San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
With land purchase, plans underway to fulfill ‘the dream of Éilan’
More apartments, shops and offices could be coming to the upscale Éilan community after a firm bought about 43.5 undeveloped acres around it.
The mixed-use Éilan development — located across from The Rim shopping center — includes high-end apartments, a hotel and spa, offices, restaurants and shops. Its Tuscan-style design features multicolored stucco exteriors, stone facades and clay-tiled roofs.
Criterion Development Partners, which has offices in Dallas and Waltham, Mass., acquired the land last month. The firm is talking with hotel, retail and office groups about developing projects on half the land it purchased, Chad Colley, director of development, said.
Criterion is also planning its own multifamily development there.
“It’s definitely a hot area that people have a lot of interest in,” he said.
According to a news release, Criterion plans to break ground on the first phase of its project next year, but Colley said it’s likely the start date will be pushed back to 2022. The other developers the firm is in discussions with would start work before Criterion, he added.
Criterion was founded in
2004 and primarily focuses on multifamily projects. It was one of the firms involved in developing 1800 Broadway, a luxury apartment complex at the corner of Broadway and East Grayson Street.
The company for several years had been eyeing the area around Loop 1604 and Interstate 10, which is booming with residential, office and retail developments. When the opportunity to buy the Éilan properties arose, it was “a no-brainer,” Colley said.
The firm’s complex at the Éilan would include a mix of
studios, one- and two-bedrooms and townhomes with units ranging from 600 to 2,300 square feet.
It would also feature a resortstyle pool with a sundeck, cabanas, a pavilion with a lounge area, a wet bar and a large pet park, and will connect to the nearby trail system.
“We plan on fulfilling the dream of Éilan,” Colley said.
“We want to get that entire master-planned community over the finish line.”
Dutch company Wereldhave bought 120 acres for the Éilan community in 2005 for $18.5
million. It started construction on the first phase in 2007, which included a block of retail and office space, about 500 residential units, and the Éilan Hotel and Spa.
But the company said in 2012 it was selling all its U.S. properties, including the Éilan site, and would focus on development in Western Europe.
Private equity firm Lone Star Funds acquired the Éilan development in 2013. It has sold several pieces of the community since then, including the Éilan Hotel and Spa to Florida company Bluegreen Vacations Corp., and an apartment complex and a number of retail suites to California company FPA Multifamily.
Colley identified the seller of the 43.5 acres Criterion acquired as Hudson Advisors. Hudson Advisors is an asset management company that provides services for Lone Star Funds, according to Lone Star Funds’ website.
The purchase price was not disclosed, but the lots were assessed at $10 million this year by the Bexar Appraisal District.
Developers, corporations and retailers have flocked to the area around Loop 1604 and Interstate 10. The most recent is Fasken Ltd., which broke ground earlier this month on a 16-acre, $235 million campus with office and restaurant space at I-10 and Campus Bullis Road.
The company, which does oil and gas exploration, and real estate development, has a lease agreement for most of the 550,000 square feet of office space there but has not disclosed the anchor tenant.
The project includes four office buildings, three restaurant pads and two parking garages. The first phase is expected to wrap up in the second quarter of 2022.
“Our goal with this redevelopment is to create a cuttingedge 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, Fasken’s San Antonio director.