deal for the city to pass up,
- get out of costly leases
- acquire much needed space to accommodate growth
- acquire a revenue producing parking garage
- Consolidate departments --> increased productivity
- Sell properties that are costly to maintain and staff
- New development for the downtown area
- and many more smaller benefits.

but they need to have everything in order for when they go public.

Patience +1

There are a lot of other things that might be involved on the city side. A move into Frost bank might include the move of the IT Data Center from Frio. The current building shares a back wall with the SAPD Central Substation. There have talks of replace that structure for over a decade.

The Frio building is a disaster, so the City might be looking at a plan to solve that issue as part of any deal with Weston/Urban. I don't mean that it would be actually part of the deal, but that the city would have to account for that in working out a deal with Weston/Urban.
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  #143  
Old Posted Mar 26, 2015, 7:46 PM
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Exploring San Antonio's Exploding Urban Core

Quote:
CITY-WESTON URBAN-FROST BANK ‘MEGADEAL’ STILL PENDING

Secrecy has surrounded the status of the unsolicited public-private partnership proposal submitted to the City last summer by Weston Urban and Frost Bank, a project that would add the fist new Class office tower to the city’s skyline since construction in the 1980s of the Weston Centre. The proposed tower would become the new corporate headquarters of Frost Bank, assuring their long-term presence downtown, and it would deed the exiting Frost Bank tower, where Wednesday’s luncheon was staged, to the City, allowing it to consolidate widely dispersed staff located in multiple locations.

A number of other City-owned properties, such as the Municipal Plaza Building and the former Continental Hotel, would be redeveloped by Weston Urban, and hundreds of new residential units would be built in the surrounding area, sparking what likely would be a decade-long redevelopment of the western downtown area north of Main Plaza.

From the downtown development proposal by Weston Urban and Frost Bank submitted to the City of San Antonio dated Aug. 8, 2014.From the downtown development proposal by Weston Urban and Frost Bank submitted to the City of San Antonio.
See more details about the three-way asset and development trade here.

“Having a new tower downtown would be huge, the last tower (built in San Antonio) was in 1988, the Weston Centre,” Houston said. “We’re very excited about the opportunity … but as (former) Mayor Julián Castro mentioned at the unveiling of this project is that it has to be cost neutral to the City of San Antonio.

“We’re really working to complete our due diligence and working with the leadership to make sure that this makes sense for everyone. And we hope to have an announcement in April-May timeframe.”

Primera Partners, the San Antonio-based owners of the 20-story Riverview Towers at 111 Soledad St., submitted a proposal to sell the building outright to the City and is also being considered.

Adelman impatiently called for the microphone to place an exclamation point on Houston’s remarks and suggest a more aggressive posture by the City leadership.

“I don’t think we can overstate the importance of this transaction,” Adelman said. He admitted he is not familiar with the financial details of the proposal, but said it is obvious that the City needs to consolidate its workforce into one place.

The other obvious advantage, he said, would be for San Antonio as a whole.

“(Allowing) a skyline-changing headquarters building for Frost Bank, a pillar of this community, is critical. The last thing we need is Frost Bank leaving (downtown),” he said. “What the public side needs at this moment is incredible leadership … to say that it has to be cost neutral (as Castro said), is very short-sighted. It should be cost appropriate.”

The City, he said, needs to lead by example and invest in its downtown development. The status of the Weston Urban proposal, which has been under review since Castro was still in office in July, remains the subject of much conversation and speculation in the downtown development community. Graham Weston is the co-founder and chairman of Rackspace, founder of the tech incubator and co-working space Geekdom, housed in the historic Rand building, which he purchased and is redeveloping, and a major philanthropic force downtown. Many feel that if he can’t succeed in making such a major public-private partnership work with the City than no one will be able to do so.

Houston’s prediction of news in April also produced a noticeable stir in the audience.

There was a lot of back and forth between Adelman and Houston on a variety of issues – to be clear, though, no one left the table defeated. Cities and its developers go back and forth every day as part of the process. At the end of the day, the City is beholden to its citizens – who also happen to be the development community’s customers.

“It started with the leadership and getting people to understand that if you have a healthy downtown, your entire city benefits,” Houston said, citing that in 2007, only $10 million of the bond program went to downtown development. In the 2012 bond program, $93 million was allocated. “But (ultimately) the community made downtown a priority.”

