1914 building getting new lease on life
At one time, it housed S.A. Light
A developer who has renovated historic buildings in Neworleans is working on his first project in San Antonio, with plans to turn a downtown structure into short-term rental units and retail.
The three-story building at 505 E. Travis St. will include 16 units leased by Sonder, a shortterm rental company, said developer Beau Baudier.
The San Francisco startup leases studios, lofts, hotel rooms and apartments. Its average rate per night is $189, according to its website.
There also will be space for one retail tenant on the ground floor of the building, and another on the roof.
“We’re doing a rooftop experience, which is going to be probably a restaurant or lounge-type area with an indoor-outdoor component,” he said.
Work on the $3.5 million project is expected to be completed in October.
Baudier has worked on historic rehabilitation projects in New Orleans and said he wanted to branch outside the city. He started looking in Texas, initially in Dallas and later in San Antonio.
“San Antonio is a lot more alike, in terms of history and maintenance of its historic fabric, to Neworleans than Dallas is,” he said. “It ended up being a good
fit for that reason.”
The building also was in good condition, said Baudier, who is redeveloping it with family members and other partners. It is designated as historic, he said, and they have applied for state and federal tax credits.
The Travis structure was built in 1914 for the now-defunct San Antonio Light newspaper, which moved to 420 Broadway in 1931, San Antonio Express-news archives show.
The newspaper re
mained there until it closed in 1993.
Local developer Graystreet Partners bought the Broadway building in 2016 and is turning it into office space for tenants that will include the San Antonioexpress-news. The newspaper is selling its building at 301 Avenue E, which opened in 1929, and plans to move into the new offices later this year.
After the Light moved, the Travis building later was occupied by other tenants, including a beauty college. But Baudier said it was vacant when he bought it in 2019 from a partnership managed by local developer James Lifshutz.
Most of the building has been gutted, Baudier said. Some of the windows will be replaced and others refurbished, a newstorefront will be added and elements such as a terrazzo staircase and flooring will be incorporated in the renovations.