San Antonio | Deep In The Heart.

[JoninATX]

It looks like San Antonio now has a good chance of landing The Raiders.

Henry Cisneros is taking lead on San Antonio's discussions with Raiders - San Antonio Business Journal

I said it before, San Antonio can hold an NFL team. The potential is there, and for Jerry Jones not liking it, well he needs to fix The Cowboys instead of gloating about his so called "place" aka AT&T Stadium.

[josh]

SAN PEDRO CREEK: SAN ANTONIO'S NEXT LINEAR PARK


San Pedro Creek project area map. Courtesy SARA.

More than 120 creative spirits and engaged citizens gathered Saturday morning to help design the $175 million redevelopment of San Pedro Creek through downtown San Antonio.

It was the first of many public workshops planned for the project, which will transform a long-ignored ditch (see video below) into a linear urban park while advancing flood mitigation, revitalizing ecology, and sparking cultural and economic development along its path.

Armed with coffee and refreshments, “energized” is a good description of the conversations participants were having. The din of the design process often caused citizens to lean across tables to better hear ideas, concerns, and questions – a good problem to have at a public planning meeting, especially on a Saturday at 9 a.m..

Think of the Mission and Museum Reaches of the San Antonio River, but shorter and quite narrow in some sections. The two-mile stretch of San Pedro Creek is often crowded by commercial buildings, flanked by parking lots, and hidden from pedestrian and vehicle view. Project leaders expect to draw commercial and housing investments to the area, similar to investments now being made on the Mission and Museum Reaches.

“Although this project is downtown, it’s more about connecting the community. Connecting our Westside and our Southside to our downtown and vice versa,” Scott said of San Pedro Creek’s role in the larger Westside Creeks Restoration Project. “The city has invested more than $10 million in linear creekway connections.”

To tackle the complicated terrain of the project, the creek has been divided into six segments or “character areas.” Each area has unique features and urban landscape, so divvying up the design will help engineers and architects – HDR, Inc. and Muñoz & Company, respectively – incorporate assets and address challenges for each character area.

Each table at the meeting was assigned a character area. Citizens then moved to the table that most interested them. At the Canal Principal/Main Channel table, participants focused on how to restore the narrow, paved-over sections of the creek to a more natural state. One such section is flanked by hotels and residences with little to no access to the actual creek.

“We need to take this ditch and turn it into something for people,” said Tony Cantu of the San Antonio River Oversight Committee.

He and the other planners at the table emphasized the importance of creating a multi-modal pathway that restores the ecology of the area – a place for humans, water, and wildlife. Signage and pathways to and from the creek will be a crucial part of this section. But designers will have little to work with.

A section of San Pedro Creek as it exists today. Photo courtesy of SARA.

“Maybe an elevated pathway, like High Line Park in New York?” proposed Nita Shaver. The table was excited about this idea.

“That’s a wonderful suggestion,” said Michael Guarino of Ford Powell & Carson Architects, facilitator of the table discussion.

Guarino was furiously taking down notes as the table occupants talked, laughed, and pointed out troublesome areas of the map. He was pleasantly surprised with the turnout and impressed with community feedback. His notes will be added to dozens more, notes on all the section maps will be analyzed – including the note about protecting turtles in the Canal Principal – and designers will come back in November to present the mashup of ideas to the public at another public workshop.

An artist’s rendering of what San Pedro Creek could become. For visualization purposes only, this is not a design. Photo courtesy of SARA.

“The key will be making it an inviting, walkable place for people,” said Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff as he watched the workshop. “There’s a lot of congestion along the River Walk around the bend. This may alleviate that.”

Much of the design stage is scheduled to be completed by February. Scott said the goal is to schedule construction over two years, with completion by San Antonio’s 300th anniversary in 2018.

Bexar County has committed $125 million so far, Scott said. The unfunded remainder likely will be filled by various public and private investments from area businesses and downtown development initiatives. The “right-of-way” costs and complications of acquiring or using surrounding properties downtown will be one of the main hurdles.

“Private property rights are extremely important and we don’t want to assume anything at this point, so we’re going to continue to work with property owners,” she said, adding that SARA will seek property donations. “I think that many of them see that it could be financially beneficial – obviously the value of their land and the opportunities of their land could be enhanced (by the redevelopment) but also they’re concerned about parking and access – rightfully so. We need (business and property owners) at the table.”