The coming 2015 bond, she suggested, offered the opportunity to accomplish even more.
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  #144  
Old Posted Mar 27, 2015, 4:34 PM
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Update on this project

I saw this article as well. I think this reads very promising. And if I'm not mistaken, the original timeline read that in April/May and announcement would be made regarding the proposal. And this is what this article says, so they have stuck to their original timeline. IMO, this update is excellent news. Everybody wants this!
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  #145  
Old Posted Apr 27, 2015, 3:55 PM
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City Approves Landmark Weston Urban/Frost Bank Deal http://therivardreport.com/city-appr...ost-bank-deal/
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  #146  
Old Posted Apr 27, 2015, 5:59 PM
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Such awesome news! Renderings should be coming soon. I can't believe we are getting a new office building so quickly. It's still kind of shocking.
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  #147  
Old Posted Apr 27, 2015, 6:07 PM
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City Leaders Announce Deal with Frost and Weston Urban that Will Result in New Tower Downtown

SAN ANTONIO (April 27, 2015) – Mayor Ivy R. Taylor, Dick Evans of Frost and Graham Weston of Weston Urban announced today that the City, Weston Urban and Frost have negotiated a deal that will result in a consolidated office tower for City operations, facilitate the development of 265 new housing units in the Central Business District and forever alter San Antonio’s skyline with the construction of the first new office tower downtown since 1989. The new tower will house the headquarters for Frost Bank.

In June 2014, the City of San Antonio received an unsolicited proposal under the Public Private Partnership Guidelines from Weston Urban and Frost that would consolidate City offices and catalyze housing, office and retail development in the city’s core. In accordance with the guidelines and at the invitation of the City, Weston Urban and Frost submitted a more detailed proposal in August 2014.

“As mayor, I couldn’t be more thrilled about this Public Private Partnership with Weston Urban and Frost,” Mayor Taylor said. “In addition to providing valuable downtown housing, it will enable the City to consolidate operations into City-owned buildings downtown. The economic impact is huge – in addition to the new tower and housing, it will provide much needed retail opportunities along our two major retail corridors, West Commerce and Houston streets.”

“This transaction will centralize approximately 1,400 employees into three City-owned buildings,” City Manager Sheryl Sculley said. “Currently, the City of San Antonio leases office space in four buildings in the downtown area, costing the City $3.5 million annually. This transaction will result in a net savings to the City’s budget. Additionally, it will provide more housing in the core of our downtown and facilitate the construction of the first tower in 26 years.”

The City will sell the Municipal Plaza Building at 114 West Commerce and properties at 319 West Travis and 403 North Flores to Weston Urban. These properties along with the properties that Frost will sell to Weston Urban will facilitate the creation of 265 new housing units downtown. Frost will sell the Frost Bank Tower and 732 space parking garage to the City of San Antonio. Weston Urban will construct a new 400,000 square foot office tower to serve as Frost Bank’s headquarters, with Frost as the named tenant, on the Frost Motor Bank and surface parking lot at the corner of Flores and Houston streets.

“Frost has been an integral part of downtown San Antonio since our company first opened its doors on Main Plaza nearly 150 years ago,” said Evans, Frost chairman and CEO. “As a long-time supporter of downtown initiatives, Frost is committed to the continued growth of San Antonio’s urban core. We are very pleased to see this project moving forward, as it will allow us to maintain our corporate headquarters downtown in an iconic new skyscraper, where we will be the named tenant.”

“This project will continue the incredible momentum we are experiencing in downtown San Antonio,” Weston said. “When complete, this will be the first office tower built downtown in three decades. Its proximity to the San Pedro Creek Improvements Project makes it an extremely desirable location. While the tower will forever change our city’s skyline, we’re equally excited about the proposal on the whole and creating unique housing options in the core.”

A public hearing on the proposal and comprehensive development agreement is scheduled for 9 a.m. on May 28 in City Council Chambers. City Council will take action on the agreement at the June 4, 2015 City Council
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  #148  
Old Posted Apr 27, 2015, 6:44 PM
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Originally Posted by trillhippy_210 View Post
City Approves Landmark Weston Urban/Frost Bank Deal http://therivardreport.com/city-appr...ost-bank-deal/
Nice. Sounds like Weston is pushing for the new tallest title (at least office tower wise). Fantastic for SA and much needed.
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  #149  
Old Posted Apr 27, 2015, 10:09 PM
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Originally Posted by texboy View Post
Nice. Sounds like Weston is pushing for the new tallest title (at least office tower wise). Fantastic for SA and much needed.
I want to find out the size of the lot they want to build on. See how many stories 400,000 sq ft. would be.
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  #150  
Old Posted Apr 27, 2015, 10:18 PM
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Originally Posted by trillhippy_210 View Post
I want to find out the size of the lot they want to build on. See how many stories 400,000 sq ft. would be.
It's a pretty decent size lot....but we're in San Antonio, it'll probably be a 25-30 story building. I hate to be negative but it's the truth. It would be nice to see a 45-50 story building finally be built in downtown.
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  #151  
Old Posted Apr 27, 2015, 10:31 PM
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Originally Posted by fordman2800 View Post
It's a pretty decent size lot....but we're in San Antonio, it'll probably be a 25-30 story building. I hate to be negative but it's the truth. It would be nice to see a 45-50 story building finally be built in downtown.
I think itll be in the 50 & up range. I also wonder what this means for residential spots downtown.
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  #152  
Old Posted Apr 27, 2015, 10:50 PM
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New Downtown Skyscraper

