A small apartment project at the corner of North Flores Street and West Ashby Place is turning into something bigger for one San Antonio neighborhood.
Ryan Reed and Sara Villarreal, the team behind VillaReed Partners, are completing Ashby Place this fall, according to reporting by the San Antonio Report. The two-story building near San Pedro Springs Park has 16 one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartments for lease in the Alta Vista neighborhood.
The developers aren't stopping at one building.
"We really see it as the entire intersection being activated," Reed told the Report. "We see this whole Ashby-Flores intersection as being part of this."
An old filling station gets a new job
Ashby Place keeps the original 1920s commercial building on the site. The old filling station there is being converted into Iggy's Hot Corner, a bodega and Italian sandwich shop from Sam Chiappone, who has been cooking for two decades. It's his first solo venture, and construction on the space is still under way.
Chiappone plans an outdoor patio, televisions for Spurs games and soccer, and a small retail area for snacks and drinks. He plans to sell beer and wine and open this fall. He told the Report he wants to keep prices friendly to the pocket.
"With that apartment complex right there, I want it to be a hangout, not only for that apartment complex, but for the neighborhood," Chiappone said.
The first project, on the northeast corner of the intersection, is Phase I. Phase II will go on the northwest corner, where the owner of a small flower shop has decided to retire and sell the land to Villarreal and Reed. Phase II will have slightly more apartments and more commercial space than the first phase, the Report said.
The developers are also talking with the nearby San Pedro Playhouse and the San Pedro Springs Park Conservancy about revitalizing the park and better connecting it to Ashby Place.
"This area was waiting for a catalyst to get it going," Reed said.
The 'missing middle'
Veronica Garcia, director of the city's Neighborhood and Housing Services Department, calls projects like this "missing middle" housing. That covers buildings with more than one home but fewer than a large apartment complex, such as duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes and cottage courts.
Garcia said city staff is working with stakeholders on a missing middle incentive program and will coordinate proposed changes to the city's Unified Development Code "to remove code related barriers to this type of development."
The need is real. University of Texas at San Antonio researchers project the city will add 600,000 new residents by 2050. Those same researchers identified 7,000 acres of vacant or underutilized land in the urban core, close to existing infrastructure, where new housing could go.
Ashby Place is financed by Broadway Bank. Andrew Ozuna, the bank's senior vice president, said infill work comes with challenges. Sites often have old buildings or environmental issues, and old buildings have to be brought up to new codes.
"It's creating that catalyst, working on that one project that creates a catalyst for more development," Ozuna said.
Not everyone sees new development the same way. Ozuna said gentrification is one of the big concerns the bank hears from residents. Villarreal said the goal is to add to the neighborhood, not replace it. "Ashby Place preserves the original 1920s commercial building while introducing gentle density at a scale that naturally belongs," she said.
Why it matters for Contractors
Projects like Ashby Place are the kind of work small and mid-sized contractors can go after. A 16-unit, two-story building with a restaurant next door touches nearly every trade without needing a giant firm.
Infill work has its own challenges. As Ozuna pointed out, old buildings have to be brought up to current codes. Turning a 1920s filling station into a restaurant means renovation work, kitchen buildout and careful work around an older structure.
If the city follows through on a missing middle incentive program and code changes, more of these small projects could pencil out across San Antonio's older neighborhoods. With 7,000 acres of vacant or underused land identified in the urban core, contractors who know how to work on tight city lots, next to neighbors and around old buildings could see steady work for years. Phase II across the street is the next one to watch.