Expanded plans for downtown hotel OK’D
After a multi-year delay, a planned hotel next to St. Mary’s Catholic Church downtown is advancing — and expanding.
SMS-SAR Hospitality LLC, a company affiliated with developer Anthony Byron and the U.S. province of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, wants to demolish. a rectory and gift shop and build a 17-story hotel with 192 rooms at 202 N. St. Mary’s St.
The city’s Historic and Design Review Commission on Wednesday approved the designs, which are expanded from the 147-room, 14-story hotel that got the panel’s initial go-ahead in 2020.
The project — to be called Hotel Sul Fiume, Italian for Hotel on the River — was put on hold during the pandemic, Byron wrote in an application to the city.
“Today we are all but past COVID and San Antonio is rebounding strongly in what is a difficult finance/economic environment,” he wrote. “However, our current challenges in moving this project forward have been the dramatic increase in construction costs and interest rates.”
Those factors mean the group had to adjust its financial forecasts to add 45 additional rooms and three stories, Byron wrote. The project is otherwise unchanged and will incorporate or reuse components of the rectory.
At the meeting, the Conservation Society of San Antonio and some commissioners said they were concerned about designs not reflecting Robert Hugman’s plans for the River Walk and demolition of features and landscaping on that level.
Commissioner Jimmy Cervantes expressed concern about preservation of the rectory, obscuring a view of the River Walk and the overall size of the project. And Commissioner Monica Savino said
she had reservations about the landscaping.
Byron said he strove to keep the height of Hotel Sul Fiume in line with surrounding buildings and conducted shade and shadow studies to minimize the effects on the surrounding area.
Commissioners gave the green light to the designs in a 4-2 vote, with Cervantes and Commissioner Savino voting not to approve.
‘Not just a hotel’
“This is not just a hotel,” Byron told commissioners. “This is a revitalization of that oneblock area.”
St. Mary’s was built in 1857 but damaged by a flood in 1921 and subsequently demolished.
A new church was built and rededicated in 1924, according to the St. Mary’s website and application documents. The rectory was constructed between 1966 and 1967.
The Archdiocese would lease the property next to the church to the developer for the hotel, which would provide a financial benefit for the church, Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-siller told the city in 2019.
The parish congregation has diminished and does not need as large a building, which is expensive to maintain and operate, Garcia-siller said. A new rectory and office with a separate entrance for St. Mary’s would be built inside the hotel.
A spokesperson for the archdiocese did not disclose how much it expects to receive annually via rent payments. Byron did not immediately respond to an inquiry.
The development arm of Pearl owner Silver Ventures also was seeking approval Wednesday of its plans to build a 4,500-square-foot dining venue across the San Antonio River from Pearl and across the street from an apartment complex it’s building.
Oxbow Development Group said the food and beverage operation at 101 Newell Ave. will have an outdoor deck and “embrace the San Antonio River and celebrate the heritage oak tree on site.”
The project could also include a fireplace and a secondary bar.
“The addition of this riverside restaurant concept will complement other entertainment projects at Pearl and be authentic, inviting and comfortable,” said Bill Shown, CEO of Oxbow.
Oxbow is building an apartment complex at 1126 E. Elmira St. with about 263 apartments, commercial space and parking.
The firm also plans to demolish an industrial building at 102 E. Josephine St. and replace it with from 250 to 275 apartments, office and retail space, parking and a rooftop bar.