San Antonio “Ghost Buildings” Renovated into Beautiful Mixed-Use Project by Lake|Flato Architects

In San Antonio's River North cultural arts district a mixed-use apartment building has blossomed from a plot of run-down vacant buildings. Spotted by our friend <a href="http://www.treehugger.com/green-architecture/lakeflato-architects-turn-ghost-buildings-gorgeous-urban-revitalization.html?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+treehuggersite+%28Treehugger%29">Lloyd Alter at Treehugger</a>, <a href="http://www.1221broadway.com/">1221 Broadway</a> is a great example of an urban <a href="http://inhabitat.com/index.php?s=adaptive+reuse">adaptive reuse</a> project that will end up transforming hundreds of lives. Designed by San Antonio-based architecture firm <a href="http://www.lakeflato.com/">Lake|Flato Architects</a>, the mixed-use housing project revitalizes a neighborhood just off the <a href="http://www.thesanantonioriverwalk.com/about/the-san-antonio-river-walk">San Antonio Riverwalk</a>.

Vacant since 2004, these heavily vandalized buildings had become a local “ghost town” full of transients and ripe with crime. The property was auctioned to new owners recently and developers AREA Real Estate brought in local design firms <a href="http://www.lakeflato.com/">Lake|Flato Architects</a> and <a href="http://www.ocoarchitects.com/">OCO Architects</a> to renovate the buildings into apartments, retail, and office spaces.

This creative design team reimagined the neglected property and came up with the simple solution of re-skinning the existing superstructure and connecting the site’s Broadway Street façade with retail and office use.

The project was divided into two phases. The 252,500-square-foot first phase reshaped the largest portion of the project. This block included the renovation of 300 existing apartments spread out among five courtyards.

The design effort also made the floor plans of the original apartments more efficient and <a href="http://inhabitat.com/dynamic-basket-apartments-is-a-healthy-sustainable-student-housing-project-in-paris/">sustainable</a>.

New pedestrian bridges connect the outdoor circulation spaces between the many apartment wings.

The new spaces within the project are wonderful adaptations of an existing superstructure. They retain industrial qualities, as if to expose the old bones of the vacant building and say that something great came from them.

<a href="http://www.lakeflato.com/projects/1221-broadway/?name=commercial.asp">Lake|Flato Architects</a> and OCO Architects have been awarded an AIA San Antonio Citation Award, a Builder’s Choice Award, a San Antonio Green Building Award, and many other honors for their work at reimagining these once vacant buildings.

The 78,500-square-foot second phase finished the existing eastern block’s apartments while incorporating retail and office space within the Broadway Street façade. The retail and office components breathe new life into the apartment complex at 1221 Broadway. <a href="http://inhabitat.com/waterfront-ijdock-mixed-use-complex-nearing-completion-in-amsterdam/">Mixed-use design</a> like this helps to keep neighborhoods walk-able.

This project is a catalyst to urban rejuvenation, and it will help to connect the northern parts of the San Antonio Riverwalk to the residential and commercial neighborhoods to the north.

Hopefully this project will serve as an example for many urban revitalization projects around the nation.