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Originally Posted by fordman2800 View Post
It's a pretty decent size lot....but we're in San Antonio, it'll probably be a 25-30 story building. I hate to be negative but it's the truth. It would be nice to see a 45-50 story building finally be built in downtown.
New building to be built being described as an iconic skyscraper that San Antonians will be proud of. I too, think it will be 50 plus stories! Another story I read on the proposal, said the current tallest building is the Marriott at 40 stories. So with that in mind, I think Weston would like to build a "new" tallest building downtown!
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  #153  
Old Posted Apr 28, 2015, 1:21 PM
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Originally Posted by AwesomeSAView View Post
New building to be built being described as an iconic skyscraper that San Antonians will be proud of. I too, think it will be 50 plus stories! Another story I read on the proposal, said the current tallest building is the Marriott at 40 stories. So with that in mind, I think Weston would like to build a "new" tallest building downtown!
It's will be very tough to squeeze 50 stories out of only 400,000sf. I don't think the demand for a 50+ story is there, YET. My guess would be 25-30 floors with a large crown at the top to give it more height. I'm expecting around 550ft range. I'm just to see this happening, it's great for downtown. Like sirkingwilliam has been saying for awhile, this will be the first domino to fall for the skyscraper boom.
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  #154  
Old Posted Apr 28, 2015, 2:20 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tsm View Post
It's will be very tough to squeeze 50 stories out of only 400,000sf. I don't think the demand for a 50+ story is there, YET. My guess would be 25-30 floors with a large crown at the top to give it more height. I'm expecting around 550ft range.
Sounds like a reasonable guess to me.
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  #155  
Old Posted Apr 28, 2015, 2:31 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tsm View Post
It's will be very tough to squeeze 50 stories out of only 400,000sf. I don't think the demand for a 50+ story is there, YET. My guess would be 25-30 floors with a large crown at the top to give it more height. I'm expecting around 550ft range.
25-30 stories plus a large crown would not be anywhere near 550 ft.
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  #156  
Old Posted Apr 28, 2015, 3:01 PM
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Originally Posted by wwmiv View Post
25-30 stories plus a large crown would not be anywhere near 550 ft.
The Weston Center is 32 stories and 550 feet if you include the boxy crown, according to emporis.

http://www.emporis.com/buildings/118...antonio-tx-usa
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  #157  
Old Posted Apr 28, 2015, 3:23 PM
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Originally Posted by Keep-SA-Lame View Post
The Weston Center is 32 stories and 550 feet if you include the boxy crown, according to emporis.

http://www.emporis.com/buildings/118...antonio-tx-usa
That's 32 stories, tho.
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  #158  
Old Posted Apr 28, 2015, 3:27 PM
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Originally Posted by wwmiv View Post
That's 32 stories, tho.
You're right, I shouldn't have said 25-30. I guess the only thing we can do is just wait for the renderings and more details to come out.
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  #159  
Old Posted Apr 28, 2015, 3:30 PM
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Originally Posted by tsm View Post
You're right, I shouldn't have said 25-30. I guess the only thing we can do is just wait for the renderings and more details to come out.
I do think there's demand for 30-35, which could be 550 feet if there's a crown.
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  #160  
Old Posted Apr 28, 2015, 3:59 PM
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The initial proposal had diagrams displaying what the heights might be. See below:





I really like that the plan is for retail on the first couple levels of the Parking garage. I hope that sticks.

I am not a huge fan of podium garages and this is a large site, but since this might be in the 25-35 range, I will take it to get the extra height.

518 would make it the tallest in the city. That 546 figure for the Marriott is bogus. It is really in the 470-490 range.

It will be pretty exciting seeing this project move forward, as well as the other ancillary projects that are part of the plan.
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