San Antonio developer seeks to demolish Cattleman Square building again

A local developer is requesting permission once again to demolish a historic building in Cattleman Square claiming that it would be costly to revitalize. David Adelman’s request to demolish the Richbook Building at 900 W Houston St., San Antonio, Texas 78207 will go before the Historic and Design Review Commission on Wednesday, according to agenda documents. 

Adelman, who owns the property with Sea Island Shrimp House President Barclay Anthony, sought to demolish the building in 2021, but it was met with pushback from groups like the Office of Historic Preservation, according to the San Antonio Business Journal.

Now Adelman is seeking a certificate of compliance to demolish the abandoned, 100-year-old Richbook building and an adjacent office building at 908 W Houston St., San Antonio, Texas 78207. Agenda documents say the Richbook Building was once a cloth model shop, The Majestic Cafe, a barbershop, and Whitt & Co. Printers, which published La Prensa. Fausto Hotel occupied the second floor. The second building is known as SA Dye Works building that was built in 1915.

When Adelman sought demolition in 2021, he had plans to build a five-story, 122-unit apartment complex with retail space on the ground floor. It’s not clear if this is still Adelman’s plan. MySA reached out to Adelman for comment. 

Agenda documents contain a letter and cost estimation to rehabilitate the Richbook building from Hawthorne Contracting, which say construction could cost $6.1 million. James McKnight, an attorney representing the owners with Ortiz McKnight, says in a letter attached to the agenda documents that the property has “placed an unreasonable economic hardship” on the owners. 

The agenda documents contain copies of various news articles talking about a 2018 bust of a drug ring at that street corner and a 2022 fire that occurred inside the building. 

Currently, staff recommendations on the agenda say that no burden of proof has been found for unreasonable economic hardship, so demolition is not recommended. HDRC will take up the item on Wednesday.