by Adolfo Pesquera
San Antonio (Bexar Co.) – The Historic and Design Review Commission approved certificates of appropriateness on three major downtown office projects, setting the stage for the developers to begin pulling permits.
Weston Urban obtained its Certificate of Appropriateness (COA) for the Frost Tower, a 460,000-square-foot, 23-story glass tower that will be the new headquarters of Frost Bank. Designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects and Alamo Architects, the tower at 111 W. Houston will be the tallest building (385 feet) constructed in downtown in 30 years. It will include a parking garage (attached to its west side). The tower will feature a wide pedestrian promenade with retail shops and landscaping along Houston and retail along Cameron. Cameron Street separates the tower from San Pedro Creek, which is undergoing major improvements by the San Antonio River Authority, however, the two projects are being integrated into each other.
CPS Energy is renovating two former AT&T buildings at 530 McCullough Avenue, and adding a parking garage with retail. Illustration by Corgan
CPS Energy its COA for the improvements it plans for the former AT&T campus at 530 McCullough Avenue. This project known as Project Bravo and designed by Corgan includes exterior modifications to the 11- and 14-story buildings, including the removal of the existing facade materials and recladding the structures with a glass and metal panel skin. CPS Energy will also construct a new six-level parking garage that will include retail space at one corner of the ground level. This project is one of two considered at the HDRC’s Wednesday meeting that has San Antonio Riverwalk frontage.
Silver Ventures plans to add two office towers and a parking garage on land it owns within the easternmost boundary of the Pearl Brewery district.
Silver Ventures, the developer of the Pearl Brewery district, received a COA to construct two office towers and a parking garage at 1801 Broadway. This effectively expands the official Pearl district up to its easternmost boundary of Broadway and Pearl Parkway. A 10-story tower of 168 feet in height and 221,000 square feet would share the block with a six-story tower of 108 feet and 123,000 square feet. In between, a multilevel 44-foot parking garage with one level underground will accommodate 950 cars.
The HDRC insisted Keller Henderson restore the windows in this historic 1920s building by Main Plaza to their original state.
In other business, the commissioners gave conceptual approval to Keller Henderson’s objective of renovating the Legal Professional Building, 200 Main Plaza, formerly the San Antonio police station and jail from about 1920-1962. He proposes restoring the building, which has been vacant for years, and construct a fifth floor that would be used to operate a penthouse restaurant with an open deck on the west side of the floorplan. Two staircases and an elevator would be constructed on the south wall, which would be resurfaced. The building is located between the San Antonio River and the Bexar County Courthouse.
However, the commissioners disagreed with Henderson’s proposition to replace the windows with newly fabricated metal frame windows.
Henderson argued that restoring and/or replacing the original windows with windows of the same materials and design would be three times the cost of replacing them with a custom product he sourced through a local manufacturer. He said the great variation in the types of windows–there are 16 styles in place with some being made of wood frames and others of aluminum–made original restorations very challenging.
Nevertheless, Commissioner Tim Cone insisted Henderson make every attempt to restore the windows in keeping with the 1920s period of the originals. Keller Henderson owns Keller Henderson Interiors.
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adolfo@virtualbx.com
