SAN ANTONIO – Development stretching from downtown along Broadway Street has transformed the area with restaurants, bars and new homes. Now developers and Councilman Greg Brockhouse are looking to do the same in District 6 on the West Side.
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Right now, the plot of land where Military Drive dead ends into Potranco Road is just vacant land, but if three developers' vision becomes a reality it will turn into a center point for the area.
"Every part of town deserves a project, something that defines them, restaurants, good housing, good rooftops, good jobs and good opportunities," Brockhouse said.
He knows people will compare the plan to the Pearl, but he said the development would be very different.
"It can look and feel like it, but it has to make sense to the neighborhood. It has to protect the community, has to offer jobs that offer good wages and it has to be able to bring things that people can afford," he said.
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He said for the past few months, developers have been speaking directly to the neighbors to go over their ideas.
Randell Cosper has lived in the neighborhood next door since 1983 and welcomes the idea.
"I'm all for change, if it's neat and good progress," he said.
The biggest perk he sees is the possibility of fixing the current traffic nightmare. Developing the land would mean adding roads, which Brockhouse and developers said would alleviate traffic on Richland Hills that stretches through the nearby community.
"It's terrible," Cosper said. "Potranco, this intersection out here, the city put up signs, 'Do not block,' but they block it every day and it's not just in rush hour."
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"It’s going to offer multi-entry and exit points out of the surrounding neighborhoods and Potranco, plus we have $9 million or so in bond money coming in to connect Potranco and the neighborhoods and Military and Ingram," Brockhouse said.
Brockhouse said developers have even expressed interest in paying for parts of the bond projects near the proposed center, but in these early stages, nothing is set in stone.
It's so early in the planning process, final plans haven't even been drawn. Brockhouse said as the plan lies, developers are the sole financial contributors to the project and the city has not offered any incentives.