20th Anniversary of the Moving of the Riverwalk
Few visitors realize during their visit to the world-famous San Antonio Riverwalk, that the Riverwalk is not in its original position, and this September marks the 20th anniversary of the Riverwalk Relocation Project. The moving of the Riverwalk, complete with 57 buildings and an estimated 48 million gallons of water, was managed by downtown architects RPG Projects Inc, and was described in Architectural Digest as “the Noah’s Ark” of relocations.
The project started after disagreements following the relocation of The Fairmount Hotel in 1985, which up until that time represented the largest building move in history. Various tenants in nearby offices complained that their view of the Riverwalk had been unfairly obstructed – lead complainer Gary Perez, a native lawyer, argued: “I wouldn’t have rented this office if I’d known a 4 storey hotel would be placed outside my window”. The hotel staff attempted to placate Perez, a known complainer in the downtown area, by providing room service through his office window but he continued to file suit.
As more complaints came from neighboring buildings, the city stepped into the fray to arbitrate a resolution. They considered a proposal to move 12 of the neighboring buildings further towards the Pearl Brewery, and to reroute I-10 and 281 in a wavy line between the Riverwalk and the Alamodome. Consequently, all dozen buildings were fitted with wheels in 1988 and general contractors started to drive them around town, in order to find the perfect fit.
In total, the 12 buildings were moved a total of 14 miles, with the Homewood Suites sliding down beside the head-scratchingly pointless Aztec Theater, and the Watermark gaining an extra level by being placed behind Joe’s Crap Shack. For locals, 1988 became known as a particularly challenging year, due partly to the extra traffic created by the placement of three parking lots in the King William district, and partly due to offices vanishing with no notice.
After six months, and a growing chorus of disgruntled building tenants and tourists, the project was placed on hold. Cartographers were hired to provide a fresh perspective and analyze the best building placement – they quickly determined that the Riverwalk itself needed to move. All the buildings that had spent the previous summer moving around were hastily wheeled back to their original positions, with the exception of the Fairmount Hotel, since lawyer Gary Perez had grown to enjoy the room service. In moving sections of the river, some of the long term issues were solved, including the removal of random sections of Riverwalk outside the Majestic Theater, and a 6-way intersection congregating on the now-defunct Planet Hollywood, which was converted into a waterfall. The Riverwalk Relocation Project was completed by September 1990, both on time and within its unlimited budget.
