Houston Street green space due for major upgrade

Weston Urban, the developer behind the glassy Frost Tower, plans to transform the oak-lined greensward across Flores Street into an actual park, complete with more seating and furniture, art, fountains, retail, and a restaurant with outdoor dining.

The green space at 210 N. Flores St., long owned by Frost Bank, was acquired by Weston Urban in the complex land deal between those two parties and the city of San Antonio that is resulting in the new tower.

The plans go before the Historic and Design Review Commission on Wednesday, having received conceptual approval from the commission in March.

The portion of the park that faces Houston Street will be designed in tandem with the tree-lined promenade at the base of the Frost Tower, on the other side of Flores, so that the two sections act as one continuous park experience while also connecting to San Pedro Creek Culture Park.

“It’s really meant to be part of a story — that space from the park through the Houston Street promenade, then engaging with San Pedro Creek,” Weston Urban President Randy Smith said. “In our eyes, we want all three of them to complement one another.”

While the space is privately owned, Weston Urban ensured, in its documents submitted to the HDRC, that it will be public: “all are encouraged to take advantage of the space.”

On the northwest corner of the park, there are plans to build a restaurant. Weston Urban is in talks with a handful of potential operators, some from San Antonio and others from the region, Smith said, declining to name names. It would be “very Texan,” he said.

The park is scheduled to be finished by the time the Frost Tower opens in summer 2019, however the restaurant could take longer.

Smith said programming will be key to the park’s success.

“Without great programming and activity, a great park is not really a great park,” said Smith, who declined to divulge the project’s cost.

The acre park is being designed by Seattle-based landscape architects Gustafson Guthrie Nichol, which is also designing the promenade.

Rendering courtesy Weston Urban

ben@saheron.com