• Architects, developers bring downtown Walgreen’s into 21st Century (04/10/09) By Sandra Lowe Sanchez, San Antonio Business Journal

    For more than 70 years, the Walgreen’s store on Houston Street was a fixture, more recently serving as a sign of past times, with narrow aisles and a smaller selection than most of its stores. But for the last year, developers, contractors and architects have been working to bring the downtown drug store into the 21st Century. Set to open next month, the store will be part of the latest renovation work taken on by owner Federal Realty Investment Trust as part of its Houston Street redevelopment efforts. “The new store’s footprint will dwarf the old one, more than tripling the size and product offerings,” says Melissa Douglas, CEO of the husband and wife run architectural firm Douglas Architects.

    At 15,000 square feet, the drug store will go a long way in supplying residents not only with medicine, but with many of the other basic necessities and conveniences for residents. “The new and expanded Walgreen’s will essentially be an urban market so vitally needed in downtown,” Douglas says. Part of a 54,000-square-foot mixed use development, the building at 300 Houston will house Nix Hospital offices on the second floor. A tower structure was added onto the building at College and Navarro that will serve as an entry to the Nix offices. (The hospital is across from the offices at the other corner Collage and Navarro.) An additional retail space fronting Houston Street is still available for lease. G.W. Mitchell & Sons Construction is the general contractor on the project.

    New building

    Andrew Douglas, Melissa’s husband and the other architect on the project, says that while construction crews began working on the project a year ago, much of the work on the building occurred before, with plans for the property approved by the Historic Design and Review Commission as well as the City of San Antonio. The work involved demolishing both the old Walgreen’s building and its neighbor, the Stuart Building, which once housed Stuart Department Store. “Most of the property had structural problems,” Andrew Douglas explains. “We had to make an official case for demolition.”

    “The new building employs similar colors, materials and detailing that are contemporary, yet respectful of its neighbors,” Melissa Douglas adds. Also, the building also utilizes the store’s original neon sign, which has been restored. Melissa Douglas recalls first standing under it in 1982, when she visited downtown as a student at Trinity University. “For many San Antonians there is much nostalgia associated with the sign,” she says. “Several people have come up (to us) during construction and mentioned that they are so glad to see the old sign back, and they remember it being part of Houston Street since their childhood.”
  • 300 Houston Project Featured in San Antonio Express News (04/11/08) Click on the title below to view full article:

    Downtown demolition to clear path for new project
  • San Antonio Business Journal: Beyond the Riverwalk …Great cities Need Great Streets, By Andrew T. Douglas, AIA (04/11/08) The ebb and flow of downtown San Antonio development is rooted in the fabric of the streets and the river. It is amazing to see from historic photos how vibrant the downtown streets were in the early 1900’s. From all indications, the downtown streets were the center of civic life. It was the place to see and be seen, streets busy with commerce, cars, a network of trolleys and a variety of housing and businesses. Over time, however, things changed. In the late 1960’s, the modern River Walk began to emerge, and businesses began to leave the downtown for the suburbs. Within a decade, those streets began to die.

    Today, the River Walk is our city’s crown jewel of urban redevelopment. But with the development of the new 1,003 room Grand Hyatt Hotel and other major projects, pressure is increasing on an already congested River Walk. We have all experienced those times when River Walk is packed, and feels more like “rush hour” than the romantic stroll the magazines so beautifully depict.

    So what is the solution for protecting one of our most cherished assets, and what about those once great downtown streets? Maybe the answer lies in finding ways for the River Walk and streets to better complement each other so that they revitalize and expand economic activity and create a more diverse downtown.

    One obvious suggestion is to strengthen pedestrian paths between the river and streets. Historically speaking, the “Paseo” has served this function, the most notable being the Paseo del Alamo. Others include the link from the Arneson Theater to La Villita and the Presa Street Stair to Houston Street. Thanks to our Mayor’s leadership and contributions by the private sector, soon a new bridge from the River Walk to the redeveloped Main Plaza will provide yet another link. The city has also done an outstanding job introducing a new way-finding system in the downtown that organizes the downtown into districts that helps people learn more about the downtown.

    As we increase linkages, consideration should be given to strengthen street level destinations like Houston Street, Main Plaza and Alamo Plaza. Over the past several years this has begun to happen. Signs of housing, new retail and office space combined with a growing demand for an urban lifestyle suggest that San Antonio has a bright future in urban redevelopment. Houston Street, San Antonio’s traditional “Main Street” continues to be revitalized through the efforts of the City and private partnerships and is finally coming into it’s own as an “entertainment district” where an evening out can include multiple venues for dining or drinks before and after a show.

