The building’s facade will be an explosion of bright colors with an old Mexican motif.  Inside there will be rows of retail stalls , kiosks, a food court, retail stores, children’s indoor and outdoor play areas, a 10,000 square foot restaurant, and even an auto service center.  Retail ”stalls” start at $375 per month and require a six month lease.  The smallest stalls start at 10 x 10 feet and tenants have the options to grow with their business. 

What makes this project architecturaly unique is the fact that the 130,000 square-foot building that will house this new development was previously a Wal-mart that had been vacant about 4 years.  This notion of adaptive reuse and it’s approach to Architecture not only helps to revitalize urban city centers by bringing back commerce and business to vacant and abandoned properties, it also provides a considerable amount of cost savings on the developer’s end.  Thirty percent of the energy used over the lifetime of a building is spent on the initial construction.  Reusing a building allows for reduced energy costs for construction. 

Pica Pica is scheduled to open in July 2012

We are currently looking into techniques of exposing the steel. These can range from painting, sand-blasting, to sealing the steel. Depending on the aesthetics of the interior, we will work with the owners to achieve the look suitable for the restaurant.

If you would like to learn more about this please visit the Samaritan Purse site. Also below you will find a story of children in the Philippines. SA Partnership is glad and hopeful about making a difference in the lives of these children.

Sameritan Purse Site

 

 (direct link)

Simple Gifts

God uses Operation Christmas Child to touch the lives of Philippine children living in dire conditions.

It smells so strongly of trash and cow dung at the big garbage dump outside of Manila that most people hold handkerchiefs to their noses to block some of the smell. No one wants to visit this area. Muck swallows shoes, leaving people barefoot in the smelly mess.

And yet there are people who live and work here.

These people are lower-class Filipinos. They collect bottles and other pieces of trash to sell. Their houses sit right on the edge of the dump site and are made of trash. While most people crinkle their noses and want to leave, the dump people smile and laugh while the brown concoction on the ground squishes deeper in between their toes.

The children in this area are quiet but happy. Boys run shirtless through small patches of grass with a soccer ball. Girls watch and giggle in their crisp, white school blouses and plaid skirts. They’ve just finished a day of school and walked home under the hot and sticky June sun.

Today, the smiles are a little wider. On the walk home, the children cradle Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes underneath their elbows.

This was a special day at school, a day of surprises. Although the teachers had tried to keep it a secret, the children had found out that they would receive gifts, and they were excited. Before she received her shoe box, 8-year-old Joy listed the things she wanted.

“School supplies … slippers … a pencil case … a pencil … anything that can be used for writing … and shoes.”

She paused between each item as if she was afraid to say that she wanted more than one thing. Only after being prompted did she continue her list.

Nine-year-old Ralph slowly listed what he wanted, too.

“School supplies, school bag, a T-shirt, shoes and socks.”

All of these are simple things that most American children take for granted. But in impoverished areas like this one, school supplies and basic clothing make a huge difference.

“Education is the only way out,” said Marlin, pastor of the church that arranged the shoe box distribution at the school. “OCC will make a difference for them.”

With new school supplies, the children will have more opportunities in class. But the shoe boxes don’t just offer physical items to make life better for children. The gifts also present an opportunity to learn about the Gospel.

That’s exactly what Ralph did. When he accepted his gift, he also accepted Christ. As he kicks a soccer ball to a friend, his smile isn’t just because of his new toys. Now he has found God’s love.

Ralph and his friends were offered “The Greatest Gift of All” booklet with their gifts, which explains the story of Christ and salvation through Him. Ralph said he is excited to learn more about Jesus. He is blessed because his mother is also a Christian, and she taught him about Christ even before he believed.

Joy also received the booklet, but she didn’t look at it as soon as she received it. She said she wanted to look at it later. When she reads “The Greatest Gift of All,” there is hope that she too will find Christ’s love.

At the end of the day, the smiling faces at the dump pick up their last bottles and throw them into bags. Then they walk the short distance to their houses.

Children have finished playing soccer and are helping to prepare the evening meal. Over dinner, they will talk about their day at school. Parents will see every gift in the shoe boxes, and they, too, will hear about how Jesus loves them.

 

 

Boiler House Grill and Wine Garden: Raw Space, Surroundings from Lasco Enterprises on Vimeo.

