SAN ANTONIO | City and Metro News Thread

[kingkirbythe....]

Microsoft wins plea to remove thousands of trees for data center

https://sanantonioreport.org/microso...tree-variance/

Microsoft received approval to remove 2,642 trees from a 33-acre tract of land on the far West Side of San Antonio where the company plans to build a large data center. The technology giant will pay $1.47 million into the city’s tree mitigation fund aimed at offsetting the impact.

[kingkirbythe....]

San Antonio’s endless incentives for Microsoft help explain our lagging economic development

https://www.sacurrent.com/sanantonio...bbedPopularity

Editor’s Note: This is CityScrapes, a column of opinion and analysis.

This time of year, it’s traditional for a column to look ahead at the prospects for San Antonio and the larger community going forward. But now, with the effects of COVID-19 still looming large, it is difficult to see ahead with any certainty.

Even so, looking back offers us some context for understanding where the city is headed.

Just a couple of weeks ago the Express-News reported on the city’s latest deal with Microsoft for a new data center — a deal granting the company a variance on the city’s tree preservation ordinance. Microsoft will be able to remove more than 2,000 trees from the site in the Westover Hills area, leaving just a small number of large trees. In return, the tech giant proposed planting 800 new ones and paying $1.4 million to the city’s tree mitigation fund.

Bending over backwards to accommodate Microsoft and its data centers has a long history in this town. City council approved a deal in 2007 that gave Microsoft a 10-year property tax abatement for the data center in exchange for the promise to create 75 full-time jobs.

Of course, these data centers are just big buildings that house racks upon racks of computer servers to run Microsoft’s Azure cloud services. They don’t need many employees. In fact, Microsoft shared in documents that 20 of those 75 jobs would be in “site security services” — onsite guards.

Yet, despite the modest number of workers the center planned to hire, local leaders gave it even more incentives via a lucrative tax abatement deal from Bexar County.

“This is not a gift to Microsoft … This is a gift to ourselves,” then-Mayor Phil Hardberger assured the community.

Six years later, Microsoft came back with plans for a $250 million expansion, and the city council — with just one no vote — approved a new, 15-year tax phase-in deal. This time, Microsoft put its job creation at just 20 new jobs.

[ILUVSAT]

^^^That's ridiculous!

[kingkirbythe....]

Originally Posted by ILUVSAT

^^^That's ridiculous!

Right?! The City of San Antonio is almost a masochist.

Thank you Sir! May I please have another Sir!

[kingkirbythe....]

Developer unveils plans for latest boutique hotel in Fredericksburg

https://www.mysanantonio.com/busines...P-CP-Spotlight

Fredericksburg is set for a new destination hotel that will bring a full-service spa, pool, cabana and the works.

New Waterloo, a hospitality developer out of Austin, unveiled its plans and look for the Albert Hotel, a modern take on a boutique hotel that will be built front and center on historic Main Street, according to a news release.

[kingkirbythe....]

Two-alarm fire engulfs historic Westside San Antonio building

https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/lo...g-16943731.php

A 139-year-old abandoned downtown San Antonio building was well on its way to earning historic designation. Yet the historic building suffered critical damage in a fire that engulfed the structure on the night of Wednesday, February 23.

San Antonio Fire Department responded to a two-alarm fire at 500 Urban Loop near Cesar Chavez around 11:08 p.m. on Wednesday, according to preliminary reports. When firefighters arrived at the historical building, it was covered in heavy smoke and flames.

...

A local development group, led by Bill Miller Bar-B-Q heir, Douglas Miller, had hoped to demolish the two-story structure to clear the way for a planned eight-story tower at that location. Westside groups advocated for historic designation of the building in August 2021.

That designation was still awaiting final approval from the Historic Design and Review Commission at the time of Wednesday's fire.

Office of Historic Preservation spokesperson Ximena Copa-Wiggins says she couldn't recall an incident where a building on its way to historic designation caught fire.




Hmmm....

[kingkirbythe....]

San Antonio’s Mardi Gras Festival & River Parade returns to River Walk this weekend

https://www.expressnews.com/entertai...e-16941354.php

Mardi Gras, the traditional day of excess before the beginning of Lent, is Tuesday, but the good times will be rolling all weekend long in San Antonio.

The Bud Light Mardi Gras Festival & River Parade, a New Orleans-style celebration complete with beads and bands, returns to the River Walk Friday through Sunday.

The centerpiece of the three-day event is the river parade, which will be 4 to 6 p.m. Saturday. Ten decorated floats will carry costumed performers along the river.

