SAN ANTONIO | Projects and Construction

[kornbread]

Property's fate unclear despite $4 million sale

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/met...d.19df16d.html
Web Posted: 07/20/2006 12:12 AM CDT
Rachel Stone
Express-News Business Writer

A San Antonio developer intends to pay $4 million for a few acres of land just south of Olmos Park, even though deed restrictions prohibit building on it.

And in a strange twist, whether those deed restrictions are released is up to one of the losing bidders.

Koontz McCombs was the winning bidder on the 2.7 acres that the San Antonio Independent School District auctioned off this week. The land is near Trinity University and Incarnate Word High School.

Koontz McCombs' bid was twice that of Trinity University, which owned the property until 61 years ago and which put the deed restriction in place.

The sale is expected to close next month. A spokesman for Koontz McCombs wouldn't hint at the company's plans for the land or how it might get around the stifling deed.

But at $33.82 per square foot, this isn't just any old patch of scrub.

Wedged between Hildebrand Avenue and Devine Road, and seconds from U.S. 281, it's a hilltop with high-dollar possibilities.

"I don't know what you'd do on land that expensive. It would have to be high-density office or condominiums," said Jim Lundblad, a broker with REOC Partners Ltd., a San Antonio real estate company.

"On the surface, it sounds expensive, but it's such a great location. They're not making any more land over there."

Its convoluted history may be a roadblock, however.

In 1945, Trinity University sold it to the city for $10,000 as part of the Hildebrand Avenue expansion, but retained some control over it.

As a condition of the sale, the board stipulated that the city could use it only for a park or a parking lot, and that no structure could be built there.

The city donated the site to the SAISD in 1968, and it's been used mostly as overflow parking for Alamo Stadium since then. Restrictions from the 1945 deal remain in place.

Trinity would have to release the deed restrictions before Koontz McCombs, the company behind a plan to build high-rise condominiums on the old Earl Abel's restaurant site, could build on it.

Considering Trinity had a losing bid of $2 million, however, who knows how likely that will be.

Trinity's board of trustees hasn't discussed whether to release the deed restrictions, spokeswoman Sharon Jones Schweitzer said.

"We have concerns about what it might be used for," she said.

The university didn't have specific plans for the property, but the Monte Vista Historic District, Hildebrand Avenue and Alamo Stadium create developmental barriers for the campus.

"I guess you could say we're landlocked," Schweitzer said.

The University of the Incarnate Word, which is building a new pharmacy school just across Devine Road, also lost in the auction with a bid of $2.25 million.

Several developers had approached the district about the land, which prompted the auction, said Kamal ElHabr, the school district's associate superintendent for facilities services.

"It's a very nice location overlooking downtown," he said.

"We were pretty excited. Four million dollars is pretty hefty, even for that property."

[21bl0wed]

Originally Posted by kornbread

Property's fate unclear despite $4 million sale


"I don't know what you'd do on land that expensive. It would have to be high-density office or condominiums," said Jim Lundblad, a broker with REOC Partners Ltd., a San Antonio real estate company.

"On the surface, it sounds expensive, but it's such a great location. They're not making any more land over there."


"It's a very nice location overlooking downtown," he said.

I think the developers know something we don't, about getting the permission to build there. $4 million is quite a bit to gamble if they still aren't sure they'll be able to develop the land. Looks like there will probably be another 20+ story condo there, or office building.

[kornbread]

Originally Posted by 21bl0wed

I think the developers know something we don't, about getting the permission to build there. $4 million is quite a bit to gamble if they still aren't sure they'll be able to develop the land. Looks like there will probably be another 20+ story condo there, or office building.

I can't imagine Trinity would not remove the restriction just because they lost the bid. They will probably get more concerns from the neighborhood. The location would be nice for residences with views of downtown on one side and Olmos Park on the other. $4 million is a lot for that...lot.

[JACKinBeantown]

I assume Koontz McCombs is owned by Red McCombs. If that's the case, he should turn the land into a park and have the city of San Antonio and its residents praise him as an altruistic god.

[21bl0wed]

Originally Posted by JACKinNYC

I assume Koontz McCombs is owned by Red McCombs. If that's the case, he should turn the land into a park and have the city of San Antonio and its residents praise him as an altruistic god.

