The Lights Are On & Somebody's Home!

Last weekend our first resident moved in. It's so darned cool to look across the courtyard and see lights on behind those mini blinds!  I don't mind telling you that we had a few meltdowns during our push to complete the details of the apartment before the deadline. One night we worked until 4:30 a.m. trying to get the last outlet cover on and the last window trim painted.  The truth is, we still have work to do on the front door and a few sundry details, but we feel very good about our progress. By the way... that's the Tower Of The Americas in the right upper corner of the photo. We love that we can see it from home. We'll be able to watch the New Year's Eve fireworks from our new balcony!

There are two more apartments to complete - the last push to hang doors and install trim begins tomorrow.  We have some good help who think they can be done by January 12, if not before. It will be WONDERFUL to have two more residents and to see ALL the lights on!

Monday, December 17

Big News:   We applied for a San Antonio Conservation Society Grant in early September and knew the possibility of receiving it was a long shot. 
Guess What????
We were notified two weeks ago that we received it!  The SACS will reimburse us for the leveling of the main building- a significant chunk from our budget, I assure you. Thank you San Antonio Conservation Society!
The contractor we chose got busy right away, so we now have lots of holes surrounding the building. We're looking forward to the doors and cupboards closing correctly and losing the feeling of walking uphill or downhill as we cross a room.

Do you see the sidewalk in the picture behind us?  That sidewalk is another of the happy coincidences/miracles we keep experiencing. The city had approved the replacing of the sidewalks/driveway entrances on both sides of one of the streets that makes our Corner and we got to watch the transformation of two blocks going from pretty awful to pretty wonderful. The city workers couldn't have been nicer and the engineer in charge brainstormed a solution that allows us to design and build an accessible entry where there wasn't room for one before. That beautiful sidewalk is covered with dirt piles at the moment, from the holes the levelers are making around the building, but we can envision the beautiful result.



Wednesday, December 19

Julian- Leveling Contractor

Another cool thing about renovating property in a historical district is the opportunity to apply for a freeze on the property tax rate for ten years in consideration of investing a certain percentage of the original property value on the renovation.  Whistle Stop Corner just had its approval for this tax abatement and we are happy and grateful for that break over the next few years.

Every day is a learning experience. We've learned a lot about how to do things and as much about how NOT to do things.  But we've come to know how surely we can count on each other and how good it feels to build your dreams, and to build them together.

Thank you for your interest in our progress!  We wish you a happy, love-filled Holiday Season.