    As we recognize the success of the River Walk and the significant contributions the tourist and hospitality industries bring to the downtown economy, we can also acknowledge that great cities are more than meccas for tourism. Our vision for the future should encourage development that makes the downtown “hip” for the locals, so that they might want to live, work and play downtown.

    Christopher Leinberger, an urban land strategist at the Brookings Institution, notes that, “over the past 15 years, many consumers have been demanding different options to the ‘one-size-fits-all’ drivable sub-urbanism…there are many segments of the population that want something different; what can be broadly called ‘walkable urbanism’. You don’t have to look any further than downtown Austin to see successful mixed-use urbanization. Discussing Austin’s downtown in a recent issue of <u>Austin Urban Home</u>, Mayor Will Wynn stated, “The vision is definitely up versus out."

    It is important to note, that whereas cities like Baltimore and Chattanooga have spent hundreds of millions of dollars creating catalysts to promote successful urban redevelopment, San Antonio’s catalyst, the River Walk, is already in place and ready to leverage such growth.

    So as the number of residents and visitors to San Antonio increases and the River Walk becomes increasingly over crowded and in need of relief, that relief can come by way of a more vibrant network of pedestrian-friendly, redeveloped streets that will encourage circulation among the city’s other treasures—the Alamo, Main Plaza and San Fernando Cathedral. Streets that support downtown life with the daily necessities of on street parking, small grocery stores, dry cleaners, beauty salons and the like. Focusing on this type of development would spread economic growth throughout the downtown and make San Antonio an even more livable and walkable city that is attractive to everyone…including the locals.

    Andrew Douglas is President of Douglas Architects, Inc. in San Antonio.
  • Douglas Architects Completes UTSA Humanities Building Restoration (11/27/07) The University of Texas San Antonio Humanities and Social Science Building located at the 1604 campus has a new lease on life following it's full exterior restoration. Douglas Architects worked closely with the Office of Facilities Services to ensure the appropriate method of cleaning, refurbishing and restoring the thirty year-old structure. "The University has been a good steward of preserving their structures" states Andrew Douglas, AIA, President of Douglas Architects. "And after thirty years of Texas sunshine and heavy showers, significant weathering has occurred and maintenance is needed...our plan incorporated environmentally friendly cleaning methods while introducing state of the art restoration techniques and products.
  • Douglas Architects to assist on completion the San Antonio Convention Center Hotel (11/27/07) Douglas Architects, Inc. has been selected by Mesirow Financial Real Estate Services and Marathon Real Estate to provide Project Closeout services for the New San Antonio Convention Center - Grand Hyatt Hotel. This new addition to the San Antonio Skyline will feature 1,000 Luxurious Hotel Rooms, 50 Suites and over 80,000 sq.ft. of meeting space. The project is schedule to open February 2008.
  • Douglas Architects Selected by Boeing for new Main Entry Design (10/20/07) Douglas Architects has been selected by Boeing to design the new corporate entry at its Port of San Antonio location. Program spaces include a new 2,400 s.f. structure to house a visitor check-in facility, badging center and security offices. The redesigned vehicle entry will contain a new Guard House, barriers, improved signage and lighting.
  • Douglas Architects Chosen by Boeing for New Cafeteria. (10/18/07) The Boeing Company located at Port San Antonio has chosen Douglas Architects to design its new employee cafeteria. Over 1,500 employees use the cafeteria daily and there is a need to expand the facility while providing an upgraded amenity to employees. The original cafeteria dates back to Kelly Air Force Base days and has out lived its effectiveness. The new facility will incorporate state of the art cafeteria design that will give employees more dinning options, reduced wait times and a dinning environment that is both pleasant and comfortable.
  • Historic Sustainability San Antonio Business Journal - by Andrew Douglas, AIA (09/13/07) The movement toward "green building" by architects and builders has become significant nationwide and especially here in San Antonio. Green building practices are mainstream and quickly becoming the norm, with an entire industry using "green" as a valuable marketing tool. Rising energy costs and the potential future limitations on our water resources have created a demand by developers, investors and tenants for resource efficient construction and renovations. Public advocacy for historic preservation creates challenges for resource efficient design but adaptive reuse can be successful. Cost savings, reduced use of resources, lessened environmental impact and healthier work and living spaces can all be achieved by going "green".
    More than most other cities in Texas, San Antonio has a significant number of existing buildings. Other cities tear down their buildings to build new ones; San Antonio has regulations in place to preserve its historic structures both in the downtown area and in many surrounding communities. In this environment, the challenge from a design standpoint is how to redevelop these properties in a sensitive way.

