Recent moves by one developer to acquire and rezone property in the northwest quadrant of downtown San Antonio mean one thing: More housing in the urban core.
Weston Urban, the group behind Frost Tower, The Rand and Legacy Park in the Central Business District, has two major residential projects well underway.
The 300 Main high-rise with 354 units will open in 2024 and, in the Zona Cultural, construction recently began on the Continental Block with 250 units planned.
But the development group co-founded by Graham Weston also has assembled in recent years swaths of property along North Santa Rosa Street with a long-term eye to changing the landscape there.
The firm’s acquisitions in the area span from 2013 to as recently as September — when the group purchased the Soap Factory Apartments at 500, 600 and 601 N. Santa Rosa Street under the entity And I Cannot Lye LP.
But the environmental cleanup and recent rezoning of the nine parcels it owns on Camaron, Kingsbury and North Flores streets also give a glimpse into Weston Urban’s plans.
On Oct. 12, the City Council approved a zoning change from a general industrial designation to “D” downtown district, which allows for a variety of uses including apartments, hotels, offices and restaurants. There are no building size or height limitations, and parking requirements are waived.
Mark Jensen, vice president of multifamily development at Weston Urban, said the group has been steadily working toward what they see as a mixed-use concept for the area.
“[We’ve] always had the intent to rezone it because it was a doughnut hole in downtown [as] industrial,” Jensen said. “I don’t think anybody’s vision was that that was going to remain industrial in the future.”
The future vision also does not involve a minor-league baseball stadium, said Weston Urban Co-Founder and CEO Randy Smith, despite those parcels being identified in a 2016 report prepared for Centro San Antonio and the City of San Antonio as a potential ballpark location.
The dimensions aren’t adequate for a stadium, he said, adding, “Our company’s vision has always been to help build the city that our kids will call home and we believe that the biggest component of that right now is massively increasing the residential options in urban core.”
Across San Antonio, more than 100 new multifamily properties are under construction, according to the real estate market data firm Radix and BuildCentral. A cluster of activity can be seen downtown, but there’s also significant development along Loop 1604 North.
For Weston Urban, San Pedro Creek Culture Park and the San Antonio River Walk are the draw.
“From a residential standpoint — and that’s the bulk of what we are focused on in terms of future dreaming and planning — is how do we create more residential densities, especially in this northwest corner of downtown?” Jensen said.
“There’s nothing that we can plan or put into a building that is a better, resident-focused amenity than that linear, green, art-filled park.”
In August, the developer closed on a deal to purchase the Soap Factory apartments, also on San Pedro Creek. The appraisal value of the three parcels totals $31 million, up from $21 million three years ago, according to the county appraisal district.
Monthly rental rates in the low-rise, 1970s-era complex range between $807 for a studio apartment and $1,256 for a two-bedroom. The average monthly apartment rental rate in downtown San Antonio is $1,601, according to RentCafe.
Located next to the improved San Pedro Creek, it was a property Smith had been eyeing for a decade, he said. The attraction is its location on San Pedro Creek, he said, and proximity to the Christus Children’s hospital and the developer’s other properties, including the Continental.
When asked if Weston Urban is looking to make changes at the Soap Factory, Smith said, there’s no plan yet.
“To say that overnight that could change into something else is just not grounded in reality,” he said. “These urban projects are hard and take a long time.”
Weston Urban bought the historic Milam office building in 2016 with an eye toward redeveloping the 1927 skyscraper. So far, little has changed and Smith has said the renovation is challenging given its layout and age. He said he had no “material updates” on the project.
The recent razing of one-story structures at 123 and 127 E. Travis St. that stood between the Milam and the River Walk was intended to give the 21-story building direct access to the river, Smith said. Weston Urban acquired the property in 2021.
“The fact that it is now a majestic riverfront building, we think is absolutely a positive thing for our redevelopment efforts,” he said.
