San Antonio’s First ‘New Urbanism’ Neighborhood Coming to Northwest Side

At the intersection of West Military Drive and Potranco Road, less than a half-mile from Northwest Loop 410, a group of developers and city officials dipped shovels into a former cornfield to celebrate the start of Vicinia, a 97-acre mixed-use infill development.

The project, which could see construction start as soon as next year, is fulfilling the longtime dream of downtown developer Ed Cross to bring urban design and transit-oriented development to the suburbs.

“I’ve been involved with a lot of different development in my career, including land development,” said Cross, CEO of San Antonio Commercial Advisors. “And I’ve always hoped to have a chance to pursue a project like this.”

An urban design movement that began in the 1980s, New Urbanism promotes healthy and environmentally friendly development, walkable neighborhoods with smaller blocks and narrow streets, a wide range of housing types and prices, and transit-oriented development.

The concept began in the United States at Seaside, Florida, and has spread to other areas of the country, including Addison Circle in Dallas and the Mueller community in East Austin.

The name VICINIA comes from the Latin word for neighborhood.

“We wanted something that had some character to it, and I love Latin and Greek names. We put a lot of thought into that name,” Cross said, adding that images of corn figure into the logo design because the land was once the Persyn family farm.

Built around a town square, Vicinia also will be the first project developed under San Antonio’s Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) zoning code that encourages density near transit facilities. Plans call for mass transit facilities within the development that will connect it to other nodes of the city.

A group of developers led by Cross acquired from VIA Metropolitan Transit more than 59 acres of land assessed at $3.6 million in August 2017. Since then, the group bought up five smaller tracts surrounding the property.

“When we bought the tracts from VIA, we were very deliberate in our conversation,” Cross said. “We wanted them to be a partner with us on the development of the project. And in fact, when we had a charrette for the land plan, the first two people that that appeared were Jeff Arndt [president and CEO of VIA] and Brian Buchanan [former senior vice president of development at VIA].

We’ve really been thoughtful about providing an alternative to being dependent on a car.

The project is also unique, Cross said, in that it is an infill site, sandwiched amid suburban sprawl that stretches from Westover Hills to the city of Castroville – and the traffic tie-ups that come with it. But two major thoroughfares in the area also will be completed along with the project, opening new routes.

“The site had never been developed because it was a disproportionate burden on [the developer of] the site,” Cross said. “The cost to put in the streets was more than the land was worth.”