SAN ANTONIO | Urban Core Development Thread

[ILUVSAT]

It is never good news when a company pulls over 300 people out of downtown. Especially when there has not been any sizable expansions in the core workforce in years. You want people to come to downtown, not leave it...no matter the specific circumstance. It is a telling sign of the current state of downtown San Antonio.

What are we doing wrong...or not doing at all? There are several cities in the U.S. our size which have far more vibrant, 24/7 downtowns. Yes, the Riverwalk is "vibrant" (until a certain hour). But, the rest of downtown is pretty much dead.

We cannot continue to only thrive on the tourist (and students) for a "vibrant" core...we need more commerce (i.e., large companies) investing in downtown SA, not leaving!

[miaht82]

Originally Posted by Bigfoot Yancey

Thanks, that does help explain it. I didn't think that tax relief is ever achieved by artificially suppressing the appraised value, right? It would just be a rebate. And I've never heard of any county or state incentives in the first place.

I hear you though that tenant finish outs could well push appraised value closer to the investment.

I'm wondering what else could have been necessary to drive up the city's bill that high though? Asbestos abatement or something? Is this public record?

Found some info on the permits website...

32.5kW solar array, upgraded infrastructure work, etc. The city picks up the tab on most of that stuff...
Partial construction finish out was valued at $500k

Look up records here.

Originally Posted by STLtoSA

Has anyone heard what kind of renovation plans they have for the Rand building? It is an awesome building (I get to walk by it every day), but I would bet that the interior could use some work to accommodate Geekdom.

Only thing I could find:
from: http://www.siliconhillsnews.com/2013...rand-building/



Agree with STLtoSA, I think it actually is a break-even, maybe even a plus that we have "movement" in downtown, a shift of sorts. The improvements that are being made to the Rand building are a plus for downtown, not to mention that this opens up the Class A space at Weston Centre. It allows for growth for Geekdom and Weston's overall plan for the area.

[Bigfoot Yancey]

At a Donovan Rypkema lecture he was talking about value of downtown residents vs. office workers. The data was something like residents add three times the value of office workers per capita to the downtown economy. With development trends as they are this should not be a huge blow.

There is a massive imbalance in this town between commercial and residential real estate. I dont know how it compares to other cities but near-downtown is chock full of vacant, cheap office space. On the other hand every new residential development seems to fill instantly even being the most expensive rentals in town. Demand is there. Increased density via residential development is key here for a while, at least until the demand for nearby office space increases.

One example is 1010 south flores. All of the housing units are full but from what I can tell not a single storefront has been leased. We are just at an early stage when it comes to getting people back to downtown.

[WorldTexas]

Originally Posted by Bigfoot Yancey

On the other hand every new residential development seems to fill instantly even being the most expensive rentals in town. Demand is there. Increased density via residential development is key here for a while, at least until the demand for nearby office space increases.

One example is 1010 south flores. All of the housing units are full but from what I can tell not a single storefront has been leased. We are just at an early stage when it comes to getting people back to downtown.

That squares with what I heard recently from some folks over at the City's CCDO. They said the normal path is saturate the market with market rate rentals, draw in small retail, then for sale residential should start to come in on its own. Office space is the last part of the equation. This means we're still very much in Stage 1 for downtown as a whole. The area around Pearl is probably transitioning between 2/3.

[Fireoutofclay]

We do have about 200 new workers coming in to One Riverwalk Place, as a financial services company is relocating their headquarters. So that helps offset the loss. The City Center Development Office is working towards filling office space and luring companies to headquarter downtown. Its kinda like those awkward middle school dances where the kids are looking at each other to see who'll be the first to dance. They're the DJ and it's their job to ensure that every space on that dance floor is taken. And when someone steps off the dance floor another steps on.

I also read an article not too long ago that suggested that the lack of abundant, immediately available Class A space had some interested companies bypassing downtown. What do you guys think, should we adopt an " if we build it they will come" outlook, if we haven't already?

