By Lisa Marie Gomez and Megan Ryan Gomez
My friends rolled their eyes when I told them I was moving–again. “What the hell? You just moved last year!” True, but hear me out. My three children and I relocated to San Antonio from Brownsville in 2003 when I took a reporting position at the San Antonio Express-News. At the time, they were six, eight and 10 years old. My goal was to rent for a year, get to know the city, and ?gure out where to set roots.
Since, we’ve moved EIGHT times. It’s been a challenge to find the right fit.
- Move #1: Sunset Ridge Apartments, just off N. New Braunfels, 78209, perfect stepping stone at the time.
- Move #2: Bought a house in Terrell Heights on Wellesley Street, 78209, cute house, but too small.
- Move #3: Sold the Wellesley house, moved in to a large 4-bedroom/3-bath house with a giant, hard-to-maintain yard on Flamingo Street, 78209. Did I mention the yard was too big and hard to maintain?
- Move #4: Bought a cute cottage just south of South Town on Tremlett Ave., 78210, as an investment. House is on the market. Any takers?
- Move #5: Back to 78209 on Basse Road at the super chic Artessa Apartments that were Wow! both in luxury and price. Loved the location. Hated the price.
- Move #6: A California-style condo on Burr Road, still in 78209. Affordable,new, comfortable, a rental. Unfortunately, the condo owners sold my unit.
- Move #7: Back into Sunset Ridge Apartments. Erin, 19, graduated from Alamo Heights High School (AHHS) and moved to Austin. Gabriel, 17-year-old junior, and Megan, a 15-year-old freshman, both at AHHS, could walk to school. That was nice, but the apartment was only 940-square-feet. Ugh! And now, drum roll, please…
- Move #8: Vidorra Condominiums, 215 N. Center Street, San Antonio, TX, 78202.
During Memorial Day Weekend, we moved from the comfort of 78209, where people walk their dogs, smile and wave when you drive by (even if they don’t know you) to 78202 –a.k.a. downtown San Antonio. Alamo Heights is a safe, caring community with cute houses, mature trees and a kick-ass school district. So why would we pick up and move downtown?
Exhibit A: The View
The ?rst thing you notice when you walk in to our condo is the magni?cent view. It feels like New York City, with a beautiful skyline view from my living and dining room, and the hypnotic humming of cars whizzing by 17 ?oors below. I was initially worried that the noise would bother me but it’s now a soothing background sound, like leaving the fan on when you sleep. Our condo is cozy, maybe 1,500 square-feet, small bedrooms with a large living room area.
Megan and I spend alot of time hanging out by the salt-water pool or watching the sun set on our balcony. The kitchen, with nice granite countertops, sits in the center of the condo with a front row view of the city. I love to entertain and the space is appealing for us and our guests. The condos are built like vaults. I can’t hear my neighbors at all, another pleasant surprise. Only drawback: Megan’s room is not really a bedroom, it’s a study with no closet and no door. Luckily, most of her clothes are folded in her dresser. She’s using the hallway coat closet, which works just ?ne for now. We still need to ?nd a solution for the door. Privacy is a big deal when you’re 15.
Exhibit B: The Neighbors
We have only met a few of them while riding up and down the elevator in the short time we’ve lived here. So far, everyone has been warm and welcoming. Case in point: Megan and I had no plans on a recent Sunday afternoon, so we donned on our bathing suits, grabbed towels and headed for the pool. All the chairs were taken but within minutes two people offered theirs. Then we struck up a conversation and the next thing I knew, I had a margarita in hand. Just like that.
Megan had been complaining that she didn’t have any friends and never saw kids her age. Turns out we picked the right day to hang out at the pool. The lady who gave me a margarita also has a teenager who happened to be at the pool. Bingo!
Then we met another couple who has a 15-year-old son. Megan, who’s as social as I am, was in heaven. New condo now means new friends with different stories to tell. By nightfall, we all ended up touring each other’s condo and sharing a bottle of Champagne and ricotta cheesecake my boyfriend made the day before. I would say the average age is 40 – 50. Many are empty nesters who are tired of living in big houses north of 1604.
Exhibit C: Arts, Restaurants and Entertainment
Vidorra has an outstanding sky room on the 20th ?oor with an almost 360-degree view of downtown. I recently hosted a birthday party for my friend, Sharon Sander, and about 50 people attended. The evening was breezy, comfortable and guests really enjoyed the space and the view. This is one of my favorite perks of living at Vidorra–residents have access to this space free of charge, if you cleanup after the party, otherwise you pay $250.
Either way, it’s a bargain. Megan plays the ?ute for the Alamo Heights Band, and she’s a self-taught piano player. She and I catch a play here and there and love attending the San Antonio Symphony concerts at the Majestic Theater. We love the idea of walking to Houston Street to listen to ?ne music and stopping by a restaurant along the way on the River Walk, which has become Megan’s playground. Exploring the beauty of downtown San Antonio has always been my favorite thing to do and now I get to share it with my daughter, who seems to appreciate it, too. My boyfriend, Mark Crum, and I enjoy walking over to Ruth’s Chris on Commerce Street where we ate a perfect medium rare steak and shared a nice cabernet down in the wine cellar. We languidly walked back to the condo and I couldn’t help but feel lucky.
Move #9? Not anytime soon.
Photos by Megan Ryan Gomez
Lisa Marie Gomez owns her own boutique public relations ?rm, LMG Communications. You can follow her on Twitter @followinglmg or connect with her on Linkedin. Megan Ryan Gomez is a sophomore at Alamo Heights High School and plans to attend Texas A&M University upon graduation.
There’s just something special about the people who live downtown. Whether you live in the center of the city, in Southtown, midtown (where I live at Pearl), or anywhere in between, we’re all neighbors just waiting to meet one another.
