Joseph Carreon lives in what was once his grandmother’s house in the Prospect Hill neighborhood on the West Side. His family has roots on Salinas Street going back 100 years.
As chairman of the board of the nonprofit Westside Development Corp. (WDC), he wants to see his neighborhood thrive, and he says a step in the right direction is the rehabilitation of the 1929 Basila Frocks building.
The dilapidated, 20,000-square-foot industrial/retail complex on the corner of Martin and Zarzamora streets is known as the home of one of the first businesses in the state to manufacture ready-to-wear dresses – frocks – in an age when most women made their own clothes or relied on dressmakers.
“It’s kind of iconic,” he said during a recent tour of the Basila, which has been empty for more than 10 years. “There’s a lot of pride in the neighborhood, and people want to see good happening.”
WDC has issued a request for information – basically a search for a partner in the redevelopment of Basila Frocks – and will have another tour of the building open to the public at 9 a.m. Sept. 8.
“We want to cast a wide net to see who might be interested in partnering with us to restore this Westside gem to dignity,” said Ramiro Gonzales, CEO of the WDC.
Gonzales envisions an office complex with co-working spaces for small businesses, similar to a plan devised after WDC purchased the building in 2018 in collaboration with developer Dan Markson. But Markson died in May 2019, putting the plan – similar to the successful Warehouse 5 complex just a few blocks away on Buena Vista Street – on hold.
“I can see it as a creative space, with small businesses – architects, artists, designers – housed there, and maybe a bakery or coffee shop on the corner,” said Gonzales. “This is really a signature project for us, and for the community. We see it as a neighborhood hub, a place of pride.”
As it stands, Basila Frocks shows the obvious signs of wear-and-tear. Windows are broken and trash is strewn inside large, airy spaces where industrial sewing machines once hummed. A “No Trespassing” warning has been stenciled in foot-high letters on a cinder block outer wall in the back of the building, and some windows are boarded with signs for former tenants, advertising “Fresh Tortillas!” and wrestling matches. A tall fence was erected around the perimeter to keep out squatters.
But at least it’s not a dollar store.
“Like we need another one of those over here,” said Gonzales.
In 2016, a commercial developer wanted to raze the property and build a Dollar General store on the site. That effort raised the hackles of community pride, and eventually the developers backed off and the property came into the hands of the WDC and Markson.
Built in 1929 by Syrian immigrants Nicholas and Marie Basila, the building was designed by the San Antonio architectural firm Phelps and Dewees, whose other projects included the Travis Building, a master plan for San Antonio College, and the former USAA Building at Broadway and Hildebrand Avenue.
It was designed in the daylight factory style of industrial buildings that developed in the early 1900s and grew in popularity in the ’20s, according to a 2016 report on Basila Frocks by the Office of Historic Preservation.
The daylight factory style, according to the report, featured the use of reinforced concrete, unobstructed expanses of space, concrete floors, and large windows that allowed natural lighting and fresh air to fill the interior.
Basila Frocks Co., located on the second floor, was a successful business for many years, with distribution in all 48 states and a team of 15 traveling salesmen.
Over the years, street-level retail tenants in the Basila Frocks building have included grocery, shoe, and hardware stores, as well as entertainment venues such as the Don Quixote Club, the Skyline Ballroom, VFW Post No. 9186, the Texas Wrestling Alliance and, most recently, La Gloria Mexican restaurant, whose faded signs can still be seen on the facade.
“There’s a lot of history here,” Carreon said. “Now, we just have to find the right partner that sees it, like we do, as a matter of community pride.”
