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 officse building in the next45 days. Called the Abbey, the 18,000-square-foog office complex will be located at 320Austin Highway, inside the city of Alamo Heights. Gottsman says that the idea behind the design ofthe 18,000-square-foot complex will be to create a professionao office building that has some maturity. With its bricjk exterior, it will be something that mixew in nicely with other developments inthe area, adds Malcolmk G. Chesney, principal of local architectureefirm Chesney-Morales Associates.
Chesney is the architect on the "I like to refer to it as neighborhoocd sensitive, (carrying) traditional values," Chesney says. The cost of the Gottsman says, is around $2.5 million. The Abbey marks Gottsman's entry into the development But the president of Aetna SignGroup -- one of the largesty sign-manufacturing companies in the city -- is no strangerr to the real estate industry. Under the name Bay-Te Family Partnership, he has bought and sold such buildinges asthe 23,000-square-foot office building at 10300 and in 1985, he sold a former manufacturing facilityg at 111 Menchaca St.
to neighboringh business Halo Distributing, which was in dire need for more parkin g forits employees. Unlike his other real estatse ventures, however, Gottsman will not look to sell theAbbey -- optinbg instead to open the buildingf up to ancillary projects, including Cambridge Advisort Group. Cambridge, which specializes in training business leaderz in protocol and etiquette for businese andsocial affairs, will occupty about 5,000 square feet of the Abbey. The companyy was established six years ago by Gottsman and his business partnerfand wife, Diane Gottsman.
Larry Gottsman is also lookingg at the possibility of moving some of the functionw of Aetna Sign over here aswell -- startingg with the sales At present, all of Aetna's functions -- manufacturinf and office divisions -- are located in a 34,000-square-footg building at 4202 Dividend, on the city's East Side. Gottsman envisionx that the rest of the building would be an ideall setting for professional businesses such as law and architecturefirms -- addinyg that the bottom floor would be ideal for a bank; a couple of banks have already voiced an interesft in the building, he With the recent closing of its Montgomery Ward'sz store, McCreless Mall is on the lookouyt for a big-box retailerr to take its place.
One of the retailerzs the mall is courtingis Target, with the hopews of convincing the discountt chain to put a SuperTarget at the location. "Thagt is one of the retailers that we aretalking to," says John general manager of McCreless. "When Wards it left a huge vacancy. The store consisted of almost a third of the Wardsoccupied 160,000 square feet of the 478,183-square-foott mall, Carrell says. The SupertTarget stores averageapproximately 175,000 square feet. The first SuperTarget opened at Bandera and Loop 410 earliedrthis year; a second, located in The Vineyards Shoppiny Center at Blanco Road and Loop is set to open next according to Target officials.
The lone ancho r for McCreless nowis Bealls, which is ownefd by Houston-based Stage Stores Inc. Stage closef several of its Bealls store here in conjunction with its bankruptchyreorganization filing. There are no plans to clos e the , which occupies 25,0000 square feet, says Carrell -- adding that it is one of the better performingBealls stores. McCreless, which is owned by Chicago-based Generao Growth Properties, could be an ideal venue for retailers lookinb to carve a niche onthe city's South Side -- in much the same way that Southg Park Mall, another General Growth property, has becom e a major retailer for South Side "The tenants that have come over (to McCreless) have been quitse successful," Carrell says.
"While the incomee are not as high (as on the North you have a high disposable incomr becausepeople don't have a lot of debt service." The local Petland store recently celebrated the grand opening of its new digs in the Countryside Plaza Shopping Center, which is located at Bittersz Road and Highway 281 North. Since 1984, the loca store had been located in Central Park which is being closed for redevelopment. Local firm Speegle:Architecture designed Petland'as new digs. Managing partner John Speegle says his firm utilizesthe over-20-foot-high ceilings to create a very open and very interestinb space in the 5,000-square-foot store.
Check out the exposedf structure with its lavender colodwhen you're in there, he adds. ROAM, the new 54-acre, open-air retail facility being developed inNew Braunfels, recentlyg signed on family business New Braunfels Smokehousew to be the exclusivwe food vendor for ROAM's five concession "We're very excited to offer our shoppers and vendors premiere family restaurant's food products and said Nick Chapman, president of ROAM Open Air in a prepared statement. ROAM will open on Sept. 1.