On the heels of San Antonio Federal Credit Union’s announcement that it will move into the building on the corner of South Alamo and South St. Mary’s streets, property owner and local developer GrayStreet Partners released a list of three more businesses that will be moving into adjacent storefronts: Brown Coffee Co. and two restaurants from local chef Andrew Weissman.
According to a GrayStreet spokesperson, there was a bigger demand for the leases than expected and the new tenants are expected to move in by the end of the year.
The Brown Coffee shop will host on-site coffee roasting, cupping events, and educational programs in its space and Chef Weissman will open the second location of Moshe’s Golden Falafel as well as a yet-to-be-named chicken sandwich shop.
“We’re taking a page out of the fast food playbook,” Weissman said during a phone interview Wednesday. “It will be simple – free-range fried chicken on a housemade bun, housemade pickles and fries, and for $1 more you can add a local brew and create a meal out of it.”
The sandwich shop will stay open late and offer a very focused, simple menu to neighborhood patrons, he said.
“It’s one of the best corners in King William and Southtown, but the best thing is we can control our own destiny there, it’s got its own parking area,” said Weissman, adding that area residents and patrons alike have struggled with parking in recent years. “I’ve always been enamored with that area, but I’ve felt like the parking is reaching a tipping point.”
GreyStreet purchased 1.1 acres on the southeast corner of the bustling intersection in Southtown about three years ago in April 2013. The King William District CrossFit currently occupies the corner building – what was once home to the Texas Highway Patrol Museum that turned out to be a charity scam. Across South St. Mary’s Street is Rosario’s Mexican Cafe y Cantina, the owner of which tried to purchase the former museum in 2012.
“Demographics do inform how we curate the retail, and the community down there is a living, home-owner community representing every walk of life,” stated GrayStreet Managing Partner Kevin Covey. “We will curate the retail to serve the community in a variety of ways – dining, but also services and SACU is part of that. It will be a design-forward building and we will focus on keeping the restaurant elements to meet the demands of the community, keeping the price points reasonable and delivering high quality, local offerings. Andrew Weissman’s Moshe’s is part of that concept, too.”
Within the last five years, GrayStreet Partners has purchase large swaths of land downtown and near the Pearl for redevelopment.
Assistant Editor Lea Thompson contributed to this story.
Top Image: Rendering of South Alamo Retail. Image Courtesy of Clayton Little
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