Mixed-use developer eyes site by Quarry
Meena Thiruvengadam
Express-News Business Writer
Most apartment dwellers in San Antonio don't have upscale restaurants and shops at their doorsteps. But that could change in the Quarry Market area.
Developers are planning to turn a piece of land sandwiched between Basse Road and the Quarry Golf Course into an upscale apartment or condo complex with restaurants and a shopping center.
The development at the northeast corner of Jones Maltsberger and Basse roads — tentatively dubbed the
Village at Quarry Market — is slated to have
280 residential units and nearly 82,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, according to a project summary by Reata Real Estate Services, the group handling the property's commercial leasing.
Developers, citing a changing preliminary plan, wouldn't discuss the project. The multistory complex must still gain city approval of its storm-water system before construction can begin. And no leases have been signed yet on any restaurant or retail spaces.
More than 240,000 people work within 5 miles of the location, and average income in the surrounding one-mile area is nearly $94,000.
The project, if completed as planned, would be part of a nationwide trend toward mixed-use developments, said Nathan Cherry, vice president of RTKL Associates, an international architecture, engineering and planning firm.
"The land values in the metropolitan areas are just now justifying the costs of these types of projects," he said. "In metro areas, the first wave of development was the downtown core, the second was the suburbs. Now that those two opportunities are largely built out, this is sort of a third wave of development."
The projects require greater cooperation between developers and governmental organizations and more consideration for things such as zoning and parking, he said.
Such mixed-use projects, Cherry said, generally cater to a more affluent crowd accustomed to an urban village type of lifestyle.
"A great deal of mixed-use developments are fueled by demand by two demographics," Cherry said — "empty nesters looking to simplify their lifestyles and young up-and-comers wanting to live close to work and the cool places."
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