The City’s Historic and Design Review Commission gave conceptual approval to H-E-B’s plans to grow its downtown footprint with the development of a six-story parking garage that will connect to the company’s headquarters via a skybridge stretched above East César E. Chávez Boulevard.
“This is part of our [$100 million] master plan,” said Dya Campos, director of public affairs at H-E-B. “It is to create enough parking for the growth that we experience here at our corporate office.”
The garage, which will provide 750 parking spaces for employees working at the grocery giant’s Arsenal campus, is slated to be built on a company-owned parking lot at the corner of Dwyer Avenue and East César E. Chávez Boulevard. As H-E-B expands its downtown workforce, the skybridge aims to get current and future employees across the busy street safely.
The structure is designed to feature façade screening, a rooftop shading trellis that could be retrofit with solar panels, and black chain-link fencing.
If the design receives final approval, construction will begin in late spring or early summer, Campos said.
The San Antonio Conservation Society does not oppose the development, its first vice president Patti Zaiontz said during the HDRC meeting. However, she pointed out a motion the organization passed 14 years ago, which opposes sky bridges being built in the area.
The King William Association’s architectural advisory board reviewed the proposal on Dec. 4 and voted to approve the design.
“From a public safety standpoint, [the sky bridge] makes a lot of sense,” the association’s president Chris Price said, and the design does so in “a way that was a little more appealing than a concrete box.”
This is ridiculous. For the amount of $$ spent on a sky bridge they could build some state-of-the-art pedestrian and biking infrastructure on the entire street and then some that the general public could also use and it could increase walking and biking safety for all. Sky bridges are archaic and a thing of the past. Why isn’t HEB community oriented with their investments?
I have seen how difficult it us for us partners to navigate to our corporate offices due to space constraints. In order for the company to do more for the community it needs to continue to grow, by creating jobs in turn that would help out everyone. This would help out many partners get to work. Be able to park and not worry.
Corpus Christi has led in sky bridges in its downtown. Check it out next time your in Corpus. One thing about sky bridges is that one sky bridge tends to beget another and so on until you get a whole network of sky bridges that keep employees from having to interact at all with the public, and reduce the need for the City to make streets safe for other pedestrians. You don’t have to think about cross walks, bus stops, planting trees or having landscaping when there are sky bridges, because there won’t be as many people outside.
Folks don’t use bike lanes, which have been provided, now in SA. Maybe the City should teach folks how to ride a bike before providing more bike lanes?
It’s interesting that USAA is going to be required to have their garages downtown open to the public in the evenings and on weekends for getting an incentive program, but H-E-B is not going to be required to have its new garage open to the public even though it is planning to use public air right-of-way to build a sky bridge.
Who are you? HEB is privately held. I think they can do whatever they please with their $$.
HEB has done so much for San Antonio and Texas. They sponsor virtually everything in this city. Letting them build a skywalk and garage for their people and assist in their growth plans will pay more dividends for the city and community in the future.
At least they aren’t being given a full city block of Cesar Chavez!
One way to eliminate the sky bridge ideas but still find a safe way for HEB employees to travel to and from the parking garage would be to construct an underground tunnel. Many large cities such as Houston use underground tunnels as a means for people to navigate themselves from one place to another. A little forward thinking could give HEB what they need yet still preserve our historic downtown buildings etc. Its important to find a solution that’s a win win situation for all involved.