NRP, Balfour to Construct $30 Million Mixed-Use Facility for Alamo Colleges

By Camelia Bulea, Associate Editor

NRP Group L.L.C. and Balfour Beatty Capital have been hired to construct a mixed-use development for the Alamo Colleges.

The development plan is expected to cost $30 million and will add 215 student housing units, a 1,000-space parking garage and 27,000 square feet of commercial space to downtown San Antonio. The student housing will offer four different bedroom plans, with each room having its own bathroom and sharing kitchen and living room areas.

A second phase could include a main-avenue formal entrance to San Antonio College, a new educational facility totaling 100,000 square feet and a new 2,000-ton satellite physical plant.

The agreement between the three parties–NRP Group, Balfour Beatty Capital and Alamo Colleges–states that the first two will finance, construct and manage the project, while the college district, which consists of five colleges–San Antonio College, St. Philip’s College, Palo Alto College, Northwest Vista College and Northeast Lakeview College–will provide the land and use student parking permit fees to help pay for the garage.

As Alamo Colleges expects $79 million in budget cuts and unfunded double-digit growth for the next two years, it doesn’t anticipate being able to raise the necessary money to fund the development. Therefore, the NRP Group will own the project. Trustees could use profits generated from the first phase to fund a second phase with a 100,000-square-foot academic facility.

Located near Luther’s Cafe on North Main Avenue, the 4.4-acre site, owned by Alamo Colleges, is currently being used for parking. The future garage will accommodate students with parking permits during the day, and will charge fees for nonstudent parking at night.

Debra Guerrero, vice president of Texas development for the NRP Group, is very optimistic about the project, according to the San Antonio Express-News: “Given the proximity to downtown and a college with 22,000 students, the project has a great chance of success,” the paper quoted her as saying.

This is the district’s first public-private partnership and could not only benefit San Antonio College but drive up business development in the entire area.