On Saturday morning, H-E-B will present three proposals that San Antonio's Lake|Flato Architects have devised for the new grocery store that will be built on the former site of Wilshire Village. Reads a statement from H-E-B:

The three proposals come with respective catchy names: The Wave, The Pavilion and The Sawtooth. The differences manifest simply in the roof and façade; otherwise, the siting is defined by the store's backing onto West Alabama and a driveway car entrance on Dunlavy. The store's doors open onto an expansive parking lot facing south, invisible to sidewalk pedestrians. From the street, the store resembles an impenetrable monolith, albeit with intriguing siding.

The Wave transparently takes a page from the organic, rippling roof of Enric Miralles and Bendetta Tagliabues' Mercat Santa Caterina, reducing it to a strict wooden siding that vaguely recalls Renzo Piano's design for the Menil Collection. The Pavilion emphasizes the building's low profile and brings in forest greens and terra cotta into blocks of siding. The Sawtooth (which suffers from the most droll name) is the most visually compelling, offering a staggered series of diagonal roof outcroppings.

An extended metal awning creates the illusion of a park feature in each proposal, similar to the shaded Niko Niko's patio at the new Market Square Park. Ultimately, the diversity of these designs is minimal. These are not significantly different architectural proposals. Essentially, they're different paint jobs.

Maria-Elisa Heg, leader of the Montrose Land Defense Coalition (MLDC) previewed the plans with H-E-B Houston CEO Scott McClelland.

"Although he had agreed to raise the store on stilts," Heg tells CultureMap, "all three of the plans showed the store at grade with little to no space for use as a park."

McClelland could not be reached for an interview Friday, An H-E-B representative said he was out of town and not available for comment. When CultureMap requested an interview with someone from Lake|Flato architects, we were told no one from the firm would talk until the Saturday morning meeting.

To get an idea of the site's potential, MLDC collaborated with architect Robert Morris to propose a plan including both a market and public park. The scheme is in line with ideas discussed with Sue Lovell about creating an artisan park that suits the Menil-area culture, and would allow for artists and artisans to sell their work directly to the community. The idea behind the plan is that the corner would become a cultural draw for the whole area.

Key aspects of the plan — which didn't make the to-be-voted-on final three — include raising the store on stilts, situating it on the north side of the property and allotting for park acreage on the southwest side of the lot, along Barnard and Sul Ross.

Morris envisions soft pathways of decomposed granite connecting three basic zones: a plein-air artisans market, meadow and a natural self-maintaining harvesting rainwater pond. A series of open-air kiosks would present "quality arts and crafts by local artisans." The fabric-roofed kiosks will remain open at night, creating a lantern backdrop for the park.

The largest feature in this essentially-dismissed plan is a meadow, a grassy esplanade with ornamental beds complemented by a perimeter of existing tress for shade. This straight-forward sunlit esplanade would be bordered by an intricate pond, an "excavated and lined area defined by the drip line of existing trees for park irrigation and storm water retention." A statement from Morris elaborates:

What's more, two fountains, one at each end of the pond, would create ambient soothing masking sounds as well as aerate the pond water. This may sound a little heavy-handed, but the notion is the pond would serve as a critical physical link between the artisans market, meadow and H-E-B store. Nearby, an outdoor dining terrace will offer stair access to an H-E-B outdoor dining deck above.

MLDC and Robert Morris say they presented multiple methods for offsetting the cost of park maintenance and construction of a parking garage, such as subleasing autonomous commercial space for businesses facing West Alabama. The 24,000 square feet strip would create the semblance of a retail pedestrian realm, complete with a covered open seating area at each end and a green roof. A central passage would lead from the strip towards the grocery store. There is also an option for a second story of office space.

A service drive is sandwiched between the shops building and H-E-B, crossing a "blind" service area for the shops and market, as well as auto and pedestrian access to the parking garage. The raising of the store above ground level would allow for 230 covered parking spaces in addition to 243 more street-level spaces in the area along Dunlavy. This placement of the parking lot along the street makes the green space somewhat stranded in the lot's corner, but is perhaps a necessary concession to H-E-B.

Heg says that the organization is still searching for funding to cover H-E-B's requested $1.2 million for the close to two acres of green space even though the decision already appears to be limited to the three H-E-B proposed plans. Heg says she had been previously told that if the funding could be secured within 45 days after the meeting on Saturday, H-E-B would "entertain a two story option." But now, it appears that Robert Morris' articulate plans may be already lost forever.

The company's three designs will be presented to Montrose-area residents at the Neartown Association Workshop 9 a.m. Saturday at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church. McClelland will present the plans along with the models of each design so that attendees of the meeting can study them in detail and vote that morning.

Results will be revealed on Nov. 4. H-E-B representative Cyndy Garza-Roberts tells CultureMap that the grocery store will open before the end of 2011.

Editor's note: Want to get your opinion heard on the plans? Vote on which design H-E-B should go with in our CulturePoll.