The Soto

The Soto anchors the first phase of a 10-acre mixed-use development located just blocks from San Antonio’s famed River Walk. Five levels of mass timber office space sit over a one-story concrete podium with below-grade parking plus ground floor restaurant and retail space. Local developer Hixon Properties chose mass timber because there were several other office developments planned in San Antonio at the time, and they wanted to differentiate the property. As the first mass timber office building in Texas, The Soto features dowel-laminated timber (DLT) panels and glue-laminated timber (glulam) beams, left exposed to both the interior and exterior to create a distinctive aesthetic. The Soto also became one of the first projects in North America to combine mass timber with a masonry façade, which fit well with the surrounding neighborhood. To avoid cluttering the mass timber ceilings with ductwork, designers chose an underfloor air distribution (UFAD) system, which keeps visual focus on the wood and resulted in a more energy-efficient building. As a result, The Soto offers both sustainability and the quality expected for Class A office space.

See the WoodWorks Case Study on The Soto.