Posted Feb 22, 2024, 5:39 AM
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Registered User
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Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 954
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Everybody hates this hotel because it's ugly, cheap, and stupid:
https://www.bizjournals.com/sananton...hl5y4UfB3tCsQo
Quote:
A hotel proposed for downtown San Antonio may have to go back to the drawing board.
The Residence Inn by Marriott hotel, a $58 million project led by Austin-based Merritt Development Group and Georgia hospitality firm Peachtree Group, was pulled from the Historic and Design Review Commission's agenda Wednesday. The project would place 171 hotel rooms, meeting space, a fitness center and ground-floor dining in a spot facing Main Plaza. An application for conceptual approval was submitted in early February, which showed a slightly updated design with more expansive windows facing East Commerce Street.
In two January meetings with HDRC, commissioners raised questions about deliveries and pickups along the busy East Commerce Street thoroughfare, color selection and materials quality.
Leading up to the Wednesday meeting, city staff recommended denial of conceptual approval, flagging issues with architectural elements, building materials, dumpster placement and pedestrian access in and around the site.
Beyond city staff, Centro San Antonio also voiced its disapproval.
In a letter to HDRC obtained by the Business Journal, Centro CEO Trish DeBerry and Kathryn O'Rourke — chair of the organization's urban planning and development committee and professor of art history at Trinity University — said the project's current design does not mesh with downtown's existing architectural standards for high-quality building materials and connections to the surrounding landscapes.
"At this point, the design ... does not appear to reflect these principles," they wrote. "We are concerned that the classicizing tripartite composition proposed will be articulated using materials masquerading as expensive ones — CMU blocks dressed up to resemble stone; the thinnest brick veneers; and [exterior insulation and finish systems] rather than three-coat real stucco."
They also expressed concern that the design wasn't up to par to sit near the city's Main Plaza, San Fernando Cathedral and the Bexar County Courthouse.
"A new building near Main Plaza offers an extraordinary chance for us to help shape the plaza to realize its potential as a great urban space for all, to acknowledge the layers of history and culture that make San Antonio so special and to extend our legacy of exceptional design."
Merritt Development Group did not respond to a request for comment before publication time. The case is expected to return to HDRC for approval next month.
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Also it's pretty wild that Feb 26 will mark the eight-year anniversary of the creation of this thread. What a long, strange trip it's been
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