(Seguin) — The redevelopment of the Wells Fargo building in the heart of downtown Seguin is continuing to gain steam. The city approved the purchase of the building last summer and closed on the property earlier this year. It also hired Andrew Douglas, of TBA Douglas Architects, who is helping the city develop a process that will lead them to a qualified developer, who can help to redevelop the property, which covers a full city block at the corner of Nolte and Austin streets.
Seguin Economic Development Director Josh Schneuker on Tuesday asked the Seguin City Council to continue the city’s relationship with TBA Douglas Architects and allow the firm to move into the next phase of this work.
“Before you tonight is the resolution authorizing a continuation of work with TBA Douglas. They are the consultants that we are working on with the Wells Fargo redevelopment project on. Phase 4 is focused on the request for qualifications and the request for proposals portion of this and this will probably be the most important part of this project here. So TBA Douglas will be helping with preparing those documents, issuing them, helping us go through the review process and all of that stuff. We will be slated to get that process started here later on this summer and should be wrapping up as we go into the fall — at the end of the year with final selections on that,” said Schneuker.
Schneuker says this is a critical piece of the city’s hope to find the right developer to turn the property into something special for the future of downtown Seguin.
“Total cost for Phase 4 services is in the amount not to exceed $159,953.85 and don’t forget that the expenditures that we are making to TBA Douglas are being offset by the lease revenue that we are now taking in as the landlord of the Wells Fargo property so just FYI, so far since we’ve closed on the property, we have knocked on the door of about $72,000 in lease revenue on that already so that’s helping to offset a pretty substantial chunk of the cost associated with this, “said Schneuker.
There are a number of possibilities that have been identified for the redevelopment of the Wells Fargo property. Those possibilities include things like retail space, a hotel, conference rooms, town homes, restaurants and more. It also would include enhancing parking in that area. The city used a lengthy public engagement process to listen to the things that the citizens wanted for the downtown area. This next step will help them seek proposals from developers who would present their vision for the project, as part of a competitive process. The city spent $2.5 million on the property to help control its future use.