Two years ago, the architectural gem of the Hughes House in Tobin Hill was under threat of demolition. Now it could find new life under the ownership of two well-known San Antonio entrepreneurs: Scaleworks co-founder Ed Byrne and restaurateur Chad Carey.
Byrne and Carey bought the 111-year-old house, located at 312 W. Courtland Pl., on Dec. 8 through a shell company named 312 W Courtland LLC, Bexar County property records show. Carey — known for developing vibrant dining destinations such as Barbaro and Hot Joy through his company Empty Stomach Group — said in a text message that they “plan to do an as-of-now undetermined project there.” He declined further comment.
The 2020s have so far been a turbulent decade for the Hughes House, sitting on the southern edge of the boundary between the Tobin Hill and Monte Vista neighborhoods, after serving for 50 years as the Catholic Student Center at San Antonio College following its purchase by the Archdiocese of San Antonio in 1965.
In 2021, the archdiocese submitted a request to the City of San Antonio’s Office of Historic Preservation to demolish the house as it explored selling the property to SAC. City leaders and local preservationists were sent scrambling for a way to save the house, a rare example of Frank Lloyd Wright-style Prairie architecture in San Antonio.
The following year, another local restaurateur, Andrew Weissman, bought the house in partnership with New York City-based designer May Chu with plans to redevelop it as a wine and cheese bar with an inn.
Their plans didn’t work out, partly due to frequent break-ins, Weissman said in an interview. Not long before the house was sold to Byrne and Carey, he sold his interest in it to Chu because he needed funds for a new location of his Mr. Juicy burger restaurant, he said.
“The way things were going, it was kind of in a downward spiral. We were having break-ins on a daily basis,” Weissman said. “I knew it needed a group or an individual with very deep pockets to showcase what that house could become. … I just was not the right owner.”
The purchase price for the house wasn’t disclosed. Earlier this year, the house was listed for sale for $895,000, according to mysanantonio.com.
Carey already has numerous investments in Tobin Hill, including the Rumble, Midnight Swim, Little Death and Vibras bars on the St. Mary’s Strip. Empty Stomach’s portfolio also includes the Paper Tiger music venue on the Strip and the Barbaro pizza joint and Extra Fine bakery in Monte Vista.
Byrne has long been a major figure in San Antonio’s tech scene. He now serves as general partner at the venture firm Scaleworks. In 2020, he and Scaleworks co-founder Lew Moorman launched the agriculture-focused investment company Soilworks Natural Capital.
Though the area around SAC hasn’t experienced anything close to the development bonanza underway less than a mile east around the Pearl, several other projects are in the works there. The area’s mansions, built around a century ago to house San Antonio’s Gilded Age elite, are often marketed for upwards of $1 million.
In 2022, SAC sold the Victorian-style Koehler House — built by Otto and Emma Koehler, founders of Pearl Brewing Co. — to downtown developer Weston Urban for $2.3 million. Weston Urban has hinted at plans to renovate the house, across the street from the Hughes House, into a hotel and restaurant.
Meanwhile, local investment firm Headwall Investments has recently rehabbed the historic building at 2101 McCullough Ave. in Monte Vista — formerly a flower and antiques store — into office space called The Allen.
Last year, after the sale of the Hughes House to Weissman and Chu, the city declared it a historic landmark after being petitioned to do so by the Tobin Hill Community Association. The house sits outside the boundary of the Tobin Hill Historic District.
When the archdiocese sought to demolish it in 2021, preservationists and nearby residents were put in a bind because they couldn’t have it declared a landmark after a recent state law required municipalities to get the consent of religious organizations before putting their properties under historic protection. Several of the other historic mansions in the Tobin Hill and Monte Vista neighborhoods were demolished in prior decades — including the home of former Mayor John Tobin, which had stood where there is now a SAC parking lot next to the Hughes.
After a social media campaign and efforts by the Conservation Society of San Antonio and the Office of Historic Preservation, SAC declined to buy the Hughes in 2022.
The 3,300-square-foot house is named for the Hughes family that built it in 1912. The Kentucky entrepreneur Russell Meriweather Hughes bought the property that year and enlisted the noted architect Mason Maury to design the structure. One of his daughters, Russell Hughes, would later become famous in the art of ethnic dance, touring under the name “La Meri.”
