(Seguin) — The potential redevelopment of the Wells Fargo building in downtown Seguin is being called a game changer for the community.
The Seguin City Council on Tuesday reciceved an update on the city’s plan to partner with a developer to create what would be a major addition to the downtown historic district. The city agreed to purchase the building for $2.5 million last year, and officially closed on the property earlier this year. It hired Andrew Douglas, of TBA Douglas Architects, to lead the city through a process that will lead them to a qualified developer, who can complete the project.
Douglas says a big part of this work has been a series of public engagement meetings, where community members had the chance to weigh-in on what they would like to see in that space, and also how the overall project should be developed.
They shared several possibilities for the full-city block that’s now available for redevelopment. Those possibilities included things, like retail space, a hotel, conference rooms, townhomes, restaurants and more. Douglas says they had a great turnout for each of those meetings, and there was lots of helpful feedback on the future of that building.
‘Ninety-five percent of the community said, ‘We’ve got to preserve the buildings’ and so that was great. There was an understanding that there is an appreciation for the history of the city and the preservation that has gone on for all these years and that the Nolte Building and the old post office structure will be preserved and incorporated in the development plan and whatever is developed next to it, needs to be developed where it is compatbile. Then, we talked about signage and graphics and public art and how that’s important in this day in age of Instagrams and just authoenticy and making sure that the developer that comes in is sensitive to these sort of details that is really going to make this development different than the vanilla box type of retail that we see in other parts of Texas,” said Douglas. ‘
Douglas says each meeting had a slightly different focus. He says that ultimately allowed them to develop a clearer picture of what the community wants to see. He says there were several themes that emerged from that process.
“The five (key) points (are) mixed use developments. So, (they want) a variety of uses. There was a real focus on outdoor space and public space. We talked about corridor space and we talked about the (city) plaza. A big, big focus that builds from all your other plans previously — retail in the downtown on the first floor. Hotel was actually ranked very high. In terms of all the major programs, hotel ranked the highest. Conference rooms and rooftop amenities are something that was brought up quite a bit from the community. Quality building — it needs to be done right, with good materiality to it. So, that’s going to be something that we pickup in the PUD. The quality streetscape, which we’ve talked about, and the signage/graphics and the public art intergration (are all important). Of course, the garage — and the garage not looking like a garage, so that nobody would know that there’s really a garage there, but there is a garage there. So, that will be an important component,” said Douglas.
The input from the community is a critical piece to moving this forward, and ultimately finding the right developer for this project. He says every bit of that will be shared, so that developers know that they need to meet this vision if they want to be considered for this project.
“As we go along in this process, we are putting together a little book and this book is going to be the exhibit that is going to be used by the develper so they can understand all the hardwork that’s been done by this community and by our team to really set this up. This is going to be a way to market out to the business community, to the developer community because they want to know if the community is behind this concept, this idea and I would say that with all the public input, that it is and there’s a great vision in place that is going to have a profound impact on your downtown,” said Douglas.
Douglas not only provided the council with an update on the work that’s already been done, but he also laid out the next steps for this process.
“We are going to finish up the PUD development standards. We are working on those right now. We are taking a lot of this visual imagery along with deveopment standards — we are printing an outline. This PUD document will have some visuals to go with it, some exhibits. It will make it real clear to the developer the spirit of what this is all about. So, we will be working on that and half-way through the PUD development, working with the city on devleoping those standards, we are going to start the RFQ process for request for qualifciations. We will go out and advertisde this in late August and then, we will start moving towards a short list of probably three to four groups and then we will do interviews and those groups we will actually have come back with proposed ideas. So, they will come back with their proposed ideas along with the Pro Forma of how they will actually make the deal work.
Those are going to be very important things to evaluate when you make your final decision. But I think we are in a great position. I think we’ve got this teed up in a way that is very attractive. We’ve already heard a lot of buzz out there in the devleoper community about the project and I think it’s going to be a real game changer for your community,” said Douglas.
The PUD, or public utility district, that was mentioned by Douglas is vital part of the city getting the kind of development that people say that they want for downtown Seguin. Mayor Donna Dodgen prompted Douglas to better explain why the PUD was so important. He says it will provide clarity to the developer about the overal expecations for the development of that area.
“It’s a public utlitiy district and it’s a special — some would call it an overlay. But it’s not an overlay — it’s special development criteria for the site. So, it is set apart from all the rest of the downtown in terms of the criteria of how this site can be developed. So, it’s going to stipulate some very specific criteria that aligns with what the community gave us input on,” said Douglas.
City Manager Steve Parker says he’s been impressed by the work of the architectural firm. He says they clearly know their stuff, and they’ll been very helpful in moving this work forward. Parker says he is also encouraged by the community interest that’s been shown in this concept. He says a diverse group showed up for each meeting, and people were actively engaged in finding a way to bring a quality project to downtown Seguin.
“When you look at the community outreach we had, I was really impressed with the diversity of the new people. Usually, you think the downtown business owners are all going to be showing up. That was not the case this time. There was a lot of new residnets there that I have never seen before come to the public meetings and I love thier passion and their interest in our community and the feedback that they were able to give us. There’s still a few people out there that didn’t think that Seguin was worthy of this but when you look at the number — you talk about a hotel — will that really work in downtown Seguin? We have a lot of businesses that come into Seguin and they stay in New Braunfels and they eat dinner. This is the one thing that is really a game changer. You get that hotel, you are going to get a nice restaurant. You hear that all the time. So, it is a catalyst project and I think it is a projec that will really transform downtown but we’ve got to do it smart. That’s the one thing that we’ve heard is keeping the history and the beauty of what makes our downtown so special,” said Parker.
Parker says again stressed that the city owns the building, but that purchase was made to make sure that this community asset was projected and developed in a way that was beneficial to everyone. He says the city isn’t going to build or manage whatever happens at that space. They simply have created a process that will allow the community to provide the framework for the developer to follow once they start seeking request for qualitifications from potential developers who are interested in the project.
“This is not the city building a hotel in downtown. This is partnering in a partnership and being in control of a destiny of getting something that would really be a game changer for our community in the long run. If you look at a nice restaurant, they bring in $100,000 in sales tax a year plus if you have a nice restaurant down there. The hotel/motel tax that would be paid for by outside visitors that would come into our downtown and we would stop some of that retail loss that leaves our community each and every day,” said Parker.
Wells Fargo announced last year that it was leaving the building, and moving into a space on State Highway 123, in front of Wal-Mart. That would have effectively left a large portion of the building vacant. The city stepped in to make sure that there was more public input on what would happen with the future of the building.