1221 Broadway. Courtesy Lake Flato.In the circles I’ve run in over the past 30 years or so, you can’t weave through a cocktail party without overhearing someone describe how they plan to live in a loft … someday. For many people it’s a dream that waits alongside visions of hiking the Appalachian Trail, sailing the oceans, or writing the next Great American Novel.
For others, though, it’s a certainty tethered to such benchmarks as sending the kids off to college (that tends to be my crowd, and discussion, these days), or the addition of just a few more day-to-day amenities downtown – a full-service grocery store or streetcar lines – that would make the experiment a little more practical. No doubt a less car-dependent lifestyle, downsizing possessions, and rolling out one’s door to a 24-hour city brimming with cultural and other distraction are the draw.
It’s this crowd that many local developers are banking on. Though San Antonio is not known as a loft-lifestyle city per se, the awareness of loft living has taken hold here, perfectly timed with national trends showing a swift return to urban living. These are exciting times for downtown San Antonio, although the loft explosion nationally has been a mixed bag.
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