Ideas on what should be done with HemisFair Park redevlopment? Rival the Riverwalk?
 

I would love to see some new talls, residential, retail, office, civic and tourist attractions make up the redevelopment. I hope something spectacular happens there, something to rival the Riverwalk. Something with a lil Time Square flare would be nice. Of course the Riverwalk will always reign supreme.

For you guys that love doing the new skyscraper ideals with graphics, it would be cool to see a Hemisfair Park model of what you would do with the park. I don't know how to do those graphics.

I picture four new high rises centered around the Tower, the Tower being the centerpiece. Something with a european feel, squares and plazas. Thats some prime downtown land and it needs to be put to optimum use.

http://www.urban-photos.com/view_ima...an_Antonio,_TX
http://www.urban-photos.com/gallery/...io_09_7067.jpg

http://www.urban-photos.com/gallery/...tonio_7631.jpg
http://www.urban-photos.com/gallery/...tonio_7672.jpg

I'll probably try my hand at it...was already planning on coming up w/ something for HemisFair anyway :yes:

That would be so cool going by that one tower you designed.

blow up ITC. that'd be a start. stupid place for a huge, never-visited, and terribly squatty building.

Definetly some apartment/condos should be built there.I think in the 25-35 story range would work well. Maybe extend the riverwalk a little further south to Durango for easier access to residents along that street. Throw in a good size grocery store and other retail as needed. Jogging/bike trail should also be put in there somewhere. Maybe even throw in an ice skating rink during the cool months kind of like NYC's Central Park.

Agreed. UTSA would love to move to a new facility if the city bought it from them. They could construct the new ITC at their downtown campus. It would draw visitors over to the area (mercado and Alameda). The ITC could occupy the bottom 3 floors or so of a new 6-story building on the campus.

:banana:

The Alameda is about to be history:goodnight:
http://www.mysanantonio.com/entertai..._Alameda_.html

It's sad to see the millions that were pumped into it. It attracts very few visitors, is small, cramped, and off the beaten path. An established museum like ITC could do wonders to draw visitors to that side of downtown.

I debated the need for this on another forum a while back. I think it is too concentrated. Why would anyone care to visit a museum dedicated to Hispanic culture when you can see that free anywhere else in the city. I predict the Briscoe Museum will do well.

The ITC is kind of cool because it has lots of old artifacts and has recreated interiors of houses, etc.

Putting it into a historic building somewhere that would itself be a part of the museum would be my idea after tearing down the older building.

Turn it into a park with lots of green space. That will force the nearby land to have taller buildings, and then the people in those buildings will have a nice park to visit and throw a frisbee.

Agree with this more and more as time passes. I always wanted something on the space where the Fed buildings are but I think the more green space the better. I was thinking about this more and more on NYE; we are lucky to have a central public landmark like the ToA. If we maximize the use around it, by making the green space useable, then we could expect the crowds to increase a bit. Plus, by the time this gets going, more people will be living around the Tower.
It can't be that hard, even San Pedro Park has some useable green space that gets a pretty good amount of use.
As far as the ITC goes, I think that a new museum would do well behind the Alamo. It would get plenty of foot traffic and give people a little more history and a little more to look at besides a room full of souvenirs.

I finally went to the Alameda museum last Saturday. I was very dissapointed, it was ok but just "ok"... I expected so much more.

^^^ That's probably why it's struggling, most people may have the same reaction to it... equaled with a bad word of mouth...

They did have a good exhibit last year; The African Presence In Mexico: From Yanga to the Present.
It did personally interest me, so others might not have felt the same way about it. However, had it been something else that didn't grab my attention, I probably would have been slightly disappointed in the Museum.

I think your first paragraph describes the reasons why it "is failing/failed." But when you say "why would anyone care to visit a museum... when you can see that free..," I think this can share the same logical answer when asking why people visit any museum, park, or cultural center around the country. Yes we do have alot of visitors here, but Museums is probably very low on the list of things to do when people visit here. I don't think its that people DON'T want to go, I just think that people don't PLAN to go. We've gone over this on other threads but people probably think of Six Flags or Sea World before they think "museums" or "art" in San Antonio. Its a sad fact, and thats another way that the tourism industry has hurt SA. I'm not saying its an overall bad thing, its just that if all the other sectors had the same amount of attention in the last 50 years, we wouldn't be discussing this here on a thread talking about redevelopment of a park DT.
If the Museum can hang on for another 5-10 years, I think it could stand a chance in the long-term. With more interest in the arts locally and SA slowly getting its art reputation up a bit with events like Luminaria, I see the overall Art sector get more of a national and possibly even international draw.

And now it seems as if the ITC has become a Smithsonian affiliate as well.

No, if he just went, he saw a museum on its dying bed. Very little there; a lot of the space is closed off because they have no money.

I saw several good art exhibits there.

If there was a real problem with the museum it was that they didn't seem to have a clear mission of what they should be, or quite know how to deliver it.

Another problem was probably the location. I don't know the history behind the site selection, but they put it in the middle of a gimmicky area. The people that ended up at the market wanted the act of mexican food, mariachis and margaritas; not exactly the museum attending types. Why not use the actual Alameda theatre? (Probably because the layout doesn't work.)

I also think offering free Sundays was a mistake. Half-price sounds just as nice. Or better yet, try to partner with other area museums and have a discounted day. There were so many things they could have done better.

Does anyone have any updates on Hemisfair?