The San Pedro project should benefit from the successful and well-received completion of the Museum and Mission Reaches of the San Antonio River. People now understand the benefits of bringing a moribund waterway back to life, both for aesthetic reasons and as an economic development initiative.

“We have a recent example of how public investment can spur economic development. It’s not a pipe dream or something that we don’t know about,” Scott said. “And if people appreciate their waterways more, they’re going to want to protect them. They’ll become more curious about storm water, trash, flora, fauna. It’s an opportunity to change the narrative about our creeks.”

[josh]

A four story urban designed apartment complex, with a separate townhouse development, is planned for 840 E. Mulberry St. in Midtown.

HDRC is set to approve The Eight Forty development.

[josh]

602 ROOSEVELT AVENUE TOWNHOMES SET DEVELOPMENT SET TO BE APPROVED

It looks like The Park at Lone Star is getting company in the form of eight 4-story townhomes in a new development called 602 Roosevelt Avenue Townhomes.

For those unfamiliar, this development as well as The Park at Lone Star are both located in the area South of Southtown, also known as the portmanteau SoSo. I know, I'm not a fan of such gimmicky names either.

[josh]

NEAR EAST SIDE TO LOSE HISTORIC BUILDING, GAIN LARGE SCALE MIXED-USE DEVELOPMENT

Seems as though the is plan to demo all but three buildings of the historic Friedrich Building on the near east side to make way for hundreds of apartments, retail, office and possibly a hotel component. Developers plan to integrate the three buildings into a new mixed-used development. To be built in two phases with the second phase being towards the back and containing nearly 300 apartments in a five story building.

LOCATION

[josh]

DESIGN SET TO BE APPROVED FOR FIRST TWO (NEW) STREETS PLANNED FOR HEMISFAIR REDEVELOPMENT
WATER STREET AND EAST NUEVA STREET

[josh]

NEW RENDERINGS OF THE SCORPIONS' TOYOTA FIELD EXPANSION

[josh]

NEW RENDERINGS OF THE SCORPIONS' TOYOTA FIELD EXPANSION

[JoninATX]

TopGolf construction on pace to open early 2015 in San Antonio



TopGolf construction on pace to open early 2015 in San Antonio - San Antonio Express-News

[JoninATX]

City Vista Progress





UNDER CONSTRUCTION: City Vista |Bexar Witness

[josh]

ELMENDORF LAKE, NEXT TO OLLU, TO UNDERGO MASSIVE MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR MAKEOVER

[josh]

MCCULLOUGH LOFTS │ 107-UNITS │ FIVE STORIES │ RIVER NORTH

[josh]

New site plan for The Landmark development under construction on the southeast corner of 1604 and 10 on the far Northwest side.

ZOOM IN

DETAILS:

• 3 mid-rise, mixed-use buildings w/ adjacent 5-story parking garage
• Multi-story hotel with attached 4-story parking garage
• 950-unit multifamily residential units
• Restaurants
• Medical
• Bank

Additional:

The area bounded by 10 to the West, 1604 to the North, Union Pacific rail to the East and UTSA Blvd to the South is marketed as District North. Here is a recent illustration of all the parcels of land which have sold including the Landmark land. Within District North, over 2,000 apartments are under construction or under development.

[warreng88]

From the Journal Record:

Bid to restore blighted San Antonio property raises concerns

By: Associated Press October 9, 20140

SAN ANTONIO (AP) – Randall K. Hoover had been hesitant to put money into the battered Santa Monica Hotel, which he’s owned since the late 1990s, because it’s located in a sketchy neighborhood.

Though it’s a historic district, Cattleman Square on the near West Side is home to many blighted buildings, including the hollowed-out Santa Monica.

Buildings that sit idle until they start to decay are common throughout the downtown area. Many of the structures attract indigents who hang out in front of them – and sometimes make their way inside the buildings.

Soon these properties will be the target of stricter city rules aimed at pressuring their owners to either develop the buildings or clean them up.

But Hoover says making such structures marketable is fraught with difficulties.

“It’s not an easy place to say, ‘Hey, I want to open up a business over there’ – for us to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars and wait 20 years” for the area to improve, he said.

