Office and Hotel for San Antonio Center Discussion Today

The possibility of the city's tallest building rising to 12 stories as part of phase two of the San Antonio Center development, raised the ire of many Mountain View residents at an Environmental Planning Commission meeting recently.

The concerns caused developer Merlone Geier to reconsider and they've decided to lower the height by two stories, Mike Grehl, vice president, told Mountain View Patch over the phone last week.

"It's a challenge, but we are please to be able to do that," he said.

According to Grehl, a smaller office building with a lower square footage makes it "very challenging to do a hotel." A 150 to 200 room hotel would cost $32 million to build and the rental of the office space would have helped offset the cost of construction.

However, will the change please community members?

The community also remains concerned about the small retailers near the proposed development at 405-423 San Antonio Rd., which include the Milk Pail Market.

"We have no interest in eminent domain or condemnation action," Grehl said. "We are designing parcels around their land. … We continue to talk to landowners, continue to work with the Milk Pail about how they could be relocated to the new project."

But if they don't sell?

"We’ll just go forward with the project we have, but would like to see parcels as part of project," Grehl said.

Tonight at the 5 p.m. study session prior to the regular of the City Council, the council will take a look at the new proposal and residents will have the chance to weigh in.