Preserving 'Little Alsace': Castroville families aim to create new downtown entertainment district
Madison Iszler, Staff writer
Aug. 31, 2021 Updated: Sep. 1, 2021 11:08 a.m.
Renderings of buildings the Castroville Downtown Redevelopment Fund plans to renovate.
Courtesy of Alamo Architects
CASTROVILLE — As they eye the sprawl rippling toward their small city west of San Antonio, a group of residents are joining forces to preserve Castroville's small-town flavor and revitalize its historic downtown.
More than 30 families have invested in the Castroville Downtown Redevelopment Fund, a vehicle that will acquire and redevelop as many as a dozen buildings with the money raised so far.
"There are a lot of ways that you can renovate a district or a historic building," said managing partner Joshua Kempf, an eighth-generation Castroville resident. "We think that folks who care deeply about the future of the town are going to do that better than someone who's just here to do an economic transaction with no real interest in the heritage."
He declined to say how much had been raised but confirmed it is "well into the seven figures."
The fund has purchased three buildings, two of which are vacant. It is under contract to buy a fourth.
The fund's managers are working with Alamo Architects, HiWorks and TBG Partners, and the first renovation project is expected to begin in the next few weeks, Kempf said.
The fund plans to renovate historic buildings downtown to create an entertainment district.
The investors' goal is to fill the refurbished buildings with businesses such as an upscale European American restaurant, microbrewery, boutique grocer, ice cream shop, custom Western wear manufacturer, art gallery and craft barbecue joint.
"We view this as an entertainment district where people from out of town, as well as local folks, can come and stroll and have a nice dinner, grab some ice cream with their kids" without having to drive to San Antonio, said managing partner Tim Hildenbrand.
The downtown area has been neglected and could "use a bit of a face-lift," said Trey Tschirhart, a resident who invested in the fund. Castroville has been lacking in high-end amenities of the type envisioned, he added.
The idea for the fund came out of conversations between Kempf, Hildenbrand and other locals about growth in the region.
Castroville, a city of about 3,000 residents along the Medina River, is about 25 miles west of San Antonio. The population of Medina County, where Castroville is located, increased about 10 percent between April 1, 2010, and April 1, 2020, according to census data.
Bexar County's population is also exploding, jumping about 17 percent during the same period. For years, the county's western edge has led the area in new home construction as the city pushes in that direction, though production is also accelerating on the South Side.
The Castroville group started working on the concept for the fund in May, approached local families about investing and had raised the funding sought by mid-July.
"All these national retail and fast-food chains come in, homebuilders — that economic activity, while beneficial on one side, none of the folks around here own any of these companies," Kempf said. "The community benefits as customers, but they don't really benefit as owners."
Retaining the city's unique nature while embracing its growth is a key part of the fund's strategy.
"This is an opportunity to provide broad-based ownership for the important pieces of our history and heritage and that we think can make money as well from being redeveloped," he added.
Castroville was founded in 1844 by French empresario Henri Castro, who contracted with the Texas government to colonize the area.
Many of the European families he drew with the promise of land were from Alsace — a region in northeastern France that has traded hands in the past between France and Germany — and Castroville is known as the Little Alsace of Texas.
The city's architecture reflects its roots, and it has been recognized as a national and Texas historic district, according to the Texas State Historical Association's Handbook of Texas.
Bradford Boehme, a sixth-generation Castroville resident and an investor in the fund, is passionate about the city's history and continuing its Alsatian traditions. He and his family farm in the area, as their ancestors did, and participate in a variety of historical organizations and activities.
The city is like a time capsule, he said, and the fund is one way to preserve its charm and make use of its historic buildings.
"Yes, the development is coming, and, yes, change is coming, but if we can do something creative as a group to retain our charm and to create a commercial business that could flourish and do well and accomplish both, it would be worth our while," Boehme said.
madison.iszler@express-news.net
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Madison Iszler
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Madison Iszler covers real estate, retail, economic development, and other business topics for the San Antonio Express-News.
Reach Madison at 210-250-3242, madison.iszler@express-news.net and @madisoniszler.
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