In recent months, however, he has begun to rethink his building and the area. He sees VIA Metropolitan Transit’s West Side Multimodal Transit Center – currently under construction – as a harbinger of the revival of Cattleman Square. The station will include the refurbished Missouri Pacific train depot, which VIA plans to use mainly as administrative offices.

But apart from the area’s still-rough character, Hoover says red tape has been another obstacle.

Even a small fix to the three-story Santa Monica Hotel proved cumbersome. It took three months for repairs to the upper windows to be approved by the city’s Historic Design and Review Commission.

Now, some owners such as Hoover are concerned about how an impending pilot program, meant to save and revive historic buildings, might affect plans for their properties.

But they’re unlikely to find much sympathy.

“My response is: If you can’t maintain it, then sell it,” said Bill Dupont, director of the Center for Cultural Sustainability at the UTSA School of Architecture, Construction and Planning.

In June, the City Council passed an ordinance that created the 18-month-long program, one that raises the city’s standards for the maintenance of vacant buildings. After the 18 months are over, the city could tweak the program, continue it as is or scrap it if it proves ineffective.

“What we’re proposing is for the building to look like someone could reasonably move into it,” Shanon Shea Miller, the city’s historic preservation officer, told council members in May. “The windows are repaired. The doors are repaired. There’s no architectural features missing or hanging off the building. So it doesn’t look abandoned.”

Failure to comply with the higher standards, scheduled to kick in Jan. 1, would cost owners up to $500 per violation. However, structures that already comply with the new requirements could be exempt from the program.

“Nothing that an owner would have to do would be wasted work,” Miller said recently. “It is something that would make the building more attractive to a future buyer or renter.”

Under the new policy, owners will have to register their buildings with the city and present a plan within 90 days that shows how they are to improve them. People who own single-family homes pay $250 to register, while owners of all other types of buildings pay $750. Failure to register would cost them up to $500 a day in fines.

Owners would be required to display “vacant building” placards, carry insurance and sign a “no trespass affidavit” to allow law enforcement to remove trespassers.

The pilot program would cover empty structures in the downtown and surrounding areas, historic districts, landmarks and buildings near military bases.

To date, the city’s office of historic preservation has identified roughly 450 properties the policy would apply to. The areas with the highest levels of vacancy, Miller said, are downtown and the Government Hill and Monticello Park historic districts.

“There’s nothing wrong with having a vacant building,” she said. “What the ordinance is intending to address is vacant buildings that are presenting a challenge with the property around them.”

Some owners of empty buildings are looking to refurbish their properties. Others are just absentee owners.

“This process may help us distinguish from those who really want to make the city better and those who are using either our downtown or our neighborhood as a safe-deposit box,” said City Council member Diego Bernal, one of the plan’s architects.

Miller said owners who show evidence of work being done on their structures – permits being pulled, for example – could be exempt from certain requirements of the policy or granted extensions. But those exemptions are still being crafted.

The ordinance defines a vacant building as one where activity has ceased for 30 days and is no longer being used for the purpose for which “the structure was built for or intended to be used for.”

But in some cases, determining whether a building is vacant isn’t clear-cut.

Pfluger Architects is using a one-story commercial building in Government Hill, at 1829 N. New Braunfels Ave., for storage – not what the property was built for.

“It’s not vacant,” said Kent Niemann, a partner at Pfluger Architects, whose offices are across the street. “It is being used. We’re in that building every day. So, yeah, I’m concerned about what they’re going to call vacant.”

Miller said each building, each situation, will be judged on its own merits. “I just don’t know the answers to that without looking at the specifics,” she said, referring to the Pfluger Architects’ storage facility.

Such distinctions could ultimately pit city policy against property owners.

“The tension here is whether they’re keeping a nuisance from happening or preventing a business owner from using their property in a lawful way,” said Eddie Bravenec, a lawyer who has represented property owners against the city in “demolition by neglect” cases before, and who is now running for district judge.

“If there’s a way the city can allow the property owners to use it in a lawful way while abating that nuisance,” he said, “then this can be a win-win.”

In the late 1990s, the Centeno family was refurbishing the Santa Monica Hotel, located at 108 N. Medina St., when its financing dried up. Hoover’s construction company, the contractor that had built a new lattice for the property, eventually acquired the structure.

