San Antonio buys Voelcker Ranch acreage
The city has finalized the purchase of the first two tracts of Voelcker Ranch land in North San Antonio.
San Antonio Mayor Phil Hardberger said Thursday that the city has finalized the purchase of the first two tracts of Voelcker Ranch land in North San Antonio.
The city paid $16.3 million for the tracts of land, which total 107 acres. The city also has an agreement in place with the owners of the Voelcker Fund for an additional 204 acres of land that locks in a purchase price of $31 million. City officials expect to close on that tract of land in 2007.
City leaders are buying the prime, wooded real estate in North San Antonio as a way to preserve part of it for conservation.
This area bordered by Lockhill-Selma, Wurzbach Parkway and Blanco Road increasingly has been encroached by retail and residential development.
Los Angeles-based KB Home bought 151 acres out of Voelcker Ranch earlier this summer with plans to build a new high-end subdivision. Locally based Fulcrum Property Group Inc. also bought 12 acres from KB Home for a new retail center.
"We are serious about our commitment to park space and to quality of life, and we have demonstrated that commitment by closing the first stage of this deal," Hardberger says.
The entire tract of land was once owned by Max and Minnie Voelcker. In late 2005, the Max and Minnie Tomerlin Voelcker Fund put up the entire 462 acres of land for sale as a way to raise money toward charitable organizations and medical research.