A historic River Walk high-rise may soon become a 329-unit apartment building.
Building owners Innjoy Hospitality submitted plans last week to the Historic and Design Review Commission, or HDRC, to turn the Nix Hospital building at 414 Navarro Street into a mixed use development.
Preliminary plans for $10 million in renovations to the 24-story building were submitted back in October 2024, according to state records. Plans from the project’s architect — XA Collective — show floor plans for apartment units and businesses.
The newly dubbed Nix Apartments will have 157 studio size units, 118 one-bedroom apartments and 54 that will feature two or more bedrooms.
The plans also indicate space for a new restaurant on the street level. The restaurant Bubba Gump Seafood Co. is currently operating in the space below, which is along the river. The plans show room for a new tenant next to Bubba Gump.
The Nix building on Navarro Street was built in 1930 by developer Joseph M. Nix. It was for many years the site of a top-tier hospital, but has sat vacant since late 2019. Credit: Brenda Bazán / San Antonio Report
The commission is scheduled to consider approval of changes to the building’s facade, including new windows, at its Aug. 6 meeting.
Innjoy, which acquired the building in 2019, is a Rio Grande Valley-based hotel developer. The company could not be reached for comment. Its submission to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation in 2024 indicated that the project would be privately funded.
Designed by architect Henry Phelps, designer of the 1922 Maverick Building on Houston Street, the Gothic-style structure was built in 1930 as a “medical mall,” the first of its kind, according to the Texas State Historical Association.
It was named the Joseph M. Nix Professional Building after its developer and eventually became a hospital and medical center, which changed hands several times, bought by Merit Health Systems of Kentucky in 2004 and Prospect Medical Holdings in 2012.