Developer acquires site for 750,000-squarefoot
A local developer known for thinking big has laid the ground work for his next "adventure."
Mark Granados recently announced plans for his firm's latest retail development: Bulverde Market. The project will span 113 acres of land off of Bulverde Road, just south of Loop 1604 on the city's far North Central Side. "It's another little adventure," quips Granados, who is the managing partner in the San Antonio office of HPI Real Estate Services. The planned Bulverde Market will encompass roughly 750,000 square feet of retail development, says Granados, who adds that his firm is in "active negotiations with a large anchor tenant" for the project. "The response from retailers so far has been incredible," Granados says. "There's lots of people here, lots of traffic. The area is underserved." As part of its plans for Bulverde Market, HPI will also be expanding two major roads in the area: Bulverde Road, which will be extended to Wetmore; and Red Land, which HPI plans to connect with Classen. Granados says he began quietly working on this development about a year ago. And while naysayers doubted that he would be able to pull the deal off, the developer says "can't" was never a word that came to mind. "We always knew we were going to do this," he says. HPI bought the land from David Pape, a local rancher whose father, Elmer Pape, acquired the property back in 1940, according to Doug Pape, who is Elmer's great nephew and David's cousin. In all, the original ranch spanned about 433 acres, says Doug Pape, who heads up locally based Pape Construction. Even with the closing of the land sale to Granados, David Pape still has 320 acres for his ranch. Eldon Pape, a local real estate broker and founder of Pape Construction, represented David Pape in the sale. Local brokers John R. Grieshaber, principal of Grieshaber Inc. Real Estate Brokers; and Phil Crane, a shareholder in Providence Commercial Real Estate Services, represented Granados in the deal. With development on all sides of the ranch -- and given the state of the local economy -- Doug Pape says his cousin felt this was the right time to sell some of that ranch land. The financial terms of the sale or the projected costs of the planned retail development were not divulged. Homes on the range Indeed, over the years, much of the land surrounding Pape's ranch has become a sea of rooftops. Over the last four years, the sector within a four-mile radius of the Loop 1604/Bulverde Road intersection has averaged about 1,200 new-home starts each year, according to Jack Inselmann, vice president of the U.S. Central Division of Metrostudy -- a leading provider of housing information. And that, says Kimberly S. Gatley, is the prime catalyst for a project like Bulverde Market. "Housing, housing, housing," says Gatley, who is the director of research for San Antonio firm NAI REOC Partners. "It's incredible to see and witness this housing growth on what used to be open ranch land." The Loop 1604/Bulverde Road intersection is the next logical retail niche, Inselmann says. Along Loop 1604, several retail hubs have been created, say Inselmann and Gatley. Retail developments like Northwoods and Legacy have made the Loop 1604/U.S. Highway 281 intersection a major hot spot. Travel east along Loop 1604, and you hit another major retail niche: The Loop 1604/Interstate Highway 35 intersection, which supports retail projects like The Forum at Olympia Parkway and The Fountains at Live Oak -- the latter another HPI project. "And smack dab in the middle (of these two niches) you have the (Loop) 1604/Bulverde (Road) intersection," Gatley says. "(Bulverde Market) is providing that next sector of commercial services," Inselmann adds. Road less traveled So just what retailers will Granados bring to Bulverde Market? With his past projects, Granados has snagged high-profile names such as Wal-Mart, Best Buy and Alamo Draft House. He has also managed to strike gold in areas that others may have overlooked. Case in point is City Base Landing. The development is located on the grounds of Brooks City-Base on the city's Southeast Side -- an area that for many years retailers shied away from. The 570,000-square-foot retail project is now 100 percent leased. In North Central San Antonio, HPI's retail projects include Park North, which is being created on the grounds of what was once Central Park Mall. At the end of the day, that project will span 1.2 million square feet along Loop 410, between Blanco Road and San Pedro Avenue. These days, many see Park North as the ticket for bringing some new life to this stretch of Loop 410 -- especially some new night life. A few years ago, however, many were wondering if Granados would even pull the project off. "People saying we're nuts is validation for us," Granados says. "Our goal is to see things people don't see." And while some may wonder if Granados can take some ranch land and turn it into his next retail power house, Gatley, for one, believes that Bulverde Market stands a strong chance of being one of the city's next retail hot spots. "Granados has proven his ability to make the not-so-obvious deals work," she adds.