Bands will be playing at the Arneson River Theatre from 1 to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. The lineup includes the Noah Peterson Quartet, Toro Flores Quartet, Jean-Pierre and the Zydeco Angels and BillyRay Sheppard & the Main Event. The celebration also will include an artisans’ market near the Shops at Rivercenter and food trucks.

On Friday and Saturday nights, decorated barges will be staged along the River Walk for anyone who wants to snap a festive Mardi Gras selfie.

[kingkirbythe....]

Originally Posted by kingkirbythe....

Two-alarm fire engulfs historic Westside San Antonio building

https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/lo...g-16943731.php

A 139-year-old abandoned downtown San Antonio building was well on its way to earning historic designation. Yet the historic building suffered critical damage in a fire that engulfed the structure on the night of Wednesday, February 23.

San Antonio Fire Department responded to a two-alarm fire at 500 Urban Loop near Cesar Chavez around 11:08 p.m. on Wednesday, according to preliminary reports. When firefighters arrived at the historical building, it was covered in heavy smoke and flames.

...

A local development group, led by Bill Miller Bar-B-Q heir, Douglas Miller, had hoped to demolish the two-story structure to clear the way for a planned eight-story tower at that location. Westside groups advocated for historic designation of the building in August 2021.

That designation was still awaiting final approval from the Historic Design and Review Commission at the time of Wednesday's fire.

Office of Historic Preservation spokesperson Ximena Copa-Wiggins says she couldn't recall an incident where a building on its way to historic designation caught fire.




Hmmm....

Historic Westside brothel the Dashiell House burns, deemed ‘a total loss’

https://sanantonioreport.org/histori...l-house-burns/

The Dashiell House, one of the last remaining structures of an early neighborhood on San Antonio’s West Side, has burned down following a fire late Wednesday night, ending a years-long debate on whether it should be recognized as a historic landmark.


Seems like Doug can build his building now.

[chancla]

Originally Posted by kingkirbythe....

Historic Westside brothel the Dashiell House burns, deemed ‘a total loss’

https://sanantonioreport.org/histori...l-house-burns/

Seems like Doug can build his building now.

It's almost too convenient.

[kingkirbythe....]

I'm surprised this sort of thing doesn't happen more often...allegedly.

[forward looking]

I knew Doug Miller when their family was like everyone else and they only owned the first Bar-B-Que restaurant @ the intersections of Southcross, Clark and Goliad Rds. It is so strange when I look at Mrs. Finley's sixth grade class picture and see all we kids. There he is, to think back to the sixties and realize the differences now and the time in between and what that family has achieved.
I remember when he blew his thumb off over Christmas break with a shotgun shell and the Doctors sewed it back on for him. Doug was never, a Daisy. Doug got into a fistfight with a hand cast on! The other guy deserved it, I must say. I haven't seen the Doug since strolling the hallways at Highland High School.
In what was back then the deep Southside, we lived on Jonathan Ave. and they lived on Utopia Rd. just across Inez Foster Elementary, where we attended as little kids.
I don't think they live out that way more.

Originally Posted by kingkirbythe....

Historic Westside brothel the Dashiell House burns, deemed ‘a total loss’

historic-westside-brothel-the-dashiell-house-burns/[/url]





Seems like Doug can build his building now.

[jaga185]

Originally Posted by chancla

It's almost too convenient.

RIGHT?!?

[kingkirbythe....]

Urban growth, projects have led to archaeological finds

https://www.expressnews.com/news/loc...s-16947862.php

Growth and new development in San Antonio during the 21st century, especially near rivers, creeks and other areas once traversed by humans, has fueled an explosion in archaeology, revealing secrets and details of the past that were long buried.

As a career archaeologist at the university level and now in the private sector, Steve Tomka has been the principal investigator in more than 80 archaeological digs in and around the city, guiding some of the most important discoveries about San Antonio, from prehistoric hunter-gatherers to the site of one of the oldest Black churches in Texas.

“It comes with a bittersweet part that we’re digging up and impacting some sites. But at the same time, we’re discovering some amazing things related to the story of San Antonio,” he said. “There’s a lot to be learned because we’re just scratching the surface on some of these things in terms of mission and prehistoric archaeology.”

[kingkirbythe....]

Environmentalists push tight limits to build in floodplains — and developers aren’t happy about it

https://www.expressnews.com/news/loc...n-16948484.php

A proposal by an environmental organization to sharply limit construction in floodplains in San Antonio has cleared an initial hurdle at the city Planning Commission — and developers are not happy about it.

The nonprofit Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance proposed a set of amendments to the city’s Unified Development Code that would prohibit most construction in floodplains and would require developers in certain circumstances to incorporate flood-control measures, such as natural bioswale channels for stormwater runoff, into their projects.