A few months ago, Hoover moved his company’s officers next to the Santa Monica, renting space at the Avance building. He plans to eventually to turn the former hotel into his company’s headquarters.

“We felt the best way to get that building squared away was to get right next to it,” Hoover said.

But his efforts haven’t gone without headaches.

He and the Historic Design and Review Commission agreed on upper windows that would be made of vinyl. But Hoover and the HDRC have yet to settle on the storefront. One of the sticking points is how to preserve an old Barq’s root beer sign painted on the side of the brick building.

“They’re going to try to tell us that the downstairs should be all wood,” said Hoover, who’s put $600,000 into the Santa Monica to date. “They want it to be more historical, and nobody knows what that’s going to be yet. So we don’t know what we’ll be able to afford.” Building owners and architects who present applications to the HDRC often share Hoover’s concerns.

But his situation raises the question: Will an owner be fined if a building is stuck in a bureaucratic or financing tangle? If progress is being made, but at a slow pace because of the city’s own requirements, what will the city’s threshold be for extensions?

“It sounds like to me we’re going to pay a fine until we’re able to lease it,” Hoover said.

Property owners can apply for extensions – when rehabilitation or marketing of the building drag out – before they have to register or pay the fee, Miller said.

“The biggest reason why there wasn’t a date specified (for the length of an extension) was because there was a lot concern about market dynamics,” Miller said. “If average days on the market is X, then we have to be mindful of that and kind of try to be reasonable if people really are trying to market their property.”

Getting the extension will depend on whether permits are being pulled or if the property owner is actively marketing the property.

In some cases, buildings are left vacant because there is a planned use for them.

The Southwest School of Art, for example, plans to demolish two one-story commercial buildings that it owns a block north of its downtown campus. Paula Owen, president and CEO of the school, said putting money into the buildings to meet the requirements of a vacant-building ordinance doesn’t make sense.

“My only concern is that there will be owners like the Southwest School of Art who would already have plans in place for the demolition of those empty buildings and for development of the property,” Owen said.

The same holds true for the former Solo Serve building on Soledad, between Houston and Commerce streets.

Service Lloyds Insurance Co. of Austin acquired the massive property through foreclosure in 2009 and currently has a Texas-based buyer under contract.

“Really, we have been waiting for the market to get in position to actually market it and sell it to a buyer and not get hurt,” said Cosmo Palmieri, the company’s vice president of real estate. “The market is actually getting pretty strong in the downtown area.”

In some cases, a building’s owner might simply run out of money before refashioning their properties.

“What happens is people lack the capital to invest in their property for whatever reason,” UTSA’s Dupont said. “Instead of selling it, they let it go.”

The blighted 10-story Hedrick Building is at the northwest corner of N. St. Mary’s and E. Martin streets. Owned by San Antonio College Professor B.P. Agrawal, the former San Antonio Real Estate Board Building sits on prime downtown real estate. Agrawal has owned the structure and its 1.441 acres of land since the early 1990s.

“I come from India,” he told the Express-News in 2007. “We have buildings in our family that are owned for several generations. Some of the bigger projects require more than 10, 15 years. And there are many examples of that in other cities. So I don’t think it has been long.”

In 2008, engineer Andres Andujar, currently CEO of the Hemisfair Park Area Redevelopment Corp., conducted a feasibility study for Agrawal.

“Different alternatives were developed for what could happen on that site. But as it is evident, the idea didn’t catch,” Andujar said. “And so the site remains undeveloped.”

Agrawal did not return multiple calls for an interview.

The intent of the program is to prod owners who have sat on their buildings, in some cases, for decades.

HDRC Chairman Tim Cone rejects the notion that the city’s historic-preservation rules impede progress.

“There’s been a significant amount of successful development that has been completed downtown in historic buildings,” Cone said. “What you’ve got when you buy downtown property is a very unique location that’s worth a significant amount of money because of its location and because it’s in the heart of a historic area.”

If a downtown building is in bad shape, the fault lies solely with the owner.

“Whose fault is that?” Dupont said. “Is it the fault of the HDRC? Well, no. Oh, people say, ‘I have to comply with all this stuff to fix this rotten material.’ Well, how did this material get rotten in the first place? Because you didn’t maintain it.”

Just getting vacant buildings to “mothball” status, a term used in the architecture world to refer to securing and rendering a building relatively habitable, is one of the proposal’s goals.