[WorldTexas]

Originally Posted by Keep-SA-Lame

Downtown loses 300 more jobs:

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanantoni...-westover.html

So let's count that as a net loss of 150.

USAA moving 150 employees downtown
Posted on February 14, 2014 | BY BENJAMIN OLIVO

USAA plans to move about 150 employees to One Riverwalk Place, an office building located on the River Walk, in late September, Jen Becker, executive director of public relations, confirmed this morning.

http://blog.mysanantonio.com/downtow...yees-downtown/

I used to work in the building about 5 years ago and it was largely empty back then. With this lease it'll be almost full. Even though Frost is relocating a small number of their employees, I think overall the trend has been to see companies moving in. In the last few years Argo, HVHC, OCI Solar, Goldman Phipps Law Firm, GSA, South Texas Money Management, and Overland Partners have moved downtown. So there is clearly interest in office space in the center city. There was just a glut of it on the market for so long because of AT&T. Slowly, but surely we are moving in the right direction.

[Rynetwo]

Anyone see this?

SoJo is a $2.1 million project consisting of seven market-rate apartment units. The project includes $213,864 in public incentives and is scheduled to open in fall 2014

http://www.sanantonio.gov/ccdo/DowntownProjects

[Keep-SA-Lame]

Originally Posted by Rynetwo

Anyone see this?





http://www.sanantonio.gov/ccdo/DowntownProjects

Yeah, that showed up at HDRC several months ago. Great small infill project.

[STLtoSA]

Originally Posted by ILUVSAT

It is never good news when a company pulls over 300 people out of downtown. Especially when there has not been any sizable expansions in the core workforce in years. You want people to come to downtown, not leave it...no matter the specific circumstance. It is a telling sign of the current state of downtown San Antonio.

What are we doing wrong...or not doing at all? There are several cities in the U.S. our size which have far more vibrant, 24/7 downtowns. Yes, the Riverwalk is "vibrant" (until a certain hour). But, the rest of downtown is pretty much dead.

We cannot continue to only thrive on the tourist (and students) for a "vibrant" core...we need more commerce (i.e., large companies) investing in downtown SA, not leaving!

They are not pulling them out of downtown, they are being booted out of the building (even though, I am sure that it was Frosts plan all along to move those employees in order to sell the building). Would I rather Frost keep there employees downtown, sure, but where would you expect them to put them? For one they are not going to boot tenants out of their own building because those leases are too valuable. In addition, a high dollar lease several blocks away may not make sense for Frost, and finally building another building to house 300 of its employees and probably a good amount of space for it to lease is just not viable.

Now, that last point may be what you are referring to; if the downtown commercial market were better Frost could build a new tower and attract tenants.

If you want a vibrant 24/7 urban space, offices and downtown workers are not the way to get there; Residential, Student and Tourism are. Now, if you want a vibrant daytime core,; then yes, Offices are what you want.

I believe that San Antonio wants to attract more office space, but I believe that there is a stronger focus towards residential, institutional and Tourism/Convention. I like where things are going. In the past it seemed that COSA was all about tourism. It was great for the region, but not for the core. The projects going on now and in the pipeline are very promising, and I can't wait to see what the next five years will bring.

[adtobias]

If they build affordable high rise condos DT they will come.

[Fireoutofclay]

http://casey-johnson.com/site/portfo...r-thesis-prep/

Came across this thesis page during my wandering of the net. It is chock-full of information some of you may find interesting. It makes references to the 2 lots on Martin and St. Mary's that we all know and love.

[miaht82]

Not sure if anyone else had a chance to look it over, but the "Downtown Design Guide" was submitted to HDRC this last go round.

http://www.sanantonio.gov/historic/D...sign_Guide.pdf

Already I see how the Embassy Suites disaster could have been avoided had we had something in place...

