The Alamo Trust announced Friday that the City of San Antonio has made a “best and final” offer for the bar property that stands in the way of plans for the Alamo Visitor Center and Museum.
The Alamo Trust, which is the nonprofit that oversees the Alamo, made an offer of $5.26 million that was rejected by Vince Cantu, owner of the Moses Rose’s Hideout bar on East Houston Street, just around the corner from Alamo Plaza.
“I cannot accept their unfair offer,” said Cantu in an email Friday.
The latest offer for the property at 516 E. Houston St. takes into account the appraised value of both the land and business, according to a statement from the Alamo Trust.
The city is acting on behalf of the Trust and the Texas General Land Office, as it did in January when the City Council voted to approve the use of eminent domain to seize the property if negotiations broke down.
Now it appears both parties are headed to court with the city poised to ask a three-member panel of court-appointed commissioners to determine a purchase price “consistent with the property’s fair market value of $2.1 million.”
The dispute over how much the bar property is worth began more than three years ago, with Cantu asserting he wants to be fairly compensated for giving up his business. But the two sides’ failure to come to an agreement on a price prompted city officials to approve the use of eminent domain to acquire the property.
Under that process, a property owner is paid what’s determined to be the fair market value.
In March, the city made an offer to Cantu — $4 million plus relocation expenses for the property, up from the Alamo Trust’s $2 million starting offer in July 2020. Cantu countered the city’s offer with $6 million, plus $4 million for the loss of his business, down from the $17 million he initially had sought in March 2020.
Cantu and his attorney also have questioned whether the city has the authority to threaten eminent domain, taking a private property in order to build a museum owned by the state.
Cantu said he likely would file a lawsuit against the city for unlawfully threatening condemnation through eminent domain.
A business valuation appraisal firm hired by the Trust deemed the business value of the bar itself to be just over $1.2 million, based on Cantu’s financial records for the bar.
Although he stated he is rejecting the $5.26 million offer, Cantu has 14 days from April 19, when the offer was made, to respond.
“It is our hope that Mr. Cantu accepts this extremely fair offer based on thorough analysis of his property and business and clears the way for the construction of a world-class Visitor Center and Museum fitting of the site’s comprehensive 300-year history and all those who lived, fought and died at the Alamo,” stated Kate Rogers, the executive director of the Alamo Trust.
But, in an email to the San Antonio Report on Friday, Cantu said the appraisal did not take into account his projected lost revenue, instead calculating the bar’s value based on “discounted future earnings” over 10 years. “My business has 56 years on the current lease and the business was earning [prior to the pandemic] hundreds of thousands of dollars per year.”
Cantu views the taking of his property as a paradox given the bar’s proximity and association with the Alamo.
“This action brings the government one step closer to doing something that has not been done at the Alamo in almost 200 years, when [President General Antonio López de] Santa Anna and the Mexican government, took the private property from the [Alamo] Defenders,” he said.
Attorney Dan Eldredge, who represents Cantu, said his client likely will not respond to the offer at all.
“If they’re saying it’s this number or litigation, then we receive that message loud and clear,” Eldredge said. “They’re done negotiating in good faith, and now they’re going to try to take it and our position is a very strong one. They’re not going to win.”
