Keith Coelho, president and principal of Henry S. Miller Commercial's San Antonio office, says this is the first time in 20 years that retail rent has surpassed office asking prices. On the average, retail space is commanding $22 per sf to $25 per sf for base rent, whereas most class-A space is running just a tad shy of those figures.

The success of San Antonio's transition is being measured by the influx of retailers, who just a few years ago had "ignored San Antonio," Coelho tells GlobeSt.com. "Now, everybody wants to be in San Antonio."

San Antonio has long stood in the shadows of Dallas-Ft. Worth, Austin and Houston. It's coming out is being bolstered by such undertakings as a PGA golf community, Maryland-base Rouse Co.'s 1.3 million-sf Shops at La Cantera and a buildup of other retail in and around the city's primary arteries. And with the buildup is coming a retail mix of high-end and low-end. The Shops at La Cantera is carrying a four-star anchor lineup of Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, Dillard's and Foley's. A fifth premier anchor has yet to be announced by Rouse and joint venture partner USAA Real Estate Co.