Who thinks downtown needs some MAJOR rennovations (San Antonio, Austin: house, neighborhood)

[Tone]

Originally Posted by GWhopper

"Slums of King William?" Never heard that before."
Have you ever been to the area between Carolina and Florida streets? Have you spent much time behind the old Victoria Courts? There is an original Pig Stand down there off (I think) South Alamo. It's really cool, they have this 16 foot pig that I think was once a drive-thru or walk-up window. If you have spent any time in that specific area, could you identify a home or a property that you would personally feel comfortable raising your family in?

nobody says u have to live there. but obviously people feel comfortable there since people live there.

[GWhopper]

Originally Posted by Tone

nobody says u have to live there. but obviously people feel comfortable there since people live there.

Actually I love the houses down there and would love to live there if I felt that it was on the upswing. That area is a treasure of architecture and I don't want to see a single building torn down! It's a time capsule of an Urban Post-war neighborhood. I just want to see our city invest in restoring that area. And I don't know what I can do to force that kind of action.

[Tone]

Originally Posted by GWhopper

Actually I love the houses down there and would love to live there if I felt that it was on the upswing. That area is a treasure of architecture and I don't want to see a single building torn down! It's a time capsule of an Urban Post-war neighborhood. I just want to see our city invest in restoring that area. And I don't know what I can do to force that kind of action.

u can buy a house there and fix it up. i would say that is taking action

[GWhopper]

Originally Posted by Tone

u can buy a house there and fix it up. i would say that is taking action

But how much of my investment in fixing that house up will result in a greater property value of that house?

I can restore or build a mansion there, but because of the surrounding property values, and (todays) social impression of that area, what really can an investor gain financially?

[Tone]

well u didnt say u wanted to do it for a profit. u said u wouldnt feel comfortable raising your kids there or something along those lines. so i thought u were just looking for a place for u and your kids.

[GWhopper]

Tone,
I love that area we are talking about. I love the architecture, and have even studied the architects who built the major buildings in the area. I can drive down Presa with you and point out the major architecture achievements of the builder's in the area. i believe that there is no more important historical neighborhood in Texas worthy of Urban Renewal than the area in which we speak. However, I can tell you from experience that the city of SA does not feel the same. Until the city backs an urban renewal project in that area, not much will improve. You don't know how much I wish it was different, but this is sadly a lost cause at this time. I tried to fight it once. It was a rude awakening for me.

[Tone]

Originally Posted by GWhopper

Tone,
I love that area we are talking about. I love the architecture, and have even studied the architects who built the major buildings in the area. I can drive down Presa with you and point out the major architecture achievements of the builder's in the area. i believe that there is no more important historical neighborhood in Texas worthy of Urban Renewal than the area in which we speak. However, I can tell you from experience that the city of SA does not feel the same. Until the city backs an urban renewal project in that area, not much will improve. You don't know how much I wish it was different, but this is sadly a lost cause at this time. I tried to fight it once. It was a rude awakening for me.

ohh. ok. well i hope u get what your looking for

[GWhopper]

Originally Posted by Tone

well u didnt say u wanted to do it for a profit. u said u wouldnt feel comfortable raising your kids there or something along those lines. so i thought u were just looking for a place for u and your kids.

For me, it's not just about profit.
Yes, I want to live in a property that appreciates in value. Owning valuable property is in this day and age is more important than your (or mine) 401K. i also want my kids to get a decent education in a safe school. I can't afford private school right now, and am not even sure I want my kids to attend private school. I am a product of the Texas public school system. In my youth I had to deal with A$$hole jocks, teen drug dealers, crazed Army recruiters, kickers, and a bunch of stupid people who thought they were Zen masters. I am thankful i learned to recognize the crazies and the idiots at an early age. I don't know if I want my kids to learn the same lessons in the same way I learned them.

I don't even know if I want my kids to see what I have seen.

[Insomniac]

Originally Posted by GWhopper

Actually, you are mistaken how real estate works. I do not mean to offend, but you are not taking into consideration the complexity of urban planning and how it affects real estate in an urban area. Urban Planners first choose a method of planning. In Texas, they most always choose a pod-based theory of urban planning. Meaning: identifying an area (a pod) to be dedicated for residential use, identifying another area (another pod) for business use, and then identifying another area (yet another pod) for retail or entertainment use. And never shall the three mix. Pod-based planning grew up in the 1950’s when land was abundant and the social impact of the automobile was just beginning to be realized. Pod-based planning has lead to all the major traffic problems that San Antonio and Austin and most other major cities suffer today.

How does this contribute? Go to Papasito’s on I-10. Go to Golden Corral on I-10 and Wurzbach. Walk to the back parking lot of each. There is no entry from the neighborhood side of these places. These entries are prohibited by City Zoning laws. The people who live in the neighborhoods have signed petitions to allow entry to these places from the neighborhood-side, and the city has always shut them down. So if I live in one of these neighborhoods, and want to eat at one of these places, I am forced to either go to the highway and take the turn-around, or find entry to an access road to get there. Either way, I am contributing to the traffic flow, even for a short time even though I live 20-40-80 yards away, when if I had simple neighborhood access, I would never have to expose myself on a major city thoroughfare and add to the growing traffic problem.

This same mentality plagues downtown. There is an almost blind obsession with keeping the places where people work separate from the places where people live, even though history tells us completely the opposite. In Europe most shop owners live in apartments above their shops. They get up in the morning, walk downstairs, and start business. They’ve been doing this for hundreds of years. In most cities in America, including San Antonio, this kind of setup is illegal. No kidding, it is stupidly against the law here!

All urban centers are a mix, but the base for all these places is a community of people WHO LIVE AND WORK IN THE SAME AREA. Everything San Antonio does from a city planning and zoning perspective is against this ideal. Which is why all these expensive condo’s in downtown SA will fail unless at least half the expected occupants can work in downtown SA. Which currently, they will not, because our city planners pursue a course that encourages businesses like USAA, RackSpace, World Bank, American Funds, to build further and further out from the city center and offer little or no encouragement to build IN the city center.

There are a lot of great books available from Borders and Amazon that explain the intricacies of City Planning. Some of you need to read them to truly understand what SA is doing right (which isn’t much, Stone Oak is a failed attempt at Mixed-use Development) and what they are doing wrong (Downtown).

I'm sorry, I did not fully read your post because as I started to I realized it was a dissertation on something completely different from what I was talking about in that quote . My comment about her not understanding real estate was in response to her stating that vacancies equates to no demand.

[urbsan]

Originally Posted by GWhopper

Actually I love the houses down there and would love to live there if I felt that it was on the upswing. That area is a treasure of architecture and I don't want to see a single building torn down! It's a time capsule of an Urban Post-war neighborhood. I just want to see our city invest in restoring that area. And I don't know what I can do to force that kind of action.

usually people with the same mindset of revitalizing the area move there fix up there house and live the life they have wanted usually and i guess ideally many start to see the potential of the area and the rest just follows. my aunt lives in the la vaca neighborhood and loves it, she has fixed up her house and now many of her neighbors are doing the same she sends her daughter to bonham elementary and both seem to be happy with it. I understand although you may want to partake in revitalizing the area under your circumstances right now youre life just doesnt allow it. but in your apprecitaion of the area really shows hope for the it because just like you and my aunt more and more people are going to see the great neighborhood and area that it really is.