Friedrich Lofts is a building complex that an old refrigerator company from the 1920s and 1930’s, Friedrich refrigeration used to inhabit. A partnership out of Dallas, TX owns the property and wants to sell it for $8 million. That is a low price for the amount of space; it would only be about $4 to $5 per foot.Whoever buys it will have to do a lot of work to get it up to par. There are many different plans you could go by to put in condos, retail, or offices. It would be a big project. The city decided to make that part of town better and when they came in they redid the streets and put up new light poles to make it more inviting. This has helped in renting the space that is currently rented. The current owners have made it into a few offices, but much of the building has been untouched since the old refrigerator company occupied it. Out of the entire building only 20,000 sq ft is rented and only offices have been put into the building. It is in an empowerment zone which is an incentive for companies because their employees could live in the same building where they work and which would equal tax credits for the companies. The offices shown in the pictures have new electrical, but the floor and ceilings are original. Also, the building has been deemed historical.
Alamo Architects: Sustainability Project
The Alamo Architects are an architecture firm in San Antonio, TX. Nikki and Kevin talked to us about how in 2005 they started with a property used by a custom trailer manufacturer with oil on the ground and turned it into a sustainable, Green building. There are many different aspects of the building that were kept. For example, the metal shell of the building, they reused the wood and concrete from it as well. The concrete was made into a really cool fence. On one side of the building they have a tank that captures the water and uses it to irrigate the landscaping. Instead of using concrete on the parking lot they used ground up granite. There was a lot of natural light inside the building. They kept the same concrete floor inside the building, but cleaned all the oil spots left on it. The Alamo Architects tried to incorporate a variety of LEED projects at the site. The building is LEED Silver. 95% of materials that would have normally ended up going to a dump were recycled back into the project. The building has been occupied for 3 years. Their energy bills are cut 20-30% each month because of following LEED as much as they did. The original floor is still inside the building. The way the building was done, it was very unique and I saw a lot of things that others could do to when making sustainable buildings. After thinking about the entire building, the water tank and concrete fence were my favorite things about the building.
Marty Winder: Large Scale Land Developer
Mr. Winder is a graduate of UT and he came to San Antonio to work for his wife’s family business which built small homes and financed them. He worked for the family business for 12 years and then in 1981 went on his own. His first development that he talked to us about was Crown Ridge. This was a very hard project to complete not just because of the limestone in the ground, but also because of the politics around this area. He then looked towards the west for his next development. Mr. Winder bought ranches with a rock quarry in it; it was about 3500 acres. It is now known as Westover hills. He picked this area because he knew the city was growing and predicted this is the area in which it would grow; he was right. He said he is not the guy over the idea. He is the guy that gets things done. Mr. Winder said the most important real estate rule is that time is the enemy of real estate deals. In order to become successful he hired the most experienced people which were usually older than him and this meant that he had to pay premium prices for them. He built the Hyatt Hill Country which is the most successful Hyatt in the country. Many people thought that the Hyatt Hill Country was a bad idea, but he didn’t listen. Many data centers have come to San Antonio, TX because the electricity is cheap, no hurricanes, no tornadoes, and no earthquakes affect the area. The best way to become a developer is to work under someone that you can learn a lot from. This was a great experience listening to someone that has done many different projects and has a lot of great stories.
River Improvements Project
River Improvements Project tour was given by Steven. The Riverwalk is 13 miles in length. He told us that the Riverwalk and the Alamo are top tourism spots in the United States. The new part of the Riverwalk is meant to be more for locals. They thought that the retail and other surrounding businesses would help make it for the locals and with just a little tourism. One problem with the river is E Coli Bacteria. The waterfalls keep the water oxygenated for river life and the water at the Riverwalk is only 4 to 6 feet in depth. Pearl Restaurant/Bar gave $3 million to the River Project to put island in for entertainment. $72 million of public money has gone into improving the 1.3 miles of new area on the Riverwalk. There are many different art pieces along the way. There is a painted concrete cave and stump that look real even though they are made out of concrete. On the Riverwalk there is a tunnel with birds chirping and different sounds which is a form of “sound art” or sounds collected from around the river. Under each bridge there were things to look at. The walk was really hot and long.
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