San Antonio’s Moses Rose’s dispute likely headed to court after owner rejects $5.26 million buyout

The owner of Moses Rose’s Hideaway, the downtown San Antonio bar slated for eminent domain takeover, said he’s declining a $5.26 million buyout offer from city officials — a move that likely means the dispute is headed to court.

On Friday, the city — on behalf of the Alamo Trust and the Texas General Land Office (GLO) — made a “best and final offer” for the bar located in the footprint of the planned $150 million Alamo Visitors Center.

“Despite no legal obligation to do so, the new offer takes into account a business valuation requested by bar owner Vince Cantu and funded by the GLO,” the Alamo Trust said in a press release. “According to the independent valuation conducted by RSI & Associates, Mr. Cantu’s business is worth a little more than $1.2 million.”

However, Cantu told the Current in an email Friday that he’s slamming the door on the Alamo Trust’s bid for his bar, located at 516 E. Houston St.

“I cannot accept their unfair offer,” he said.

In the email, Cantu accused the city and GLO of negotiating in bad faith, explaining that they didn’t calculate the projected lost revenue to Moses Rose’s over the next 56 years, which is when Cantu’s current lease expires. Instead, Cantu maintains that appraisers working for the city calculated “discounted future earnings” over the next 10 years, making the business undervalued.

When future projected earnings are considered, Cantu said Moses Rose’s is worth far more than the $5.26 million offer. He argues that the bar earned “hundreds of thousands of dollars per year” prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and the current imminent domain fight.

City council voted 9-2 in January to begin eminent domain proceedings against Moses Rose’s to make way for the Alamo project. In the months following the vote, Cantu held a “property rights rally” and has couched his battle as fight for personal liberty akin to the standoff at the Alamo.

If the fight over the property heads to court, as it’s expected to do following Cantu’s rejection of the new offer, the businessman can expect to receive far less money for his property, according to a statement from the Alamo Trust.

As part of the eminent domain process, the rejection of the offer will require Cantu and city officials to appear before a court-appointed panel of three special commissioners to set a value.

The commissioners are likely to set that in line with the property’s fair market value of $2.1 million, Alamo Trust officials said, noting  the eminent domain proceedings in Texas don’t take business valuations into account.

Coming soon: SA Current Daily newsletter. We’ll send you a handful of interesting San Antonio stories every morning. Subscribe now to not miss a thing.

Follow us: Google News | NewsBreak | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter

This article appears in Apr 19 – May 2, 2023.