REnewSA STUDY: REDEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES FOR ECONOMICALLY CHALLENGED COMMERCIAL CORRIDORS AND THEIR TRADING AREAS

CITY OF SAN ANTONIO, DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT (2013- 2014)

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The City of San Antonio’s REnewSA initiative is an inter-agency collaborative that brings together major policy-making and regulatory bodies in the City of San Antonio to coordinate community development resources. Fregonese Associates worked closely with City of San Antonio staff to create a GIS-based feasibility model for REnewSA to help identify areas for investment and leverage public resources to create value in the community.

Fregonese Associates led the dynamic team of urban planners and economic development specialists which included ECONorthwest and Kimley-Horn Associates. In addition to a city-wide market typology used to classify every census block group within San Antonio, the team developed a data-driven methodology for estimating the location of distressed parcels within Bexar County. The Envision Tomorrow suite of planning tools was calibrated for the City of San Antonio and used to gauge the redevelopment feasibility of distressed parcels in five neighborhoods.

A key finding of this analysis was the realization that a “one size fits all” approach is not effective in every part of the city. Rather, the consultant team tailored a set of strategies and policy recommendations to help narrow the focus of public investment to areas where they are likely to have the greatest impact. Final results were presented to the REnewSA Technical Advisory Committee in September 2014.