    Sustainable building practices can work well in a city such as ours. Existing buildings can go green often with low- or no-cost strategies. This requires collaboration with building owners, developers and design professionals to examine a building's physical systems, interior finishes and organization of spaces. The result is improved building performance and a better working environment for the occupants.

    Sustainable Historic Preservation
    Preservation has become an even bigger priority as the city continues to expand-even in areas where San Antonio's cultural heritage rests on a growing number of older, disused buildings and historic spaces.

    Historic preservation and adaptive reuse-starting with an old building and adapting it to modern needs-is the essence of sustainability. Adaptive reuse avoids tearing down old buildings. It not only preserves the heritage of our city, but also creates valuable property from disused and unproductive ones, and revitalizes communities. Redeveloping older buildings can be more costly, but makes a commitment to the history of the community, provides environmental benefits, and ultimately is the right thing to do as stewards of the environment.

    Much of modern San Antonio was developed mainly through adaptive reuse. The San Antonio Riverwalk is a true sustainable resource that our city has reinvented again and again to become the geographic and economic heart of the city. There are a number of other good examples of adaptive reuse projects in San Antonio-The San Antonio Museum of Art (Lone Star Brewery), the Pearl Brewery development, The Quarry Market (Alamo Cement), the Southwest School of Arts and Crafts (the Ursuline Academy), the area around South Flores and Alamo Streets, and La Villita.

    Incentives Coming

    While currently limited, financial incentives are just beginning. For historic properties, Federal law provides a federal income tax credit equal to 20 percent of the cost of rehabilitating a historic building for commercial use. The City of San Antonio provides a valorem tax credits are available for substantial rehabilitation to a significant structure. CPS Energy recently announced rebates for commercial property owners to adapt new or redeveloped structures to make them more energy efficient, including HVAC systems, insulation and other upgrades.

    These incentives are welcomed because building green requires a higher up front investment to document each step of the design and construction process, reuse and recycle and use more environmentally friendly processes. The good news is with more and more construction using newer "green" building techniques, the industry will become more efficient, and costs should come down.
    The USGBC and LEED®

    The US Green Building Council (USGBC), a national coalition of building industry leaders, reinforces going green with standards for existing or redevelopments using older buildings nationally and locally. The USGBC has developed LEED® - Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design - the leading green building rating system in the country. An industry-recognized, voluntary standard, LEED® defines high performance green buildings that are healthier, environmentally responsible and more profitable structures. For existing buildings, the ratings identify and reward best practices and provide an outline for buildings to use less energy, water and natural resources as well as to improve the indoor environment and to identify and improve operative inefficiencies.
    A sustainable design approach reduces the operational costs over the life of the building, increases asset and shareholder value, improves return on investment and net operating income, and improves tenant retention and satisfaction, employee morale and productivity. It also shows environmental commitment and leadership and community awareness.
    In conclusion, San Antonio can take pride in it's tradition of Sustainable Historic Preservation. We have been recycling for centuries. As we look to the future, San Antonio can continue to embrace it's traditions while enhancing our quality of life in the built environments of our homes and business.
  • Douglas Architects Selected by Broadway Bank (08/13/07) Douglas Architects has been hired by Broadway Bank to provide professional services for the Bank’s Main Banking Center located at 410 and Nacogdoches. Program areas to be renovated include the retail banking area, private client services as well as the main entry lobby. Douglas Architects envisions a design solution that will embrace the Building's International Style of architecture, while providing innovative design features through lighting, glazing and material usage.
  • Douglas Architects Chosen by Oliver McMillian (03/15/07) Douglas Architects was selected by San Diego Developer Oliver McMillan for a new 116,000 s.f. office building located in Ontario, CA. The office building will be part of a 54 arce Guasti redevelopment, one of California’s oldest wineries. Douglas Architects will be collaborating with Gensler, the master planners and designer for the development. The design concept will embrace sustainable concepts including a 300’ shading device running the full length of the south elevation.