Theres a park within a mile of that lot.

[kornbread]

Originally Posted by JACKinNYC

I assume Koontz McCombs is owned by Red McCombs. If that's the case, he should turn the land into a park and have the city of San Antonio and its residents praise him as an altruistic god.

You assumed correctly. The city is always offering sacrificial lambs to to RED

I think the residents pretty much expect to get screwed.

Actually, Red has been giving a lot of money away.

He gave to UT.
http://www.utexas.edu/opa/news/00new...ift000511.html

He gave to MD Anderson center in Houston.
http://txnp.org/2005/07/red-and-char...te-30m-to.html

I'm sure he has contributed to something in SA, but I can honestly say I don't know what. I'm almost certain it was not anything close to those amount.

[The Nano]

7/23/06

La Cascada





Neisner Building Renovation



Kress Building Renovation


Staybridge Suites

[KevinFromTexas]

Lookin' good.

[kornbread]

Lender claims troubled Broadway development
Web Posted: 08/01/2006 01:49 PM CDT
http://www.mysanantonio.com/business...N.45f3810.html
Express-News

The beleaguered development that has sat half-completed near Broadway and U.S. 281 for almost two years sold in foreclosure today for $4.77 million.
The winning bidder was Colina del Rio L.P., a San Antonio-based real estate company, which used its lien against the property as its bid.

Developer George Geis, who started building the mixed-use project in 2003, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for the project in May. But last week, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Leif Clark lifted a stay that would have staved off foreclosure.

Today's sale could spur one or more lawsuits between Geis and Colina.

[Trae]

From MySanAntonio.Com

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
'The Sprawl Effect'

So where exactly does San Antonio end?

With commuters making the daily trek from once-rural towns including Boerne and New Braunfels, and population and job growth fueling an 18,000-homes-per-year building frenzy, San Antonio's housing boom is redefining what's urban, suburban and country.


Call us Sprawlantonio.

Homes are sprouting like backyard bamboo. Even real estate agents take guided bus tours of the suburbs in an effort to keep track of all of the new development.

And last year was the first time the San Antonio area saw more housing starts outside Loop 1604 than inside.

"It's the sprawl effect," said Jim Gaines, research economist with Texas A&M University's Real Estate Center. "San Antonio is bumping into the southern part of Austin, with San Marcos caught in between."

Of course, sprawl is not unique to San Antonio. The phenomenon is happening all over Texas, with most of the state's new-home development happening outside the limits of major cities and far from downtown centers, Gaines said.

What drives people to the suburbs are the combined factors of better schools, lower prices, more land availability and reasonable commute times, said Norman Dugas, a residential developer and president of Dugas Diversified Developments.
"You can get to Boerne in under 45 minutes," Dugas said. "Boerne is the imaginary circle. We have huge, huge areas in that circle that are available for development."

Living beyond that circle, however, starts to look less attractive for San Antonio workers.

"Once you get a commute longer than an hour or about 45 minutes you start to run into resistance for people to move further out," he said. "Most of the marketplace doesn't want to spend two hours a day in the car."

For builders, the lack of city regulation in suburban areas also makes it slightly more affordable to build there.

"The county doesn't have rules and regulations like the tree ordinance that the builder has to live by," said Becky Oliver with the Greater San Antonio Builders Association. "That's what encourages the developers to go outside the city."

When it comes to development, counties in Texas have limited authority granted to them by the state.

"It saves you the fees and the hassles of dealing with the permitting authorities," Gaines said. "It means a lot of the new-home construction is being kind of directed on purpose outside of the city."

Randall Allsup, manager for the San Antonio office of Metrostudy, a housing research firm, said development is being pushed away from the North Central area that's been popular with buyers in the last decade.

Regulations about construction on top of the Edwards Aquifer, the city's tree ordinance and the area's hilly, rocky landscape make building more difficult and more expensive. That pushes home prices higher and means builders who want to do a more affordable project — under about $200,000 — have to move elsewhere.

"Now you see development moving to the west, east and south," Allsup said.

Several large landowners in the far Northwest area of San Antonio recently banded together to extend water and sewer lines to their properties. That investment is opening the door to a huge amount of development — able to support around 60,000 new houses — outside Loop 1604 between U.S. 90 and Highway 16.

