Hemisfair Park redevelopment (Victoria, Alamo, Crockett: how much, purchase, school)

[Bo]

Originally Posted by Bowie

IClearly, it's valuable land that's being underutilized as a park, with the only real "park" attraction being the Tower.

I forgot about the playground at the west end of the park. But note that the play structure there is constructed of wood. A wood play structure in an era when modern playground equipment is made of metal because of fears of splinters and the toxic chemicals in treated lumber. This could be planned obsolescence and justification for replacing it in the future.

[dvlpr]

I agree wholeheartedly with Bowie.

Chaka - I don't think anyone is talking about eliminating public/park spaces from the 92-acre site (personal note: "green-space" is sort of an abstract term you see used in suburbia a lot; "parks" and "plazas" are more specific, and, of course, neccessary for good urbanism).

I would be shocked if Overland's idea didn't include a significant amount of public space. For example, 6 of the 22 acres at the Pearl Brewery will be dedicated to parks/plazas.

But I believe we ought to take advantage of the large amount of land (92 acres!!!) to bring residents back to downtown in large numbers. Unlike private developers, the city can do this because it's negligible basis in the land should permit housing that most SA residents can afford.

Generally speaking, if you achieve good urban densities (65 units per acre, minimum), you could easily have over 4,000 residential units and 500,000 sf of retail/office/commercial space, and over 20 acres of highly improved parks/plazas/public space. How great would that be compared to what's there now? Can you imagine how vibrant an urban neighborhood like that would be?

[Chaka]

dvlpr - there are tons of vacant buildings and vacant dirt lots in downtown or its immediate surroundings that I'd prefer to see developed/restored rather than destroying a park.

They already destroyed the neighborhood that was there to make this park, why reverse it now? As it is only a small portion of that 92 acres is open/public space. The convention center takes up most of it.

I love being in the urban center, but even us urbanites need to see some greenery.

[heimerswt]

I was young enough to play on that playground when I was a kid...I think it was brand new at the time, but maybe someone here will know when it was built? The wooden structure with all the bridges and stuff was a lot of fun.

I lived on the north side, but one of my friends had a cool mom that didn't have anything against driving around town... Haha, I remember asking my mom to take me there a few times, and her response was always "That thing is downtown! Way too far" (love my mom, but wish she wasn't like that). Of course, we lived a mile away from McAllister Park...so it would make more sense to go there anyways.

Here is a link to some info about Hemisfair Park. I looked it up because I always thought of just the play area as part of the park...not the entire block.
https://www.ci.sat.tx.us/planning/he...=1280&ver=true

[heimerswt]

Originally Posted by heimerswt

I was young enough to play on that playground when I was a kid...I think it was brand new at the time, but maybe someone here will know when it was built? The wooden structure with all the bridges and stuff was a lot of fun.

Found it...1990. I was going to guess that I was probably about 12 at the time, and I was right! (should I have been too old to enjoy that thing?? haha)

Anyways, here is where I found that info: https://www.ci.sat.tx.us/planning/pd...te_history.pdf

Also, I had no idea there were homes on the site before Chaka mentioned it above, and the pdf I linked also has some info about that (including some maps and images of the area before Hemisfair).

[mrstxcop]

some of those abandoned building are used by the Park Police to do training in --- such as buidling searches and night tactics --- my dh is a Feild Training Officer with the Park Police and they use those buildings often ---

[Chaka]

I guess I should note that I live in Lavaca, on .25 acre, a home with tons of mature trees and a park-like setting, so it's not that I'm desperate for some greenery. But I really really like HemisFair. Every city needs some green space in its urban core (and saying green space doesn't make me a suburbanite - I say 'green' because apparently this is not a 'park' by some definitions. I'm referring to open public space that's not concrete).

Yes, this would bring in tax $$$ if it was bulldozed, but so would Central Park if it was covered with skyscrapers.

I realize HemisFair is not anything approaching Central Park, but it's about all we have for a park in the urban center of San Antonio. It's a wonderful oasis amidst the concrete. There are so many other vacant buildings downtown that can be brought back to life, seems a shame to destroy such a nice inviting place as the park.

[dvlpr]

Chaka -

I know there are many vacant lots and abandoned buildings downtown. The problem is that these owners have crazy price expectations for those properties, and, as a result, the only sort of projects that are feasible are hotels and very expensive condos (which most people in SA can't afford). I have built (and am building) projects in and near downtown, and it frustrates me that these projects can't be more affordable for more people.

And Hemisfair, as it is currently constructed, is emphatically not a park. It's bad urbanism (tons of parking spaces interspersed with "green space", lack of physical connection to the rest of downtown, no residential, ineffecient building placement, etc.). Why would you have a problem with good quality "green space" intermixed skillfully with cool mixed-use buildings?

Lastly, you're not "destroying a park". You're restoring a neighborhood AND building parks.

[OzzyRules]

Park?? I hardly think HP qualifies for this description. More like "ghost park." It's one of the most depressing parks I've ever seen, and I imagine it's been this way since about 1969. I've lived here all my life and it's always been this way. The only thing I've ever seen it used for is the annual Folklike Festival. But the other 51 weeks of the year it's just deserted.

I don't think they should tear down everything there. There is some nice stuff. But no one ever goes there. They need some kind of attractions (businesses or whatever) that would draw more people there on a regular basis.

[miaht82]

i thought the playground was gone. i've walked around a few times recently and want to see it because when i was 7(this might answer some questions), in 1989, we went over and "helped" build it. I went to bonham elementary and some classes walked over and saw it being built. They asked us in school to help "design" it and i guess they did take our suggestions into consideration; even though i'm sure most of our cards said "slide, swings, playhouse, monkey bars", but it was so fun to play in there when I was younger. Although getting there was always the issue. We lived on Labor street and had to pass the Victoria Courts to walk to downtown everytime. As a kid you never know how dangerous that is but I guess my parents did and why i guess we took the long, scenic route past the handy-andy, pig-stand and the lot where they kept the horse carriages at. so many memories.