Lone Star makeover to cost $709 million, start this year
Community ‘really looking forward’ to a new place to work and play
The makeover of the former Lone Star Brewery complex will cost $709.3 million and encompass over 1 million square feet of space, with demolition for the first phase slated to begin this year.
Houston-based developer Midway and local firm Graystreet Partners plan to turn the 32-acre property — the site of a fire less than two weeks ago – into a mixed-use development.
It will include 1,282 rental units, 186 hotel rooms, 359,052 square feet of offices, 38,312 square feet of commercial space, 25,456 square feet of market space and 65,247 square feet of retail and food and beverage operations, according to a presentation Tuesday to the city’s Economic and Workforce Development Committee.
About 256 units will be for residents earning up to 80 percent of the area median income, which is $41,550 for one
person and $47,450 for a couple, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Some of the existing buildings at the site south of downtown will be preserved and others razed. The developers said they have been working with the city to determine which structures are historically significant.
A former swimming pool, a focal point for some residents, will not be restored. But the developers said they will pay tribute to the site. They also will work with Roosevelt Park residents to make improvements to the neighborhood’s pool.
The project, dubbed the Lone Star District, will also include parking, public art and green space with connections to the Mission Reach section of the River Walk.
It will be built over the course of a decade. Demolition and site preparation for the first phase is expected to start in the fourth quarter of this year and conclude in 2025.
It will include 301 apartments, 1,187 parking spaces, 133,729 square feet of offices, 5,941 square feet of retail and food and beverage space and 38,312 square feet of commercial space along Lone Star Boulevard.
The developers are requesting $24 million worth of public infrastructure reimbursements and tax rebates over 15 years.
Upgrades during the first two years would be reimbursed for up to $2 million by the Inner City Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone, which reimburses developers for improvements paid for out of property tax revenue.
There’s “quite a bit of clean-up to do” at the site, along with demolition, said Don Quigley, vice president of investment and development at Midway.
Renovations to Lone Star Boulevard will include new sidewalks, bicycle lanes and buried overhead utilities as well as a connection to Steves Avenue, which is south of the brewery site.
District 5 Councilwoman Shirley Gonzales, who represents a West Side swath that includes the Lone Star site, said residents are eager to see it revitalized. There have been at least three previous attempts to redevelop it since the brewery closed in 1996.
The first phase of Midway and Graystreet’s plan is small, which gives her more hope that the plan will pan out, she said.
“I’m incredibly enthusiastic about this project,” Gonzales said. “I know the community is really looking forward to it.”
Starting small “creates momentum for the later phases” and “allows you to actually get started,” Quigley said. “When you are starting with something too large, it can be very difficult to get off the ground.”
The project is expected to create about 3,900 direct jobs and 7,734 indirect jobs during construction and 1,550 full-time jobs when it is finished.
The Economic and Workforce Development Committee gave the green light to the TIRZ request, which will be taken up by the Inner City TIRZ board Friday and later the City Council.
Last month, a fire tore through a two-story building at the Lone Star complex. Firefighters were able to keep the blaze from spreading by getting between the smoldering building and another building behind it and cutting it off.
The building was empty and no injuries were reported, San Antonio Fire Department officials said.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.