The aim is to reinsert these buildings into the fabric of downtown and educate owners of development incentives at the local, state and federal levels – including historic tax credits.

“We have so much potential with vacant buildings right now downtown that is seems to be a shame that we are in such a forward moving redevelopment of downtown that we don’t take advantage of the structures that are there,” said Sue Ann Pemberton, president of the San Antonio Conservation Society.

To date, the city’s office of historic preservation had not yet contacted most of the property owners interviewed for this report.

Miller said they will be given notice before Jan. 1, and will be given 90 days to register.

Because it’s a pilot program, Bernal said, it’ll have kinks to work out.

“It’s going to take some time to get it right,” Bernal said. “Along the way, it’s important that we make these changes in the community. This city has waited long enough. It’s time for us to take action and figure out how to – in a very methodical and deliberate way – how to solve this problem.”

[josh]

Should San Antonio win one of three final four bids, the Alamodome will see a 50 million dollar renovation.

Improvements include:

• New wider concources on east and west sides of building
• Two new LED screens
• New terrace club
• New concession stands
• New locker rooms
• Outdoor plaza

[josh]

The MYSA.com website made a slideshow of the 20 wealthiest neighborhoods within Greater San Antonio. I thought it was neat enough to share here.

This slideshow feature stems from the fact that the luxury market in San Antonio is really hot right now.

19 (tie). Summerglen, San Antonio.



19 (tie). Inverness, San Antonio.



18. Cibolo Canyons, San Antonio.



17. Lincoln Heights, San Antonio.



15 (tie). Huntington, Shavano Park.



15 (tie). Shavano Creek, Shavano Park.



14. Estancia at Thunder Valley, Boerne.



13. Greystone, San Antonio.



12. Monte Vista, San Antonio.



11. Hill Country Village, Hill Country Village.



9 (tie). Champions Ridge, San Antonio.



9 (tie). Shavano Park, Shavano Park.



8. Waterford Heights, San Antonio.



7. Anaqua Springs Ranch, Boerne.




6. Olmos Park.



5. Cordillera Ranch, Boerne.



4. Bentley Manor, Shavano Park.



3. Alamo Heights.



2. Terrell Hills.



1. The Dominion, San Antonio.

[josh]

Travelers Hotel set to undergo multimillion dollar makeover; will become a luxury hotel

When it opened in 1914, the seven-story Travelers Hotel was considered upscale, an extended-stay establishment for the business elite.

But it hasn't been that way for decades.

Sitting in the middle of a block of Broadway downtown, Travelers Hotel is currently a place where transients can stay for $30 a night. Guests walk up to an old marble front desk. House rules are spelled on white plastic letters on a black letter board — they include, “No visitors allowed in room.”

“If a guy comes in here who (urinated) his pants and has a whiskey bottle in his hand, I don't let him in,” hotel manager Gene Venable said.

Now under new ownership, Travelers Hotel is due for a multimillion-dollar renovation, one that could transform the infamous building from flophouse to — possibly — a luxury hotel.

Ownership group Ramila & Dhani LLC plans to invest as much as $10 million in the Travelers' refurbishing. And it's under contract with a high-end hotel brand, but the owners declined to divulge which one for contractual reasons.

Ramila & Dhani is experienced in lodging and purchased the Travelers last year because it wanted to take on a historic renovation project.

[josh]

Convention Center expansion hits 'major milestone'

As competition for convention business heats up, construction crews have completed a substantial portion of the $325 million expansion to the Convention Center under budget and ahead of schedule, according to city officials.

The addition of about 270,000 square feet of exhibition space on the eastern portion of the Convention Center — the project's initial phase — will finish three months ahead of a contractual deadline in April, said Mike Frisbie, director of the Transportation and Capital Improvements Project.

...

The City Council selected a joint venture between Phoenix-based Hunt Construction Group and San Antonio-based Zachry Corp. for the project two years ago.

[B]When construction crews finish the Convention Center expansion in 2016, the facility will have increased from a current 1.3 million square feet to 1.65 million square feet, including 500,000 square feet in contiguous exhibit space.

The bigger space should bump the Convention Center's ranking from 22nd to ninth in the U.S. among similar convention designs, according to the Convention, Sports & Leisure International, a firm that assisted the city's facilities development study.

