• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
    • Heron jobs
    • Editorial Independence Policy
    • Corrections & Clarifications
  • Who we are
  • About us
  • Newsletter signup
  • Donate
  • Our Business Supporters
    • Join Our Business Membership Program

San Antonio Heron

Telling the complete downtown story

  • Development
  • Housing
  • Neighborhoods
  • Food & Drink

GrayStreet sells key Southtown retail strip to Austin firm

December 27, 2022 By Richard Webner Leave a Comment

FacebookTweetPrintEmail
The retail strip at South Alamo and South St. Mary's streets was recently sold in November 2022 by San Antonio developer Kevin Covey to an Austin firm.
The retail strip at South Alamo and South St. Mary’s streets was recently sold by San Antonio developer Kevin Covey to an Austin firm. Photo by Ben Olivo | Heron

By Richard Webner | @RWebner | Heron contributor

In the heart of Southtown, on the intersection of South Alamo and South St. Mary’s streets, one can find proof of how great it can be when Kevin Covey manages to achieve his vision for a construction project.

Shortly after founding his development firm, GrayStreet Partners, in 2013, he led it to buy the closed-down Texas Highway Patrol Museum, 812 S. Alamo St., and a blank-looking warehouse behind it. He then launched a painstaking renovation with the aim of turning the buildings into a retail strip hosting a curated selection of independent businesses.

Since the renovations wrapped up in 2017, the strip has had some hiccups—a paleta shop closed down, and a concept by chef Andrew Weissman didn’t work out. Nonetheless, it has emerged as one of the most vibrant retail destinations in urban San Antonio, home to Southtown anchors such as Pharm Table, Mixtli and Brown Coffee Co.

On Nov. 16, GrayStreet sold the 1.1-acre property, county deed records show. The firm first transferred ownership to Covey and a partner, Christopher Grossman, who sold it to Southtown Junction LP, a partnership formed in September led by executives of Ironwood Real Estate, a commercial real estate firm from Austin that owns the Olmos Park retail strip at 3910 McCullough Ave. Southtown Junction also shares an address with Ironwood.

Southtown Junction took out a $6.96 million loan from the State Life Insurance Company of Indiana to make the purchase, according to records from the Bexar County Clerk. The Bexar Appraisal District assessed the property at $2.6 million this year.

Peter French, GrayStreet’s development director, declined to comment when reached by text message. Executives at Ironwood didn’t respond to requests for comment.

It isn’t unusual for GrayStreet to sell its completed projects, to raise money as it embarks on new ones. That’s what it did with Travis Park Plaza, just north of East Houston Street. The firm still owns the Light building on Broadway, which is filling up with new tenants after undergoing renovations that dragged on for years.

“We have limited capital,” Covey told the Heron in early 2021, in an email. “I recapitalize projects that we complete so that I can go do more.”

Several of GrayStreet’s ambitious development plans—which often involved revitalizing historic buildings or neglected neighborhoods in urban San Antonio—have fallen through or been delayed, while others have been successful. Earlier this year, it put the old Lone Star Brewery up for sale, abandoning plans to redevelop it at a cost of $596 million in partnership with Houston mega-developer Midway.

[ Heron: GrayStreet Partners’ big dream for Houston Street that never materialized | Jan. 20, 2022 ]

Others, such as the renovation of the Vogue building on East Houston and a commercial building on East Grayson, home to furniture store West Elm, have been renovated and sold.

GrayStreet continues to tackle new projects. In May, it bought the seven-story Tower Life parking garage, just as the 31-story Tower Life itself was sold to a group led by the McCombs family, which plans to rehab it with apartments.

That same month, a shell company linked with the firm bought the 56-story Renaissance Tower in Dallas, an iconic part of the city’s skyline, Dallas County deed records show. The transaction was first reported by the San Antonio Business Journal. The firm said in a press release that it planned to “invest in, update, reimagine and reinvigorate” the 48-year-old tower.

Richard Webner is a freelance journalist covering Austin and San Antonio, and a former San Antonio Express-News business reporter.

Contact the Heron at hello@saheron.com | @sanantonioheron on Twitter | Facebook | Instagram


2022 NewsMatch

Help the Heron UNLOCK $15,000 from a coalition of NewsMatch funders by Dec. 31.

Prefer to mail a check? Please make payable to:
San Antonio Heron
The Rand Building
110 E. Houston St. 7FL
San Antonio, Texas, 78205

FacebookTweetPrintEmail

Filed Under: Retail, Southtown, Transactions Tagged With: Andrew Weissman, Brown Coffee Co., Christopher Grossman, GrayStreet Partners, Ironwood Real Estate, Kevin Covey, Lone Star Brewery, Midway, Mixtli, Peter French, Pharm Table, Renaissance Tower, Southtown, Southtown Junction LP, State Life Insurance Company, Texas Highway Patrol Museum, Tower Life, Travis Park Plaza

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

For security, use of Google's reCAPTCHA service is required which is subject to the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

I agree to these terms.

Primary Sidebar

Share

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Support local journalism

If you care about San Antonio’s downtown and urban neighborhoods, consider supporting our 100% independent work with a donation.
Donate

Newsletter Signup

Deep Dives

How municipal bonds work, and a brief history of them in San Antonio

Olivo: How McKee-Rodriguez’s support for a luxury housing project helps shape the Decade of Downtown

The Lofts at River North are under construction at Broadway and Jones Avenue in July.

Analysis: It’s time to call BS on ‘workforce housing’

Copyright © 2023 San Antonio Heron · Site maintained by hmt3design.com

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!