“A lot of these properties are leftovers,” said Candid Rogers, an architect whose office in the Lavaca neighborhood is in a live-work space that is part new construction and part historic restoration. “They’re vacant parcels within the urban core and are unstitched fabrics that are waiting to be stitched in.”

Two years ago, Rogers helped design three contemporary urban homes at the corner of Lavaca and Indianola streets. He also designed a pair of live-work buildings south of downtown on Groveton Street.

Going the infill route does have several benefits, but there are several challenges to those taking on the task.

Benefits

“The biggest thing for me is the idea of building within a city grid,” Rogers said. “There’s vacant land everywhere. I think it fosters a cultural life and brings people together. I think the problem with some suburban communities is they’re so disconnected.”

Infill projects can help breathe new life into a neighborhood and can stimulate other activity to help improve the area.

In Tobin Hill, Ryan Drechsel and Jim Ferrell just finished turning two large corner lots into a trio of two-story townhomes that neighbors say x  have improved the neighborhood already.

“It’s becoming contagious,” said Candy Anderson, who moved to the neighborhood in 2003.

The former homes, one of which was burned from a fire, were deconstructed so neighbors could have their pick of the salvage.
“Every house here has some sort of revitalization going on, and the neighborhood is the big winner on that,” Ferrell said.

The townhomes are more contemporary, with granite countertops, tankless water heaters and a gated driveway, but still have some of the neighborhood’s characteristics.

“We were trying to maintain the Craftsman-Victorian style,” Drechsel said. “We tried to maintain the integrity of the neighborhood. It’s a neat neighborhood, and I think people are starting to realize its value. There’s definitely a good community feel in this area.”

Aside from improving the community feel, an infill project can be good for the environment.

Joe Koizen recently retired from the Air Force, and now he’s gone green. Koizen, who’s renting a home in Alamo Heights on Eaton Street, is developing a two-unit townhouse on a lot across the street from his rental.

“The lot was big enough where one house was to now put two,” Koizen said.

Koizen’s going one step further, working to get this project Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Platinum certified, the highest green certification available from the federal program. There are currently four homes in Texas that are Platinum certified.

“I’m an apostle of it,” Koizen said about green building. “I think people have been living the wrong way for a long time.”

The fact that it’s an infill project helps Koizen get ahead in the points system for LEED certification. To be Platinum, a home must get at least 90 out of a possible 136 points.

“Out of 90 points, eight to 10 are because of the infill location and how close you are to amenities,” said Stephen Jackson, who is building Koizen’s home. “If we were building this at Canyon Lake, we wouldn’t get any of those.”

You can get points if the site is within a quarter-mile of amenities, such as a bank, school, park, post office, grocery store and bus stop.

“They want you to start thinking about using the site,” Jackson said. “They want to know that from Day 1, you’ve been thinking about minimizing your impact. It’s made it a little bit more difficult.”

If a site is in a neighborhood with roads, electricity and plumbing, you can get more points for developing within the existing infrastructure.

Koizen’s two homes will be 2,400 and 2,600 square feet. They will have rainwater catchments, native plants, a permeable driveway and foam insulation. The walls are being manufactured in a factory to the exact size so the waste can be reused.

This also eliminates the need for a giant trash container on the site.

Challenges

“The only thing going against us is the economy,” Koizen said.

Though the economic turmoil may keep some people from buying or building a new home, it also may help people realize that it’s time to conserve rather than waste, Rogers said.

“People approach me and say, ‘We feel like we’re living wrong, and it’s not in our best interest to live this way,’ and that was pre-crisis,” he said. “I think this year we’ve seen the biggest interest in urban infill.”

With older, and sometimes historic neighborhoods, infill developers must address the historic review process, zoning and setback issues. For example, a residential lot may have never been built on because it’s zoned for commercial use.

An infill lot also might have been avoided simply because its shape or size was awkward.

“Sometimes, the lots are so small, it’s a challenge,” Rogers said. “I enjoy the challenges of these parameters of the canvas, so to speak. It’s about building smaller as well, and people making do with a smaller space, but a better-designed place.”

But just because the lots may be small or oddly shaped, you’re not automatically going to be living in a pint-sized house.

The units at the Tobin Hill project are about 1,700 square feet and are for sale for about $285,000. The second unit is already sold.

“It’s not the cramped space you’d think of when you think of urban living,” Drechsel said of the two-bedroom, two-bathroom units.

Because infill projects don’t always fit the cookie-cutter mold, they can cost more.

If a property never has been developed, you’ll have to install sewage and plumbing, which could add $10,000 to your cost, Rogers said.

And with green infill homes, Koizen said the cost could be 5 percent to 13 percent more than a home built to a standard building code.

Infill projects also can be more difficult to get financed, Rogers said.

“A lot of banks are more prone to finance a project in a new neighborhood,” Rogers said. “There are some banks willing to envision future growth in the city, though.”

One of the biggest challenges is getting people who live on the outskirts of the city to recognize these older neighborhoods as vibrant spots for living, said Rogers, who is also a professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio Downtown Campus.

“We’re trying to get more of the young populous to reinvestigate and experience the city,” he said.