Work starting on first phase of Essex Modern City

SAN ANTONIO – Local developer Efraim Varga and Sacramento, Calif.-based investment firm Harris Bay is planning to start work this year on Essex Modern City, a $150 million mixed-use development. 

The first phase of the eight-acre project at Essex and Cherry streets will transform a former pallet manufacturing site into 80,000 sf of creative office space, 65,000 sf of retail, 248 apartments, 160 condominiums, 80 townhomes, and a food hall.

Phase one will take about three years to build and will cover about five acres. It will be all new construction except for a rehabilitated 1930s building.

Locally based CREO is leading the design of the project.