The 31-story building, located downtown at 310 S. St. Mary’s St., will include 244 apartments and an outdoor deck on the seventh floor with gardens and other amenities, and the ground floor will feature retail and restaurant space on both the street and river-facing sides.
The owners — a group that includes the McCombs family, executives at McCombs Enterprises and local developer Ed Cross — plan to add 23,211 square feet of commercial space. Construction on the $3.5 million retail-level project is set to begin this month and be completed by April 2027, according to a filing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.
“We aren’t building a traditional retail project,” said Jon Wiegand, managing director of real estate for McCombs Enterprises. “We’re creating a neighborhood. The heart of Tower Life is the 244 homes we’re creating along the San Antonio River. The retail component is designed to support those residents and the surrounding neighborhood by creating places people can enjoy throughout the day — from morning coffee and lunch to dinner and evening cocktails.”
The ownership group, which acquired the property in 2022, began transforming the largely empty office building into luxury housing last year and expects to open the tower for residents by the end of 2026. In the wake of the pandemic, turning vacant, aging office buildings into housing and hotels has caught on among developers.
They are working on the $128 million project with J. Jeffers & Co., a Milwaukee-based real estate development and investment firm that has been involved in rehabilitating a variety of historic buildings in that city. The Bexar County Public Facility Corp. also is involved through an arrangement that provides a property tax exemption for the building in exchange for including some units for families earning less than the area median income.
While the group has not yet selected retail and restaurant tenants for the ground floor, the limited space is forcing them to be “highly selective” in curating a mix of businesses that will complement the downtown residences.
“We believe Tower Life represents a rare opportunity for operators seeking an irreplaceable location,” Wiegand said. “There are very few places where a retailer can become part of a landmark building, serve hundreds of residents who live on-site, and benefit from the visibility and activity generated by the river and surrounding neighborhoods. Interest has been strong, and we’re focused on identifying partners that will help define the next chapter of Tower Life.”
Madison Iszler contributed to this report.