We want to thank Lasco Enterprise for the video footage provided. As described in the video, development surrounding future Boiler House Grille & Wine Garden is underway. Everything from residential to restaurants are being constructed in the area. Soon, locals will be able to walk the site as if it was a large park. Local boutiques, restaurants, and shops will be available and soon become a San Antonio destination. The river that runs through the downtown skyline has now been stretched to the Pearl District. Lush green trees and vegetation surround the river creating a very soothing atmosphere leading up to Pearl. The Pearl District is well established with recent new construction of the Full Goods building, the home of many new businesses and institutions, the Culinary Institute and Aveda Institute.  These established businesses help create a destination for those intrigued in great style and food. On weekends as many already know is the farmers market where you can find the freshest ingredients. Now that we are rounding towards Halloween, its only right to mention the spooky “Nightmare on Grayson St.” a haunted house that puts chills in everyone’s holiday spirits! As you can see, the development here at Pearl is just beginning and soon will become a destination for many to experience.

For more information on the Boiler House Grill & Wine Garden, visit their site at http://www.theboilerhousesa.com/

Located in San Juan, TX the project is underway. Construction officially started about 1-month ago where in illustrations show foundation and framework erected as of today. The dealership is located off of US-83 on a flat site surrounded by palm trees. This site gets great visibility as it is adjacent to the frontage rd of the highway. The building’s square footage totals at 25,397 where the main Audi showroom takes up 4,159 sqft, the sales floor area at 6,455 sqft, and parts and service at 11,475 sqft. The building interior does have a second floor where the owners have opted to save for a future construction phase.

The design of the Audi dealership is broken into 3 rectangle volumes. The first volume is located south is the service department. Here lies men’s and women’s locker rooms and restrooms as well as 11 mechanical service bays inside the large service workshop. Employee break room and service employee offices are located adjacent to the open service workshop making it a very efficient functional space. The second volume  separates between both the service and show room. Located on the west end is the service reception where cars can be pulled up by customers. As customers drop their car off for service/inspection they walk east inside the lobby/waiting area where soft furniture allows customers to relax while waiting. More offices occupy this space both on the first and second floor. As we head east in this area, a parts store and parts delivery is centrally located to service the workshop. The 3rd  volume is located on the northern side of the building. This space is occupied by the showroom and sales floor, a double height space with store-front glazing allows for visibility on all 3 sides. Though there is a lot of glass, this space was strategically located to minimize solar heat gain as the space faces north.

As construction progresses, we will continue to update the different construction phases of the project. Please stay tuned!

-Karen Haram, my SA Blog Journal

From the group that brought MAX’s Wine Dive to San Antonio comes a concept tailor-made for a renowned local landmark.
Houston-based Lasco Enterprises    has announced plans for a new restaurant at the Pearl Brewery redevelopment. Known as The Boiler House Grill and Wine Garden, the restaurant will be located in the building that still houses the boilers that were once crucial to the brewing process.
The restaurant will measure roughly 6,000 square feet. It will also boast a large outdoor patio. Items to be featured on the menu include wild game, seafood, lots of local ingredients, and even a late-night dining menu.
The Pearl Brewery is located just north of downtown. Thanks to locally based development firm Silver Ventures, the long-defunct brewery has been repositioned as one of San Antonio’s leading culinary, cultural and residential addresses.
Previous coups for the project include landing only the third Culinary Institute of America    campus in the U.S. And earlier this summer, Pearl restaurants The Sandbar Fish House & Market and Il Sogno Osteria took the No. 1 and the No. 3 spots, respectively, on New York-based Fearless Critic Media’s list of the Most Delicious Restaurants in San Antonio. Both restaurants are the creation of local chef Andrew Weissman.
The boiler building that will house Lasco’s newest concept dates back to the 1890s. It one of the three remaining original structures on the brewery site.
Lasco is taking great care to respect the history and original architectural features of the building. In fact, the original boilers are being incorporated into the design and construction of the bar and kitchen areas of The Boiler Room.
“We are thrilled to be opening at Pearl,” says Jerry Lasco, founder and CEO of Lasco Enterprises. “This development is well on its way to becoming one of the premier culinary and entertainment destinations in the country.”
“The Pearl development is intent on keeping its restaurants unique,” says Jonathan Horowitz, partner and vice president of marketing and communications for Lasco Enterprises. “So we created a concept to go into that space.”
Lasco entered the local dining scene this past October with MAX’s Wine Dive. The restaurant features an array of fine wines from all over the world, and gourmet food — served in an environment emulating the neighborhood dive bar. The restaurant is located at Quarry Village — a mixed-use development that features retail on the street level and a high-end multifamily community, known as The Artessa at Quarry Village, on the upper level. It is located on the city’s North Central Side.

-Tricia Lynn Silva, San Antonio Business Journal