Story and photos by Melody Mendoza
City Base West is in its final stages of construction and leasing. Located at Southeast Military Drive and New Braunfels Avenue, the new shopping, eatery and entertainment center has already filled more than half of the 250,000 square feet area.
Adam Schiller of the center’s developer GFR Development Services, said phases one and two of the development are undergoing a “minor punch list and tenants are moving in to build out their space.”
The center includes the city’s newest theater City Base Cinema, which has already shown success since it opened in mid-December, and 18 tenants of local restaurants and retail. Also, the construction of higher-end restaurants are in process, like Texas Roadhouse, which will have its grand opening Feb. 6.
Brad Smith, managing partner and owner of City Base Cinema, said telling the admission numbers is an “industry secret,” but said, “I can tell you that the number exceeded far past what we planned to do.”
According to the website, GFR has also been involved in developing locations with retailers like Wal-Mart, Costco, HEB, Best Buy and many restaurants, including Buffalo Wild Wings and Longhorn Cafe.
“We’ve got stuff all over San Antonio,” Schiller said, others including San Pedro Town Center and Park North Plaza. “We’re always looking for opportunities.”
GFR Development began with Mark Granados, the development’s principle, and Schiller, director of sales and leasing, about 2 ½ years ago and has evolved into a team of three developers and an intern.
With his experience working with City Base Landing restaurants and retailers, located just east of City Base West, Schiller said businesses find that they attract the most traffic in this area.
And after seeing the success of South Side businesses, the team began planning City Base West, which has been in the works for about four to five years.
“We were waiting for the time to be right,” Schiller said.
The team of three, all graduates from the University of Texas at Austin, came together again when Granados started GFR Development Services. Schiller said he joined Granados right out of college in 2006 at HPI real estate and Kenneth Pruitt, director of development services, joined the two from his background in commercial real estate and leasing.
The theater, which Schiller said was the anchor, draws in other tenants like restaurants and entertainment. He said the restaurants like the late afternoon and evening and weekend traffic that a movie theater brings.
City Base Cinema
Movie-goers who contribute to the cinema’s active facebook following describe City Base Cinema as having a comfortable, neighborhood feel.
“Love this theater!” writes Vianika Mendoza. “I like the fact that we don’t have to walk 20 miles to our movie! Love the seat..love everything….”
The theater’s theme pays tribute to Brooks’ military history by including an F-18 fighter jet protruding from the wall and royal blue neon lights that mark the way to the concession area.
Its 10 theatres include airplane-like custom-made seats that resemble a Maserati car and royal blue curtains that create a new look from the traditional red-curtain theater. Smith said there also will be 3D versions of a fighter jet and helicopter in the theater’s entrance, all in commemoration of Brooks City-Base.
The idea to incorporate the City Base theme into the theater was developed by Granados and theater owners, Brad Smith and two other silent owners.
The concept for the theater was simple, Smith said: “To bring a modern-day theater with a twist, to the South Side.”
The Alamo Drafthouse, launched in Austin and now a franchise, helped to innovate the movie-going business. Santikos Theatres, according to its website, offers 3D presentation, Hollywood IMAX films, HD digital projection, in-theatre dining and one of the city’s art-houses.
“Santikos does a phenomenal job with their theaters … but they are all built with old technology and this is built with new technology from the start,” Smith said.
The theater was the first to be built as a digital theater featuring Sony Digital Cinema 4K resolution and state-of-the-art digital sound, according to its website.
Smith said other theaters are retrofitted to be digital from 35 millimeter.
The theater also has a two-part arcade on each side of the lobby within glass walls. Smith said one side features games for children, while the other has games suitable for adults.
“They can even keep an eye on their kids from across the way,” he said.
Smith added that they also want to incorporate tables and seating in the lobby in the near future.
Smith boasts that the theater offers the lowest concession prices in San Antonio, which includes candy for as low as 25 cents, sugar-free candy, the traditional popcorn and nachos and a White Castle extension. This White Castle, a fast-food restaurant found in most northeastern states, is the first in San Antonio and serves a variety of sliders, or mini hamburgers.
“The idea was that we wanted make our money back one Snickers at a time,” Smith said.
Although Smith said the theater isn’t as edgy as the Alamo Drafthouse, the more modern concession stand also offers beer and wine.
Not only are the concession food prices low, ticket prices are also some of the most efficient in the city with its matinee at $4.75 before 6 p.m. and it’s most expensive at $10 for 3D movies. Students can also get in for only $6 with a student ID.
