A Midland-based company better known for energy exploration broke ground this week on a $235 million corporate campus in far Northwest San Antonio.
A subsidiary of Fasken Oil and Ranch is constructing a large office complex in the booming Interstate 10 West retail and entertainment corridor already home to corporations such as NuStar Energy, Valero, and Medtronic.
When complete, the 550,000-square-foot North Rim Corporate Campus will feature four office buildings, two multilevel parking garages, and space for three standalone restaurants.
The century-old, family-owned business with real estate holdings in San Antonio and the Hill Country will not be the primary tenant of the 16-acre campus situated along Interstate 10 at Camp Bullis Road next to a Ferrari dealership.
A spokeswoman for Fasken would not identify the planned occupant. She said the $140 million first phase of the project, including the construction of two office buildings, a chiller plant, and a parking garage, will “accommodate the requirements of Fasken’s anchor tenant.”
Fasken Ltd. currently operates from an office building at Loop 1604 and Bitters Road.
“Our goal with this redevelopment is to create a cutting-edge office environment that focuses on both indoor and outdoor environments, with an emphasis on pedestrian circulation, onsite amenities, and the Leon Creek, as well as efficient flow of traffic off the surrounding roadways,” said Arthur Zuniga, San Antonio director for Fasken. “We look forward to getting the first buildings going vertical in the coming weeks.”
Fasken acquired the site from Thomas Enterprises in 2015. Thomas partnered with Fasken to complete infrastructure work on the property, which had been occupied by two lumber yards, including extending the Talavera Ridge thoroughfare along Leon Creek.
The plan Fasken initially submitted to the City of San Antonio was for a 480-unit multifamily tower with 300,000 square feet of office space and a retail component, said the spokeswoman. The anchor tenant, however, required more space than the original plan allowed and the project was modified to increase the office space, eliminate the apartments, and cut the retail to only three restaurant pads.
The first phase of the project will be complete by the second quarter of 2022 and the second phase in early 2023.
The architect of record for the project is San Antonio-based RVK Architects, which is working with Nelsen Partners of Austin and Scottsdale on the master plan and architectural designs. Civil engineering is being completed by Pape Dawson Engineering, and Rogers-O’Brien Construction is the general contractor.
Fasken Oil and Ranch is one of the top 100 largest landowners in the United States, holding as much as 300,000 acres in Texas, according to Forbes. The heirs of Toronto attorney David Fasken, who in 1913 paid $1.50 an acre for ranchland outside Midland, today own three ranches in South Texas and commercial, industrial, and residential real estate in Texas and California.
Fasken’s choicest holding is 165,000 acres in the oil-rich Permian Basin. In 2018, the company joined a coalition of Permian landowners and operators objecting to a controversial plan that would store high-level nuclear waste in that region of West Texas and southeastern New Mexico.
Fasken’s real estate activities are divided into three subsidiary entities – Babcock Road 165, which holds vacant land and acts as the primary land developer; Grey Forest Development, which is the company’s multifamily developer/owner; and Cromwell Street, which develops and owns commercial income-producing assets.
The North Rim Corporate Campus is Cromwell Street’s latest development in San Antonio, where Fasken owns $200 million worth of assets, mostly Class-A multifamily housing.
Valero and NuStar Energy are financial supporters of the San Antonio Report. For a full list of business members, click here.
