The Historic and Design Review Commission (HDRC) approved the final designs for a nine-story hotel on the River Walk Wednesday, which will allow developers to demolish the long-vacant Solo Serve building.
Plans for the hotel with a river-level restaurant and street-level retail space from Austin-based Merritt Development Group and hotel developer Vista Host received conceptual approval from the Commission in July.
Once the building is demolished, only a historic 11-foot brick wall facing the River Walk will remain of what was once the Bexar County Courthouse. The Solo Serve general store was constructed in the 1920s. While it is a local historic landmark, the structure has “lost significance,” according to the Office of Historic Preservation.
The northern 25% of the Solo Serve property will be retained by its current owner, Service Lloyds Insurance Co. The developers plan on creating a temporary public park until plans for that portion of the lot are solidified.
Plans for an AC Hotel by Marriott on the site were scrapped last year after Dallas-based Woodbine Development Corporation couldn’t make the 21-story hotel sit well with HDRC or investors.
Several major hotel, housing, and office projects have cropped up all over the urban core in recent years as a part of downtown’s ongoing revitalization. Construction will soon start on the new 23-story Frost Bank tower on Main Street, a 19-story mixed-use apartment complex is planned down the river, and an 18-story boutique hotel will break ground in 2017.
The architecture of the Woodbine proposal was much more interesting and true to the time. San Antonio doesn’t need any more faux Spanish tile roofed stucco boxes.
I thought the same thing, Brandon. There’s nothing special about this building, and the fact that it’s going where the Veramendi Palace once stood is a real shame.
So the former location of the Veramendi Palace (home of the Spanish Vice Governor and residence of Alamo hero Jim Bowie) will now be another overpriced hotel? The Palace had been demolished to widen Soledad Street by an ever progressive San Antonio. Now, the City is apparently at it again.
I totally agree with Ned Huthmacher. In spite of my understanding the (very short-sighted) municipal need to make big money off of this site, this rather nicely designed structure will indeed be contributing to the extreme sameness of the modern urban landscape and helping to eliminate the internationally renowned uniqueness of San Antonio, Texas. That it further eliminates a grand opportunity to commemorate the Veramendi Palace with its unique history and cultural background is just as criminal as the early 20th. century demolition of the original structure to… widen the street. San Antonio has an opportunity to “think outside the box” and contribute to its tradition of preserving its heritage. Can we go there, please?