Other features include the passport program that Smith said will allow guests to earn rewards for visits to the theater, purchases at the concession stand and even purchases with some City Base West businesses. This program has not yet been established.
Pointing to the theater screens, Smith said traditional theaters have masking over the screen, but noted that they eliminated the masking which allowed management to buy better seats and sound. He said later that masking was used for 35 milimeter projection systems to hide the different format changes and also the shakiness of the projector.
“Eliminating the masking for digital has allowed us to maximize the image size,” Smith said.
There are three different theater sizes — small, medium and large — that enable movies to be shown for longer periods of time. But Smith said the screens in the small and medium sized theaters are the same size, allowing guests to experience the same quality.
Also, the gray-blue carpet in the theater were installed as squares, which Smith said would be easy and inexpensive to replace stains. He said in other theaters, there is one piece of carpet throughout the theater making it hard to replace and expensive to refurbish.
“I’ve built over 160 movie theaters,” he said. “There was a lot of thought put into this.”
Smith has worked for Santikos and a manufacturing company who constructed the sound for the Santikos Palladium. Now, in conjunction with running the theater, Smith said he has a business creating digital signage.
A community audience
On a recent morning, local resident and active Air Force member Gabriel Gonzalez was standing in line with about 20 others waiting for the theater to open its doors.
Gonzalez said it was his first time at the theater.
“This whole area is looking a lot better than it did,” he said.
Another patron said the prices were good and others noted the convenience of the theater’s location as being close to work.
Smith said Bob Stewart, who does the marketing, responds to Facebook posts daily and communicates with guests.
On Facebook, a guest said he liked what Smith called audience greetings, where management greets the audience before a movie showing.
Smith said management wants to know what’s going on.
“We call this their neighborhood theater,” he said, so guests’ feedback, concerns and ideas are welcomed.
He said whenever management has a new food product to decide on, for example, they will take a poll from their guests.
Other tenants at City Base West
Schiller said the majority of the 18 tenants at City Base West are already up and ready for business, and the remaining should be open within the first and second quarter of the year. He added that there are quite a few lease agreements for space in the works.
Schiller said getting businesses to invest on the South Side was a merely a series of phone calls to present the area.
“The area sells itself,” Schiller said.
He added that existing medium-to-high category restaurants on Southeast Military Drive and Goliad Road have shown success, which drew higher-end restaurants like Texas Roadhouse and Zio’s Italian Kitchen to the area.
And although some restaurants look familiar, there are quite a few businesses that are new and unfamiliar to San Antonio.
“We’ve got some national brands … but we do as much business with local businesses also.” He said some are new businesses and some are existing franchises.
Peachwave Frozen Yogurt, for example, is a national franchise but new to San Antonio. Schiller said the franchisers are from San Antonio and decided on building its first location at City Base West.
In response to the notion of competition, Schiller said he doesn’t think City Base West will compete with the development down the street, but said it will bring more people to the area and locals will shop in their neighborhood.
“It just brings more business,” he said. “It compliments the other centers in the area.”
To compliment the seven month old Mission Trail Baptist Hospital, Schiller said there will be a medical office building at City Base West where medical professionals can lease space in one building near the hospital.
Schiller said City Base West will incorporate two conservation areas that will not be developed called tree save areas. He said GFR is required to keep a certain amount of trees and that they went above the requirements.
“It also adds to the beauty of the shopping center,” he said. “It’s nice to have large oak trees.”
Tentative openings
- Texas Roadhouse, a steak restaurant, already has a sign covering its new doors with the grand opening date of Feb. 6. It is located at the corner of New Braunfels Avenue and Southeast Military Drive.
- Murfy USA, a convenient store and gas station, is already being constructed off of Southeast Military Drive. It is expected to open in February.
- City Base Diner is expected to open in 60 to 90 days and will be next door to City Base Cinema.
- Boost Mobile and Rios Golden Cut will be opening “any day now,” Schiller said. And they will located in a space along Southeast Military Drive.
- Golden Fried Chicken is expected to open in 120 days and will be on the Southwest part of City Base West.
- Businesses expected to open in May are Benny’s Tacos, 6 to 9 Dental and Alamo Federal Credit Union.
- Flying Tiger Restaurant and Sports Bar and Zio’s Italian Kitchen are expected to open this summer. Flying Tiger will be located in the same mall of the theater, and Zios will be next to Texas Roadhouse.