The protective measures would have to be sufficient to withstand a 25-year rainstorm, a weather event with a 4 percent chance of happening in a given year.

...

“Trying to fix damage after the fact is so much more expensive than just paying landowners to develop in a more sensitive and cost-effective way, a way which other parts of the country are already embracing,” Reid said.

[kingkirbythe....]

CityScrapes: San Antonio's Grand Hyatt deal is rushing forward while far too many questions remain

https://www.sacurrent.com/sanantonio...t?oid=28319667

Last week, San Antonio’s city staff — or more specifically, City Manager Erik Walsh and Chief Financial Officer Ben Gorzell — announced a proposal to “sell” the Grand Hyatt hotel downtown by paying off the outstanding bond debt the city issued in 2005.

To say call it a fast-tracked deal is an understatement. City council is scheduled to vote on measures to approve the deal at this Thursday’s meeting.

“What’s the rush?” you might ask. And you’d be right to.

...

Here’s another funny thing. The city isn’t getting a “price” on the 1,003-room hostelry. It isn’t really selling the hotel, even at a loss. It’s using those new bonds to pay off the $168.3 million outstanding debt on the property, to pay back the city for the $10.4 million it spent to keep the bond payments up for the past two years and to settle $4.9 million in unsettled ground lease payments.

But the city document values the new bonds at “up to $450 million.” Of course, there are costs to issue bonds — the original bond issue for the hotel ran around $15 million — and reserve funds are set aside to reassure bondholders that they’ll get paid even if the hotel continues to underperform.

Yet that total is nowhere near $450 million. Indeed, there’s a $266.4 million difference between the three items city staff said would be paid off and the total potential value of the bond issue.

So where does the rest of those undefined bond proceeds go? Your guess is as good as ours. The city document says the bonds will also fund debt and operating reserves for the hotel, pay the finance costs for the transaction and offer a payout to Hyatt to acquire ownership in the hotel.

[kingkirbythe....]

French pastry-maker Bakerly will open 300-employee facility in Southeast San Antonio

https://www.sacurrent.com/sanantonio...t?oid=28325088

European pastry company Bakerly will open a 300-employee production bakery at Southeast San Antonio's Brooks City Base, the Express-News reports.

The French company will spend $35 million to built its facility at the mixed-use development on the site of the former Brooks Air Force Base, the daily reports. The first phase will include 137,000 square feet of production space and administration offices, according to a filing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.

[forward looking]

I think some 14,000 year old pottery shards were discovered in the Olmos park Basin, the oldest yet.
I found a Mastodon tooth while hiking Culebra Creek just inside Loop 1604
near where a flood control dam was built.

Originally Posted by kingkirbythe....

Urban growth, projects have led to archaeological finds

https://www.expressnews.com/news/loc...s-16947862.php

Growth and new development in San Antonio during the 21st century, especially near rivers, creeks and other areas once traversed by humans, has fueled an explosion in archaeology, revealing secrets and details of the past that were long buried.

As a career archaeologist at the university level and now in the private sector, Steve Tomka has been the principal investigator in more than 80 archaeological digs in and around the city, guiding some of the most important discoveries about San Antonio, from prehistoric hunter-gatherers to the site of one of the oldest Black churches in Texas.

“It comes with a bittersweet part that we’re digging up and impacting some sites. But at the same time, we’re discovering some amazing things related to the story of San Antonio,” he said. “There’s a lot to be learned because we’re just scratching the surface on some of these things in terms of mission and prehistoric archaeology.”

[JACKinBeantown]

Originally Posted by forward looking

I think some 14,000 year old pottery shards were discovered in the Olmos park Basin, the oldest yet.

That's pretty freakin' old.

[kingkirbythe....]

Originally Posted by forward looking

I think some 14,000 year old pottery shards were discovered in the Olmos park Basin, the oldest yet.
I found a Mastodon tooth while hiking Culebra Creek just inside Loop 1604
near where a flood control dam was built.

That is
AF


and I was there!

[kingkirbythe....]

Generations Federal Credit Union acquires San Antonio-area office building for new headquarters

https://www.expressnews.com/business...g-16968328.php

San Antonio-based Generations Federal Credit Union has acquired a Castle Hills office building that will become its new headquarters and is planning to add three new branches in Bexar County.

It purchased the eight-story, 157,000-square-foot One Castle Hills office building at 1100 NW Loop 410 from Houston-based Highland Resources Inc. last month for an undisclosed price. The building is assessed at nearly $17.9 million by the Bexar Appraisal District.

The credit union’s current headquarters is at 9311 San Pedro Ave.