City Council could make a decision Thursday. The bar's owner on Wednesday said he needs “an additional month to negotiate in good faith.”
Moses Rose's Hideout bar owner Vince Cantu is seen inside his bar on Thursday, July 7, 2022. One of the last business holdings in the footprint of the Alamo project, a bar ironically named after Louis “Moses” Rose, who is said to have fled the fort during the 1836 siege, has been given until July 11 to surrender its patio to the General Land Office for development of an Alamo museum and visitor center.
Cantu's bar, Moses Rose’s Hideout, sits near the historic Woolworth Building on Houston street, and its patio is on city property, a right-of-way known as Maverick Walk, that is being leased to the GLO for the massive Alamo makeover. The bar’s sidewalk patio permit from the city expired more than two years ago. But Cantu says eliminating his outside patio area “may be the thing that puts me out of business” after surviving COVID, riots, cancelled conventions and high gas prices. He’s asking the Land Office to stand down until the end of the summer tourist season, noting that the amusement businesses fronting Alamo Plaza have until Oct. 31 to vacate.The owner of Moses Rose’s Hideout — a downtown bar named after the “coward of the Alamo” who fled to avoid the battle — is holding his ground. He wants $17 million for his property next to the site of a planned $150 million museum and visitor center. An independent appraisal contracted by the nonprofit Alamo Trust placed the value at $2.1 million — or an estimated $2.8 million in 10 years. City leaders Thursday will consider taking the property by force — via eminent domain, also called condemnation. The trust has said it has “no choice but to urge the city of San Antonio City Council to explore the option” to acquire Moses Rose’s, 516 E. Houston St., so the museum complex “can move forward without unnecessary delay.” The city is a partner with the Texas General Land Office and the Alamo Trust in a nearly $400 million makeover of the historic mission and battle site that includes the museum.On ExpressNews.com:A council agenda item allows for “the acquisition through negotiation or condemnation” on behalf of the Land Office. It’s on the consent agenda, which could be approved without council discussion — unless a council member pulls the item. City officials have said they’d rather resolve the issue through negotiations between the bar’s owner and project partners than pursue condemnation in the public’s interest through a probate court. “The city will use every effort available to obtain the necessary land rights for the project through good faith negotiations but may require eminent domain if the negotiations are unsuccessful,” the city attorney’s office said in a council memo. “For the city to exercise its power of eminent domain, the city of San Antonio City Council must declare the project as a public project.” The Alamo Trust offered up to $3.5 million for the property after an independent appraiser placed its value at $2.8 million in 10 years, assuming increased value due to the Alamo project. But the bar’s owner, Vince Cantu, questioned the methods used by the appraiser and said Alamo officials have not engaged in active discussions.
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