flexiblefullpage
billboard
interstitial1
catfish1
Currently Reading

San Antonio’s electric utility HQ to transform into a modern office building

Office Buildings

San Antonio’s electric utility HQ to transform into a modern office building

The $10 million renovation will create 100,000 square feet of office and retail space with views of the city’s famed River Walk.


By Novid Parsi, Contributing Editor | June 13, 2022
146 Navarro ext 1
Courtesy Gensler.

In San Antonio, Tex., the former headquarters of CPS Energy, the city’s electric utility, is slated to transform into 100,000 square feet of office and retail space on San Antonio’s famed River Walk. BH Properties recently released its $10 million renovation plan for 146 Navarro.

Constructed in 1987, 146 Navarro has not been updated in decades. With the renovation project, each of the building’s three 28,000-square-foot cantilevered floors of office space will undergo a complete transformation to meet the modern needs of multiple tenants. The design, created by Gensler, takes advantage of the nine-foot floor heights, 1,500-square-foot wraparound patios, and floor-to-ceiling windows offering unobstructed views of the River Walk and downtown San Antonio.  

Each of the three office levels will have large, open floorplates with private, stepped-back terraces overlooking the river. The office component will sit on top of the once-private seven-story garage, which will be opened to the public to provide more than 600 parking spaces. 

BH Properties will introduce about 20,000 square feet of street-level retail, including a two-story restaurant with views of the river. In addition to the restaurant and bar, the ground floor will be further activated with covered terraces connecting to the River Walk. An enhanced lobby will feature an extruded glass box and metal panels. And BH will create several individual 750- to 1,500-square-foot retail pods on a new pocket park plaza.

The design also will include spaces for murals. Concepts will be sourced through a public art competition organized with Centro San Antonio, a placemaking organization focused on downtown San Antonio.

 

Building Team:

Owner and developer: BH Properties

Design architect: Gensler

MEP engineer: Alderson & Associates, Inc.

Structural engineer: Architectural Engineers Collaborative

Landscaping: MP Studio

General contractor/construction manager: Skanska

146 Navarro ext 2
Courtesy Gensler.
146 Navarro ext 3
Courtesy Gensler.

 

Related Stories

| May 11, 2011

DOE releases guide for 50% more energy-efficient office buildings

The U.S. Department of Energy today announced the release of the first in a new series of Advanced Energy Design Guides to aid in the design of highly energy efficient office buildings. The 50% AEDG series will provide a practical approach to commercial buildings designed to achieve 50% energy savings compared to the commercial building energy code used in many areas of the country.

| May 10, 2011

Google hires Ingenhoven Architects to design new Mountain View office

The current Googleplex is straining at the seams and yet the company is preparing its biggest hiring surge ever, so Google decided now’s the time to build its own office space—a first for the Internet giant. The company hired Ingenhoven Architects, a German firm that specializes in sustainable architecture, to create plans for what could be a 600,000-sf office.

| Apr 13, 2011

Office interaction was the critical element to Boston buildout

Margulies Perruzzi Architects, Boston, designed the new 11,460-sf offices for consultant Interaction Associates and its nonprofit sister organization, The Interaction Institute for Social Change, inside an old warehouse near Boston’s Seaport Center.

| Apr 13, 2011

Red Bull Canada HQ a mix of fluid spaces and high-energy design

The Toronto architecture firm Johnson Chou likes to put a twist on its pared-down interiors, and its work on the headquarters for Red Bull Canada is no exception. The energy drink maker occupies 12,300 sf on the top two floors of a three-story industrial building in Toronto, and the design strategy for its space called for leaving the base building virtually untouched while attention was turned to the interior architecture.

| Apr 13, 2011

Former department store gets new lease on life as MaineHealth HQ

The long-vacant Sears Roebuck building in Portland, Maine, was redeveloped into the corporate headquarters for MaineHealth. Consigli Construction and local firm Harriman Architects + Engineers handled the 14-month fast-track project, transforming the 89,000-sf, four-story facility for just $100/sf.

| Mar 29, 2011

Chicago’s Willis Tower to become a vertical solar farm

Chicago’s iconic Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower) is set to become a massive solar electric plant with the installation of a pilot solar electric glass project.

| Mar 29, 2011

Read up on Amazon.com's new green HQ

Phase IV of Amazon’s new headquarters in Seattle is nearly complete. The company has built 10 of the 11 buildings planned for its new campus in the South Lake Union neighborhood, and is on-track for a 2013 grand opening.

| Mar 11, 2011

Blockbuster remodel transforms Omaha video store into a bank

A former Hollywood Video store in Omaha, Neb., was renovated and repurposed as the SAC Federal Credit Union, Ames Branch. Architects at Leo A Daly transformed the outdated 5,000-sf retail space into a modern facility by wrapping the exterior in poplar siding and adding a new glass storefront that floods the interior with natural light.

| Mar 11, 2011

Chicago office building will serve tenants and historic church

The Alter Group is partnering with White Oak Realty Partners to develop a 490,000-sf high-performance office building in Chicago’s West Loop. The tower will be located on land owned by Old St. Patrick’s Church (a neighborhood landmark that survived the Chicago Fire of 1871) that’s currently being used as a parking lot.

| Mar 9, 2011

Hoping to win over a community, Facebook scraps its fortress architecture

Facebook is moving from its tony Palo Alto, Calif., locale to blue-collar Belle Haven, and the social network want to woo residents with community-oriented design.

boombox1
boombox2
native1

More In Category



Sustainable Design and Construction

Northglenn, a Denver suburb, opens a net zero, all-electric city hall with a mass timber structure

Northglenn, Colo., a Denver suburb, has opened the new Northglenn City Hall—a net zero, fully electric building with a mass timber structure. The 32,600-sf, $33.7 million building houses 60 city staffers. Designed by Anderson Mason Dale Architects, Northglenn City Hall is set to become the first municipal building in Colorado, and one of the first in the country, to achieve the Core certification: a green building rating system overseen by the International Living Future Institute.


MFPRO+ News

San Francisco unveils guidelines to streamline office-to-residential conversions

The San Francisco Department of Building Inspection announced a series of new building code guidelines clarifying adaptive reuse code provisions and exceptions for converting office-to-residential buildings. Developed in response to the Commercial to Residential Adaptive Reuse program established in July 2023, the guidelines aim to increase the viability of converting underutilized office buildings into housing by reducing regulatory barriers in specific zoning districts downtown. 

halfpage1

Most Popular Content

  1. 2021 Giants 400 Report
  2. Top 150 Architecture Firms for 2019
  3. 13 projects that represent the future of affordable housing
  4. Sagrada Familia completion date pushed back due to coronavirus
  5. Top 160 Architecture Firms 2021