Studio Open Hours
10am-5pm

Elected Officials, Planning Staff, Boards and Commissioners
2-4:30pm

Opening Presentation
(note different location)
6-8pm

ALL ACTIVITIES OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

December 4, 2007 -- Tonight at the Westin Riverwalk, world renowned planner and architect Andres Duany offers a glimpse of what to expect over the next week of intensive planning for the Urban Real Estate Group’s 300-acre property south of the former Windsor Park Mall. Interested residents and officials of Northeast San Antonio are expected to attend this opening-night presentation of the weeklong charrette led by Duany and his firm, Duany Plater-Zyberk & Co (DPZ). The program begins at 6 p.m. in the Westin Riverwalk’s Navarro Ballroom.

“This is going to be an interesting week,” said Duany. “There’s never been a project quite like this.” The challenge, he feels, is to make a place where both the young techies employed by Rackspace Managed Hosting, which has a long-term lease on the old mall property, and retired folks in the area can find common ground.

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Duany’s team arrived Monday midday and almost immediately climbed aboard a bus for an orientation tour of Windcrest and downtown San Antonio. Joining them were officials from both cities to help the architects and planners get a feel for the region’s architectural traditions and its current challenges. Among stops on the tour: Windcrest parcels controlled by the Urban Real Estate Group and others; the former Windsor Park Mall; historic La Villita in downtown San Antonio; the city’s famed Riverwalk; and the Rio Perla project, also in the downtown area.

“What we plan for the Northeast,” said Duany, “must deliver a similar experience as those popular places in San Antonio’s downtown. But it must also be distinct.”

The DPZ team is setting up a studio in Windcrest’s Civic Center. Over the course of the next week, the designers and engineers Duany has selected will listen to local folks and their elected officials, then create a plan for the Urban Real Estate Group’s property.

Gary Cain, principal of the Urban Real Estate Group, picked Duany for the job because the architect and town planner is known for creating appealing mixed-use communities of the kind Cain envisions for his group’s 300 acres. The developer was first to greet Duany when he arrived on Monday.

“The most fun I’ve had so far,” said Cain, “is the time I spent with Andres on Monday, taking him around and showing him places I know. I learned a lot. Spending even a little tine with Andres teaches you to dream bigger, to realize what can be possible. This is going to be a great week.”

For the full week’s schedule of events, go here.