Southstar acquired the former Lone Star Brewery complex in January. The company is seeking to buy the adjacent Newell property and sites owned by CPS Energy south of Lone Star and across the San Antonio River.
Andrew J. Whitaker/San Antonio Express-News
For many San Antonians, hearing about another developer’s plans for the dilapidated Lone Star Brewery complex south of downtown triggers deja vu.
Executives at Southstar, the property’s latest owner, say they get it.
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“I’m not the first person who’s come to talk to you about Lone Star in a few years,” chief operating officer Gretchen Howell told Lavaca residents at a recent neighborhood meeting. “A lot of people have tried. I’m not going to sugarcoat it: it’s a hard site.”
But she also said, “We can actually move this site forward.”
Southstar has recently begun publicly laying out the contours of what it wants to do with the former brewery complex and nearby properties. The redevelopment could include building a mix of housing types, restaurants, bars, shops, spaces for artists and public plazas over a decade.
Since buying Lone Star in January, the New Braunfels-based company has increased security, removed stairwells in the graffiti-riddled buildings and encircled the property with a stronger fence to try to keep people from breaking in.
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Southstar has agreements to purchase the Newell site next to Lone Star and CPS Energy’s properties just south of the former brewery and across the San Antonio River, including the defunct Mission Road power plant. The acquisitions would give the company control of 57 acres.
The company is asking residents to fill out an online survey about what they want to see at the properties and has received about 400 responses so far, Howell said.
Southstar’s top priority is overhauling Lone Star Boulevard, an east-west road running along the north edge of the brewery site that’s lined with crumbling sidewalks, no curbs and few lights, Howell said.
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The city allocated $5 million in its 2017 bond program for reconstructing and widening the road, but that work never happened — because previous Lone Star owners failed to make progress on their redevelopment plans.
The City Council in 2021 also approved $24 million worth of subsidies for GrayStreet Partners and Midway to remake the complex, including reimbursements from the Inner City tax increment reinvestment zone.
Southstar has applied for funding from the city’s Westside and Inner City reinvestment zones to upgrade the road and make other changes to the properties. With such zones, increases in property tax revenue from new development are used to reimburse companies for public improvements.
An estimate Southstar commissioned from an engineering firm in May puts the cost of improving the street at $6.7 million, according to a document released in response to a public records request.
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The company declined to say how much money it has requested from the zones. Attorneys for the city and Southstar have asked the Texas Attorney General’s Office not to require the figures’ disclosure in part because Southstar and the city have not finalized any agreements.
Southstar wants to start construction on the boulevard next year, Howell said.
Another priority is finding food and beverage tenants to set up along the riverfront, Howell said. The company recently put out a request for proposals from businesses pitching ideas for restaurants and bars.
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“It’s a long process, but our ability to start incrementally getting people back to the site and creating things you want to be at — that’s our priority now,” Howell told Lavaca residents.
Southstar plans to rehabilitate and overhaul the former brewery and warehouse on the Lone Star property for public uses, Howell said. The company also wants to improve connections between the sites and the river.
She declined to disclose how much housing Southstar would build, but it would likely be a mix of rental and ownership options.
A resident at the Lavaca meeting asked whether Southstar will build affordable housing. Howell said the company is eyeing about 200 units of workforce housing — options for people who earn too much to qualify for traditional low-income housing but can’t afford market-rate housing.
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Conceptual drawings show people strolling down streets and plazas lined with trees and outdoor dining. Southstar wants to develop about 13 acres of public spaces such as plazas, trails and a dog park.
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Hotels and office space aren’t on the short list, but could become part of the plan as Southstar builds out the properties, Howell said.
“We’re looking for more public-facing uses,” she said.
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The brewery once employed hundreds of workers and its grounds were a gathering place for families who picnicked and swam in its pool. It closed in 1996 and has remained empty since, as multiple proposals by previous developers have failed.
“The whole point of this is to bring everybody back,” Howell said.
Southstar has experience acquiring large pieces of land and developing master-planned communities with housing, schools, stores, restaurants and parks. The company’s projects include Vida near Texas A&M University-San Antonio and Mission del Lago, which are both on San Antonio’s South Side, and Mayfair and Vintage Oaks in New Braunfels.
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“We’re fortunate that we have assembled a great group of partners over the years that support our vision when we choose projects that align with our skill set,” Howell said of the company’s investors.