Older San Antonio hoods are attracting buyers

Older neighborhoods draw buyers looking for the next trendy historic area
Jennifer Hiller
Express-News Business Writer

Most San Antonio home buyers head straight to the suburbs.

Others go on a more elusive search: trying to identify the next King William or Monte Vista.

Ohlenbusch and Alvarado say the St. Cecilia area is one of a few places where it's still affordable to buy and renovate or restore a historic home, like this one on Castillo Street.

Interest in San Antonio's older neighborhoods is picking up, in part because of rising gas prices, traffic congestion and a desire for distinctive architecture.

But with home prices skyrocketing in some of the city's original suburbs, some buyers are turning to other neighborhoods where entry-level homes can still be had for a song — and maybe a lot of elbow grease.

Buyers, architects and real estate agents looking for the next big thing are targeting neighborhoods that include Mahncke Park, Government Hill, Alta Vista, Beacon Hill, Lavaca, Tobin Hill, Woodlawn Heights and Olmos Park Terrace.

For entry-level buyers, the homes there represent a more realistic option than the high-end homes in Alamo Heights, Olmos Park, Terrell Hills, King William or Monte Vista — a few of the neighborhoods where sales prices can be hundreds of thousands of dollars higher.

Many real estate professionals point to the Broadway corridor south of Hildebrand Avenue as an area primed for renewal.

Nearby, developers have started turning the 22-acre Pearl Brewery into a mixed-use urban village. Also along Broadway, the refurbishing of the old Butter Krust bakery into C.H. Guenther & Son's headquarters, an expansion proposed at the Witte Museum and the construction of a high-rise condominium on the site of the former Earl Abel's are helping drive interest in the area's neighborhoods.

Prices have already spiked in Mahncke Park, located off Broadway near the San Antonio Botanical Garden, but there are still a few deals to be found there — if a buyer wants to do a lot of work on a house, real estate agents say.

Sales prices in Government Hill, farther south off Broadway and near Fort Sam Houston, are much lower, said Julie Hooper, owner of King William Realty.

Government Hill has been on the brink of a comeback for some time. It was designated as historic by the city and lately has attracted local artists as buyers. But neighborhood revitalization is rarely a smooth and rapid process.

"Hopefully it will be a natural progression now," Hooper said. "There are some fine houses there."

Architects, contractors and real estate professionals say excellent architecture — or "good bones" — is one thing that helps older or historic neighborhoods attract new buyers.

Most people attribute Monte Vista's continued popularity to its housing stock — large, unique homes built primarily of rock and brick in the Spanish Eclectic, Craftsman and Colonial Revival styles.

Mike Idrogo, a real estate agent with Bradfield Properties, said the historic designation in 1975 helped improve property values in the neighborhood.

Now he sees the same thing happening in Monticello Park.

Monticello Park, west of Interstate 10 and off Fredericksburg Road, recently was designated a historic district. It includes Art Moderne, Spanish Eclectic and Gothic Revival homes built in the 1920s and 1930s.

"It hasn't really kicked up like Monte Vista," Idrogo said. "There's still some you can get deals on."

Pat Howell, a real estate agent with Bradfield Properties, also likes Woodlawn Heights, near the Monticello Park Historic District.

"They look real similar to little Olmos Park homes, but they haven't been touched yet, which is really good," Howell said. "I try to get my investors to look over in that area. I think it might take a while to catch on, but I love the homes."

Howell also said buyers can still find reasonable prices and good architecture in Olmos Park Terrace, northwest of Olmos Park, but they have to move quickly.

Liz Chiego, a real estate agent with the Phyllis Browning Co., said Monte Vista's popularity is helping drive renovation in the neighborhoods that fringe it.

"There's a proximity to downtown, and gas prices are very high," she said.
Edward Alanis, also with the Phyllis Browning Co., said prices in nearby Alta Vista and Beacon Hill are moving higher and that homes are moving off the market at or near asking price. Alta Vista is near San Antonio College and San Pedro Park, and Beacon Hill is west of Monte Vista.
Buyers also are looking to renovate and remodel in Tobin Hill, south of Monte Vista.

"People seem to be proud of them even if they're in terrible condition," he said. "To get a deal you may have to spend tens of thousands of dollars in renovation."

Darryl Ohlenbusch, an architect who lives in Lavaca, which is near King William, recently purchased a 90-year-old Craftsman-style home in the neighborhood near St. Cecilia Church.
Ohlenbusch and others describe the St. Cecilia area, south of Lavaca and King William near Roosevelt Park, as a once-middle-class neighborhood that declined in the 1960s because of nearby freeway construction.

"It's beautiful housing stock," he said. "I don't think the noise is really an issue."
Ohlenbusch, his mother, an aunt and other friends recently have bought homes in the neighborhood and started renovations. He and his business partner, contractor Robert Alvarado, say it's one of a few areas where it's still affordable to buy and renovate or restore a historic home.

"After King William it was Lavaca; after Lavaca it was St. Cecilia," Ohlenbusch said.
There's an inherent risk in buying a home in a neighborhood that might — or might not — be on the fringe of a comeback.

But buyers can take comfort in this: The King William Historic District, which houses some of San Antonio's best residential architecture gems, was famously forgotten for several decades. Its Victorian, Greek Revival and Italian villa homes declined with neglect, then were rediscovered in the 1960s.

This year's average sales price: $139 per square foot, with many homes in the half-million-dollar range.
jhiller@express-news.net
Portions © 2006 KENS 5 and the San Antonio Express-News.