Hospital-to-Resi Conversion Coming to San Antonio River Walk

Hospital-to-residential conversion is coming for a 24-story historic property fronting San Antonio’s River Walk.

Houston-based InnJoy Hospitality plans to convert the former Nix Medical Center at 414 Navarro Street into apartments, the San Antonio Express News reported. The number of units hasn’t been disclosed. Documents filed with the state estimate construction costs at $10 million.

Work on the 200,000-square-foot property, which has been vacant for four years, is expected to start in January and last about a year.

InnJoy, led by managing partner Nitin Kasan, considered transforming the building into a hotel but pivoted to residential due to evolving market demands.

Built in 1930, the Nix Medical Center was once a cornerstone of San Antonio’s healthcare landscape. The building served as a full-service hospital for decades and was billed as the first facility in the country to combine hospital services, doctors’ offices and parking in one location.

However, in 2019, its last operator, Prospect Medical Holdings, closed the hospital, leaving the building vacant.

The Nix Center redevelopment is part of a broader trend in San Antonio of adapting outdated commercial buildings into residential and mixed-use spaces. Similar projects include the Tower Life office building, which J Jeffers & Company, Ed Cross, Alamo Capital Advisors and McCombs Enterprises is converting to 230 mixed-income apartments, and the Travis Building, at 405 North Saint Mary’s Street, which Harris Bay has converted to 63 luxury apartments.

Those projects indicate a larger effort to revitalize underused spaces in the downtown area, but not all buildings are suitable for such conversions.

A conversion index developed by Yardi Systems scores buildings’ suitability for conversion based on factors including age, size, floor plate shape and access to public transit.

Buildings that score between 75 and 89 points, like 300 Convent Street and One Alamo Center in San Antonio, are considered good candidates for conversion, but structures below that threshold could face more difficulties.

Yardi ranks San Antonio’s office stock 45th nationally, with only 8.2 percent deemed fit for conversion.

— Andrew Terrell