"There's a decade's worth of new development out there that's now possible," Dugas said.

The changing landscape isn't always easy for longtime owners to watch.

Chip Massey moved to Fair Oaks Ranch in the early 1980s. At the time, he could easily identify his home on an aerial photograph of the area — there were just three other houses on his street, and vast portions of the development had not yet broken ground.

Now more than 5,000 people live in Fair Oaks Ranch, an incorporated town south of Boerne and off Interstate 10, built on what was a 4,000-acre ranch owned by Ralph Fair.

Massey still loves his town, but now dreads the developments popping up nearby.

"Of course I hate to see how built-up I-10 is becoming," Massey said.

Likewise, golfers at the Canyon Springs Golf Course in the Stone Oak area winced when work crews cut several acres of trees near the club's entrance to make way for a multifamily complex.

Golf course manager Karl Ludeke said the construction noise is annoying and everyone was sorry to see the trees go. But it's also the price of growth.

"The golf course was put here to sell the properties around it," Ludeke said. "I wouldn't be here if the developer hadn't put that golf course in here to sell land."

Even longtime builders have been amazed by the pace and scope of San Antonio's growth.

Population growth, higher land prices and the introduction of national builders to the San Antonio market has supersized development, said Jim Bastoni, a partner in Imagine Homes.

"Once upon a time you could buy 50 acres and do a small neighborhood," Bastoni said. "The scale of the deals has gotten so much larger. There are no small deals anymore."

Pulte Homes, for instance, purchased 1,600 acres off Texas 151 outside Loop 1604 for its traditional neighborhood, Alamo Ranch, as well as Hill Country Retreat, a Del Webb development for people 55 and older.

Even rural areas farther from San Antonio's core are seeing larger developments.

Cordillera Ranch is an 8,600-acre luxury development off Texas 46 and alongside the Guadalupe River in Kendall County. The neighborhood, by Lufkin-based DH Investment Co., features million-dollar homes on sites between 1 and 10 acres.

The final build-out should include 2,500 homes and a Jack Nicklaus Signature golf course.

"It's almost mind-boggling," said Rick Kuper of Kuper Sotheby's International Realty. "That is the epitome of what is happening."

While Cordillera Ranch doesn't represent a typical development, Kuper said the vast amount of acreage makes sense.

"Texas, California and Florida will have 48 percent of the nation's growth between now and 2045," Kuper said. "The other states are overpriced. We're undervalued. The national builders do their homework and San Antonio is in the bull's-eye."

"Good, bad or indifferent," Kuper said, "we're going to see incredible growth."

Courtesy of SAguy

[KevinFromTexas]

^ That's part of what I was talking about. If a city has problems with identifying where it begins and ends, then it has a problem with its identity itself. And that can be bad for a city trying to introduce itself to the world and attracting business and people and creating an image for itself. Houston has struggled with this for a long time.

[Trae]

^^I have heard that that happened to Los Angeles are few decades back.

[jaga185]

In regards to that article, it doesn't matter how much you can complain about the sprawl, if nothing is done to change it or the city council's minds when approving things, then there is no point in complaining.

[Trae]

^^Well, I watched the news report, and it looked like they were happy about it.

[jaga185]

sweet, maybe this will get the ball rolling

[ryan5021]

Does anyone know if the Hotel Talavera at The Rim has broken ground?

[21bl0wed]

Originally Posted by ryan5021

Does anyone know if the Hotel Talavera at The Rim has broken ground?

Not sure, the only 2 cranes I have seen were working on bass pro shops, and the other on a target or some other box store. I know they were supposed to break ground sometime this year though, so if they haven't broken ground yet it should be soon. Last time I was out by The Rim though was about a month ago so they may have a new crane up.

[starvinggryphon]

Any news on a starting date for the Houston St. Kress addition? Also is Vistana proposed or has it been approved?

By the way, this thread is really neglected..........there is so much going on!

[kornbread]

Vistana is a nice surprise. Actually, I think there's more room for apartments (as opposed to condos) downtown, specifically the western edge near UTSA.

[jaga185]

^^^ I know what you mean, there are parking lots galore in that area.

I love Vistana, it is a very nice structure and provides a much needed art deco touch to our city. I just can't quite place where it is.