The Broadway Condominiums, (with surrounding buildings "rendered" gone), which now stands on the corner below where the Earl Abel's sign was.
The gas station and the pink house are now a new Wachovia branch building. Overhead utility lines are to be buried per plans.
When the iconic landmark 1933 Earl Abel's restaurant was sold to developers Red McCombs and Dean Koontz in 2006 for around $4 million, it probably made some sense to develop a 20 story condo building at the corner of Broadway and Hildebrand where one bedroom units would start at $500K. After all, the economy was flush, the now dead WAMU was given a $35 million tax incentive to save San Antonio, housing prices were sci-fi high, and Californians were prowling our streets hunting for investment property. In other words, shit didn't stink.
But now, as we approach the end of the world as we know it, we hear all sorts of rumours about whether this project is going to be completed, how many units are already sold, etc. etc. Until we throw on some new threads and borrow a buddy's Jaguar XJ we can't approach the sales office, but we'll do some more digging. The signs on the tower promise an early 2010 completion date. When The Broadway was proposed, area residents protested the construction of such a tall building but there's no stopping Red, and although I'm sure he's a lovely billioniare, Mess still is pissed about the Cadillac Seville he had advertised that somehow, despite repeated e-mails, calls and visits to several of his locations, never materialized. But I digress.
It will be interesting to watch how many of the 94 units, which range from $500K to 3 million, will sell in today's market. And although I think Cheesy Jane's makes the best burgers and fries in the city, I would not personally shell out that kind of money for the pleasure of smelling their exhaust fan (lower floor downtown facing apartments might), unless of course Red can tear it down so everything around The Broadway looks pretty for the buyers who may never materialize.......like that Seville.
My two centavos: SA is known as a 'historic' town and they will do anything for the tourist rather than the citizens. Earl Abel's was an iconic site, though not as famous as the Alamo. But what Red wants Red gets and if he wants an eyesore where no one else wants one, more power to him! It's also curious to note that the Broadway does not complement any of the neighbourhood. It's almost as bad as the Main Plaza fiasco, but that's another can of tourist worms!
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