Rendered Aerial

Speaking of the convention center. It looks like the center will have an art installation wrapped around it called "Cactus" Christian Moeller.

[josh]

The Convention Center construction from street level by Raul's Photography.

[josh]

The King William District in the Southtown area of the urban core.

[josh]

Small collection of modern and contemporary homes in Southtown. The Southtown area is comprised of two neighborhoods, King William and Lavaca, which are two of the oldest neighborhoods in San Antonio.

Under construction












Cool modern public art

There's dozens of recently built modernist homes in Southtown, moreso in the Lavaca District neighborhood, but these pictures I just found online. I need to explore the area and take pictures myself.

[josh]

NSA chief: 1,000 new jobs coming to San Antonio

SAN ANTONIO — The director of the National Security Agency said Thursday that San Antonio could expect as many as a 1,000 additional personnel working on the Defense of Department's ongoing cybersecurity mission over the next three years.

“San Antonio is very important to the future of cyber within the Department of Defense,” Adm. Michael Rogers, who's also commander of the U.S. Cyber Command, said during a Cybersecurity Summit hosted by the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce. “You are going to see a larger footprint coming to San Antonio.”

The DOD has quietly grown its cybersecurity mission in San Antonio, with the 24th Air Force at Port San Antonio responsible for safeguarding key components of DOD information networks.

[josh]

JAPANESE GROUP SERIOUS ABOUT JOINING SAN ANTONIO'S MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER PUSH

San Antonio Scorpions owner Gordon Hartman has confirmed that a group of potential Japanese investors could acquire a stake in the North American Soccer League franchise with the intent of working to help secure a Major League Soccer team for the Alamo City.

Hartman would not identify the group, but he did tell me they are "very sincere and serious" in there interest in boosting San Antonio soccer and his nonprofit Soccer for a Cause program, which receives a portion of the Scorpions' proceeds.

Hartman said the potential investors reached out to him and have already visited San Antonio multiple times. Members of the group are expected to be in San Antonio early next week to meet with local officials.

[josh]

SAN ANTONIO'S FIRST 100 MILLION DOLLAR TOWER SALE LOOMING

A pending contract for the sale of Bank of America Plaza will set a new record for the price of a downtown office tower in San Antonio, with the Houston buyers reportedly paying more than $100 million.

Bank of America Plaza, located at 300 Convent St., is the city’s sixth tallest building at 28 stories and largest Class A office space with 533,171 sq. ft. It opened in 1984 as Interfirst Bank Plaza. Tenants include the Bank of America, OCI Solar, and some of the city’s most prominent law firms, including Aiken Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld; Norton Rose Fulbright; and Martin & Drought.

At nearly $200 per sq. ft., the unconfirmed price cited by local commercial real estate brokers who are not part of the transaction, the building would be valued at more than $100 million, far and away the highest price ever paid for a downtown office tower in San Antonio.

[josh]

GOURMET DELI TO OPEN IN NEAR EAST SIDE NEIGHBORHOOD OF DIGNOWITY HILL

Dignowity Meats On Houston St., a deli specializing in smoked meats and gourmet sandwiches, is slated to open on the city’s Eastside on Nov. 15.

Denise Aguirre and Noel Cisneros, owners of Taps Y Tapas and The Point Park & Eats, have teamed up with Andrew Samia and Shane Reed of Crazy Carl’s, a popular food truck that has been featured on The Cooking Channel’s Eat St.

The new eatery will set up shop in a renovated space located on 1701 E. Houston St. that was once home to Murf’s Burger joint. Beer and wine won’t be served until early next year, but they hope to include everything from craft beer to, as Aguirre put it, “not so crafty beer” in order to please everyone’s palate and wallet.

Samia and Reed will be in charge of the menu, which will include smoked meats by the pound, handcrafted sandwiches, and specialty sides including jalapeño cheddar cornbread and braised greens. You can wash it all down with fresh-squeezed lemonade or brewed teas. Both grew up in the Northeast and Midwest, respectively, and hope to bring those region’s solid deli culture to San Antonio.

Dignowity Meats represents a growing trend of young Millennial entrepreneurs finding an opportunity to live out their culinary dreams in the city’s urban core.

“With the upcoming growth of the Eastside and lack of food options, it made sense to put our footprint in the area,” Aguirre said.

MAP