$500M-Plus Plan Emerges for 46-Acre Buy

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SAN ANTONIO-A Brownsville, TX-based investment group is preparing to turn 46 acres into a mixed-use development. The all-in development cost is estimated at $500 million to $600 million.

Adrian Gracia, CEO and founder of CG Financial Group, says the final design for the as-yet unnamed development along La Cantera Parkway should be done in a month. “After that,” he says, “we can start talking numbers and specific development.” Gracia’s firm has just gotten approval on a preliminary site plan from San Antonio City Council.

The acreage, bought in recent months, is close to the Shops at La Cantera and Six Flags Fiesta Park. Gracia tells GlobeSt.com that CG Financial will develop a portion of the acreage and sell tracts with infrastructure in place to developers who share his vision for an urban project with high-density multifamily and single-family housing, neighborhood retail and office space.

“We’re not sure what percentage we’ll be keeping back, though, we’re still trying to decipher that,” Gracia says. CG Financial also will map out landscaping and hard-scaping “to make sure the whole feel is respected throughout.”

Gracia says the intersection of Interstate 10 and FM 1604 is ideal for the proposed development because it’s crying out for more living space. “We’re seeing this at about 85% residential with the remaining 15% going to office and retail, with a little more emphasis on office,” he says. The high-density residential will include street-level retail topped off with apartments, condominiums and lofts plus and a handful of single-family residences.

A. Epstein & Sons International Inc. of Chicago is the architect of record while Pape-Dawson Engineer Engineers Inc.’s San Antonio office is the civil engineer duties. Gracia says the general contractor has yet to be picked.