Chapter 3
GROUND FLOOR TREATMENT

A. GROUND FLOOR TREATMENT:
NON RESIDENTIAL STREETS IN
DOWNTOWN

Design ground floor space for retail or other active uses, orienting tenant spaces to the
street and maximizing storefronts and entries along the sidewalks to sustain street level
interest and promote pedestrian traffic.

1. Locate active uses along the street façade to enhance the building’s
relationship to the public realm. Uses include: lobbies, dining rooms, seating
areas, offices, retail stores, community or institutional uses, and
residences.
2. Ground floor retail space shall be provided to a depth of at least 25 feet
from the front façade and shall include an average 14 foot to 0 inch
floor-to-ceiling height, with heights above 14 feet being very desirable.
3. The primary entrance to each streetlevel tenant that does not have its
frontage along a public street shall be provided from a pedestrian paseo,
courtyard or plaza, which is connected to the public street or alley.
4. Wall openings, such as storefront windows and doors, shall comprise at
least 70 percent of a commercial building’s street and river level façade
as seen in Figure 3.2.
5. Clear glass for wall openings, i.e., doors and windows, shall be used
along all street-level commercial façades for maximum transparency,
especially in conjunction with retail and hotel uses as illustrated in Figure
3.3. Dark tinted, reflective or opaque glazing is not permitted for any
required wall opening along commercial street level facades

[sirkingwilliam]

What Embassy Suites disaster?

[miaht82]

Originally Posted by sirkingwilliam

What Embassy Suites disaster?

[sirkingwilliam]

Never even saw this get mentioned before. Disaster might be overstating its status. Terrible design tho.

[WorldTexas]

It looks like the southern stretch of the river is starting to get some attention! It sounds like it's not a very dense development, but it could be the start of some movement to the south. What is the average unit/acre count for a suburban vs. urban development?

It also brings up one of the downsides to all the redevelopment happening. Displacement will probably be a bigger issue on the south side of town because of the lower levels of economic activity down there.

Proposed development could displace residents
By Valentino Lucio

Mission Trails Mobile Home Community at 1515 Mission Road sits on nearly 21 acres located across from the Riverside golf course and along a revitalized section of the San Antonio River.

The park is home to dozens of older manufactured homes. Some are boarded up and vacant. Others are modestly maintained.

New public amenities make the property a prime site for higher-end apartments, said attorney Bill Kaufman, who represents White-Conlee, the firm interested in developing the property.

White-Conlee is still hammering out the details of it development plan, but reliminary cost estimates put the project at about $75 million. Built with a mission theme, the 400-plus apartments would be mostly one-bedroom units with luxury features such as granite countertops and stainless steel appliances.

http://www.expressnews.com/business/...271366.php#/11

[WorldTexas]

Originally Posted by sirkingwilliam

Never even saw this get mentioned before. Disaster might be overstating its status. Terrible design tho.

I'd agree with disaster. I think that whole building is terrible, especially considering it's on the river. Luke and their patio is its one saving grace.

[miaht82]

Originally Posted by sirkingwilliam

Never even saw this get mentioned before. Disaster might be overstating its status. Terrible design tho.

Considering that outside of a natural disaster, extensive property damage or extreme renovation this building is going to sit as such for the next 50+ years, I would say that it is approaching one. The Milam is already lacking life and to add that in front of it just makes it worse.
If we keep giving bad design a pass, we'll have city blocks that we want to do just that in... pass through or avoid altogether. The adjacent parking lots (when developed) will hopefully make up for this, but the blocks are too small in the core to make these mistakes and just put up a blank wall.

[sirkingwilliam]

New development proposed for Mission Reach neighborhood

• 400-unit development proposed for Riverside neighborhood in the Mission Reach.
• Proposed cost of the development is $75 million.
• Will feature street level retail.
• Would replace a trailer park.

LOCATION MAP


Express-News paywall link

[Keep-SA-Lame]

That's some gentrification DEEP into the Southside. Very pleasant site though between the river and that golf course. I personally won't be upset to see the trailer park go, but it's still sad to see people's lives disrupted.