A proposal to bring a 120-room hotel, 164-unit apartment complex and retail to an area cradled by San Marcos’ historic districts will go before the Planning and Zoning Commission on April 12.
Arqeo, a Philadelphia-based real estate development firm, purchased the Lamar Annex, on the 500 block of Hutchison Street, in 2014.
Arqeo CEO David Lerman said his team is “energized” by San Marcos. The Square, the San Marcos River and the historic neighborhoods have created an environment that is unique throughout the nation, he said.
“San Marcos is the real deal,” he said. “That’s the magic we see, feel and experience. That was the draw to San Marcos.”
Lerman said he is hoping to have the project, named Lindsey Hill, blend with the historic area, not change it.
“We can’t be perceived as a foreign element that is trying to be implanted into the community,” Lerman said. “This has to be comfortable to the community.”
Lerman and his business partner, Mark Berins, began meeting with nearby residents in early 2016 to discuss the project. Lerman said he and Berins sought out the leaders of the community to get input on the proposal.
That search led them to the home of Amy Meeks, who lives about three blocks from the proposed development. What was supposed to be a small meeting between the developers and a few of Meeks neighbors turned into about a dozen people in Meeks’ kitchen, she said.
Cathy Dillon, owner of the Crystal River Inn on Hopkins Street, attended that informal meeting and said she is wary of the threat the proposal poses to the surrounding neighborhood. Its character will be forever altered if the proposal goes through, she said.
“I really feel like it’s the Trojan horse, the earthquake that’s going to launch the tsunami, because honest to goodness, these homeowners put the earth into keeping these houses gorgeous,” Dillon said. “It really is one of San Marcos’ chief elegant areas to look at.”
Meeks, said she would prefer to see the site developed with townhouses or be turned into a public park. The current proposal is too dense for the area it would be located, she said.
“I would love a cool development,” Meeks said. “A lot of us say, ‘That sounds really neat. We would love to have that in San Marcos [but] just not at that site.’ We think it’s the wrong place to put it.”
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The commercial elements of the proposal also give Dillon pause, she said. Potential issues, including noise and cars seeking parking in front of nearby homes are of concern to her, she said.
If residences in the historic district begin being sold and replaced by commercial users—a change that would likely necessitate a P&Z hearing because of the zoning governing most of the historic district—it will be a slippery slope before the entire neighborhood becomes a business center, Dillon said.
“I just have this nightmare of standing at the corner of Scott Street and looking down this gorgeous old street and seeing commercialism down here,” she said.
The city’s preferred scenario map, which, as part of the comprehensive master plan, lays out what type of development should occur where, categorizes the Lindsey Hill property as an “area of stability.”
According to the comprehensive plan, being in an area of stability “does not mean that these areas should not or will not change. It means that any changes, whether new developments, zoning requests, or public improvements, should be carefully planned and implemented so that the character of the area remains.”
Lerman said he has listened to residents concerns about density, but if the project were less dense, sacrifices would have to be made to keep it viable. Poet’s Corner, a planned public meeting space near trees at the property’s corner near the intersection of Hutchison and Moore Street, would likely have to be eliminated, he said. Trees would probably also be removed, he said.
“[If we sacrifice aspects of the proposal] then I don’t have the pride of an artistic creation that I do from the other plan,” Lerman said. “So we need the density.
“We’re not normal real estate developers. Normal real estate developers say, ‘You have 5 acres? Jam as much as you possibly can into this site that physically can happen and will be allowed by traditional zoning principles.’ We didn’t say that. We’re trying to create a unique experience here.”
The project is seeking a planned development district designation from P&Z. If approved April 12, the proposal would go before City Council for discussion and two readings. If approved by City Council, Lerman estimated it would take about 18 months to build the project.
