http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/loc...ark_ideas.html
ACC playing bumper cars on Playland Park ideas
What do college administrators and massage therapists have in common?
They both could be housed in a proposed development at the old Playland Park site, now owned by the Alamo Community Colleges.
ACC bought the land for a new administration building, but now officials are talking about adding retail space for private businesses, plus a restaurant and spa for students in the culinary arts and massage therapy programs to practice on walk-in clients.
ACC trustees say the ideas have promise, but an estimated price tag of $116 million has angered faculty at San Antonio College, where budget woes have curbed faculty hiring and student tutoring.
This week, SAC's faculty senate issued a statement slamming the proposal as fiscally irresponsible and accusing Chancellor Bruce Leslie of veering from the district's educational mission.
If ACC builds retails space, “those people will have to pay rent, so we become landlords,” said Paula McKenna, chairwoman of SAC's faculty senate. “Can't we use that (money) to help with deficits from other colleges?”
According to Leslie, the district can't use construction money for campus operations. Denver McClendon, chairman of the ACC board, said the district is exploring its options and has taken no action.
“Leslie is doing exactly what we asked him to do. We said, ‘Bring us some ideas,'” McClendon said. “If the stars are aligned, we will develop that property.”
Leslie — who has big ambitions for Playland Park— is trying to align those stars.
Right now, hundreds of district employees are scattered among three locations, all in buildings reminiscent of strip malls. In some, offices are cramped and air systems are bad, Leslie said. To be efficient, the district needs to consolidate staff in one location and provide better working conditions, he said.
But Leslie's vision goes beyond an administration building. Because of the property's location on North Alamo Street near Broadway and the Pearl Brewery, Leslie wants to partner with commercial developers, Fort Sam Houston and community groups to make it a vibrant, shared space.
For instance, if the boardroom were built to accommodate 300 people, it could be used by community groups or by folks at Fort Sam Houston who need a meeting place to avoid the hassles of bringing civilians on post, Leslie said.
The location also could benefit culinary arts, massage therapy and dental hygiene students, who need walk-in traffic to practice their trade.
The culinary program at St. Philip's runs a gem of a restaurant on its East Side campus, but few people know about it. If it opened a restaurant near downtown, Leslie said, the students would be closer to the heart of the city's tourism industry, as well as the prestigious Culinary Institute of America branch located at the old Pearl Brewery.
Adding retail space for a bookstore, copy shop or other businesses would help attract people to the site, and the rent would help pay operating costs, Leslie said.
But the possibility of ACC playing landlord didn't sit well with some faculty members and trustees.
“When you start talking about retail space, that's moving away from education,” said McClendon, the board president.
McClendon is not afraid of partnering with private business, but he rather would see a developer pay to construct the building, then lease the space to ACC.
Leslie also is working with Solar San Antonio and the San Antonio Clean Technology Forum to make the building a model of energy efficiency and green building, and is talking about preserving the memory of Playland Park through photographs and mementos.
The ideas are good, but everything will hinge on money, trustees said.
“One of the concerns that we have is cost,” McClendon said. “Part of our role as trustees is to protect the interests of the taxpayers.