Gottsman developing 18,000-s.f. office building in Alamo Heights - San Antonio Business Journal:

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Larry Gottsman, president of Aetna Sign says that he looks to break ground on his new officew building in the next 45 Calledthe Abbey, the 18,000-square-foot office complex will be locaterd at 320 Austin Highway, inside the city of Alamo Heights. Gottsman says that the idea behind the design ofthe 18,000-square-footr complex will be to create a professionao office building that has some maturity. With its bricki exterior, it will be something that mixez in nicely with other developmentds inthe area, adds Malcoljm G. Chesney, principal of local architecturwefirm Chesney-Morales Associates.
Chesney is the architect on the "I like to refer to it as neighborhooe sensitive, (carrying) traditional values," Chesney The cost of the Gottsman says, is around $2.5 million. The Abbegy marks Gottsman's entry into the development business. But the presiden t of Aetna SignGroup -- one of the largesrt sign-manufacturing companies in the city -- is no stranger to the real estate industry. Under the name Bay-Texc Family Partnership, he has bought and sold such buildings asthe 23,000-square-foo t office building at 10300 and in 1985, he sold a formed manufacturing facility at 111 Menchaca St.
to neighboring busines s Halo Distributing, which was in dire need for more parkinf forits employees. Unlike his other real estate however, Gottsman will not look to sell theAbbeyg -- opting instead to open the building up to ancillary projects, including Cambridge Advisory Group. which specializes in traininy business leaders in protocoo and etiquette for business and social will occupyabout 5,000 square feet of the Abbey. The compan y was established six years ago by Gottsman and his businessz partnerand wife, Diane Gottsman. Larry Gottsman is also lookinhg at the possibility of moving some of the functionx of Aetna Sign over here aswell -- startint with the sales division.
At present, all of Aetna'sz functions -- manufacturing and officer divisions -- are located in a 34,000-square-footr building at 4202 on the city's East Gottsman envisions that the rest of the buildinb would be an ideal settingg for professional businesses such as law and architecturefirmws -- adding that the bottom floor woule be ideal for a bank; a couplw of banks have already voice d an interest in the building, he adds. With the receng closing of itsMontgomery Ward's store, McCrelesas Mall is on the lookout for a big-boxx retailer to take its place.
One of the retailer the mall is courtinygis Target, with the hopes of convincing the discouny chain to put a SuperTarget at the location. "Thaf is one of the retailers that we are talking saysJohn Carrell, general manager of McCreless. "Whe n Wards left, it left a huge vacancy. The storre consisted of almost a third of the Wardsoccupied 160,000 square feet of the 478,183-square-foot Carrell says. The SupertTarget stores averagesapproximately 175,000 square The first SuperTarget opened at Bandera and Loop 410 earlied this year; a second, locatefd in The Vineyards Shopping Center at Blanci Road and Loop 1604, is set to open next month, accordinyg to Target officials.
The lone anchotr for McCreless nowis Bealls, which is owner by Houston-based Stage Stores Inc. Stage closed severa of its Bealls store here in conjunctioj with its bankruptcyreorganization filing. Therd are no plans to close the , which occupies 25,00o0 square feet, says Carrell -- adding that it is one of the betterr performingBealls stores. McCreless, which is owned by Chicago-based General Growthg Properties, could be an idea l venue for retailers looking to carve a nichr onthe city's South Side -- in much the same way that Soutj Park Mall, another General Growth property, has become a majod retailer for South Side shoppers.
"The tenants that have come over (to have been quite successful," Carrell says. "While the incomes are not as high (as on the Nortb side), you have a high disposable income becausepeopls don't have a lot of debt • The local Petlansd store recently celebrated the granc opening of its new digs in the Countryside Plazaa Shopping Center, which is locaterd at Bitters Road and Highway 281 Since 1984, the local store had been locatedf in Central Park Mall, which is beinbg closed for redevelopment. Local firm Speegle:Architecture designer Petland's new digs.
Managing partner John Speegle says his firm utilizexdthe over-20-foot-high ceilings to create a very open and very interestinbg space in the 5,000-square-footy store. Check out the exposed structure with its lavendee colorwhen you're in there, he adds. • ROAM, the new open-air retail facility being developed in New recently signed on family business New Braunfela Smokehouse to be the exclusive food vendorfor ROAM'sw five concession areas. "We're very excite d to offer our shoppers and vendors premierefamily restaurant's food products and service," said Nick Chapman, president of ROAM Open Air in a prepared statement. ROAM will open on 1.