Just curious how you were able to keep the kiddos in AHISD..?
We have been in Alamo Heights for 24 years. But when our oldest is old enough, we dream of moving downtown. AH is great, but I’d love to be closer to where we spend so much of our time already.
EJ: My ex-husband still lives in AH and my two high schoolers live with him part of the time. The commute from Vidorra to AHHS is only 7 minutes. Very convenient.
Lynn: You are so right. I didn’t include this in the story but there’s a group of downtown residents who get together every other Thursday and meet up for drinks and dinner at a different downtown establishment to get to know what there is to offer. I plan to join them on Thursday. Wanna join us?
Welcome to the building, Lisa! I wish you’d written this four months ago when we started trying to sell our place versus now that we’ve rented it. Nice marketing job!
I agree with what you have to say about the Vidorra. My wife and I have been very happy with the skyroom, neighbors, views and quality of construction.
I just wish more people thought like you do (and acted on those thoughts). The Vidorra is a great place to live, but it alone cannot create an entire vibrant urban community, which is still lacking in San Antonio. I love the riverwalk being a 10-minute stroll away, and there are places in downtown my wife and I love (Esquire, Menger, Majestic, etc.) (And you didn’t mention Southtown, but that’s another terrific, nearby asset.)
Still, the biggest problem with the Vidorra and the very few other downtown living options is not with the quality of housing and neighbors but with the lack of true, urban amenities–non-tourist dining, shopping and amenities are lacking. With more people like you (and with the work the city is doing) hopefully an increased population can bring what downtown San Antonio still lacks.
We’re moving out of San Antonio soon, but we’ll be back (since we’ll be landlords for at least three years). I hope we see a transformed downtown in the years to come. Keep that sense of exploration, and you can help be part of the positive change downtown San Antonio needs.
We’re in the process of deciding whether we want to continue to rent in Olmos Park, about 4 miles from downtown, buy a house on the outskirts of downtown, or try to find an apartment downtown, which sadly seems pretty far out of our price range right now. We’d like to get rid of one of our cars and both be able to walk/bike/trolley to work next year, but everything we’ve looked at is out of our range or has months long waiting lists.
We were sent your house by our realtor and I LOVE it, but it’s a little far for us to not have to drive. It’s really very lovely. I was pushing my partner to at least look at it, but it’s a little too far for our goals.
Interesting piece here I recently saw. I think it speaks to the fact that most people are pretty priced out of downtown, but then glosses over that and keeps on going. We don’t have children, and don’t plan on any in the future, so we don’t need as much space, but I was also a little blown away at how many people talk about “downsizing” to 2000 sq ft. http://www.sawoman.com/categories/mayjune-2012/downtown-living
Hi Lindsay, I think you have the right idea of wanting to stay close to downtown and I’m so glad you and your partner stopped by the Tremlett house. When I lived there, I used to ride my bike down the Mission Trail to Mission Espada and beyond. It’s very close to the new, cool section of the River Walk. And we recently lowered the price on the house. Let me know if you want to take another look at it. The kids and I lived there the longest — 3 years! 🙂 The neighbors are extremely nice and they look out for one another. The couple next door own several of the homes in that nook. Very nice people.
Thanks for reaching out.
On behalf of the Downtown Residents Association I want to invite you to join our organization. We are a nonprofit who’s mission is to protect and improve the quality of life for downtown residents.Our Board of Directors meet every month and we have a general membership meeting semiannually. We are updating our website but there is still info at drasatx.org that you may will interesting.
There is also the opportunity to join using paypal or a credit card.
Welcome to our wonderful Downtown!
Joan Korte, President
Downtown Residents Association
Great hearing all the chatter about downtown living.Things are truly getting better by the day for those people wanting to live centro. Good work Lisa Marie. Folks, come see 202 Tremlett as it is truly adorable and closer to Southtown/Downtown than you might think!!
Ms. Gomez:
Keep on rockin’
bb
Great perspective on downtown living Lisa. I’ve lived in the north suburbs most of my life and love this San Antonio as well. You do make it sound very appealing downtown. For me the higher prices and schools will keep me out of downtown for some time but maybe in about 15 years I’ll give it a look.
Cheers
Sigh. Some day, we too will live downtown. It’s been our dream since our oldest (now 16) was 3 years old (the year we moved back to San Antonio. We’ve got 5 kids now and have jumped beyond 1604 for the nicer neighborhoods and better schools. We’ve got our eye on the prize and we will get there someday!
Do you have any details on the auction other than the date?
Check out the real estate company handling the auction: http://www.sheldongood.com/Real-Estate-Auction/vidorra#register
Real estate experts I’ve spoken with believe the condos will sell at a heavily discounted rate, but high floor condos with choice views probably will attract the most bidding and the highest prices. Prospective buyers on a tight budget should join the bidding at the outset and see if a great deal can be had. If the auction atmosphere causes bidders to push the prices higher — as often happens at auctions — then you can drop out and save your money for the next good deal.
Another developer told us today, “You won’t see any more condos built downtown for quite some time.” But look for even more new apartment projects along Broadway and in and around the Blue Star.
Just happened to be perusing through some old articles and looked at the comments section of this one. lol “You won’t see any more condos built downtown for quite some time.” hahaha
Living downtown is not for everyone. As with anywhere you move, adjustments have to be made. Condos are bought and sold like anything else, what is the turnaround at the Vidorra? As a San Antonio native, and having lived in the North East, I too may consider moving downtown (own my NEISD home). But living space will be a subject of conversation. Will probably attend an open house by not rush into anything, for now.
What are the maintenance fees? Parking? How many places are you allowed and where do your guests park?