Commercial Locksmith in San Antonio, TX

Downtown buildings and their doors

San Antonio's older commercial core has a few distinct building types, and each brings its own mix of doors.

• Alamo Plaza. Most buildings are stone and brick, three to twelve stories tall, including early skyscrapers. A building of that size can have a street entrance, stair and service doors, and suite doors that each take their own keys.
• Main and Military Plaza. On the west bank of the river, this area holds San Fernando Cathedral and the 1882 Bexar County courthouse.
• St. Paul Square. East of downtown, it is mostly brick and stucco around Sunset Station, the 1902 passenger depot.

Storefronts in historic districts

City guidelines for historic storefronts say to keep recessed entrances and original doors, so plan commercial work around the existing door. A landmark or a building in a local historic district needs a Certificate of Appropriateness from the Office of Historic Preservation for exterior changes, and any change in materials or design goes before the Historic and Design Review Commission. Interior alterations are not reviewed, so an interior storeroom or suite door sits outside that process. The guidelines also say to install security bars only on the interior of windows and doors. This is general information, not legal advice.

Staff and tenant turnover

Every departing employee, cleaning contractor or former tenant can leave a key in circulation. A few habits keep that manageable:

• keep a written log of who holds which key, and collect keys at exit
• rekey the affected locks when a keyholder leaves without returning a key
• in a building with several tenants, keep the shared street and stair doors on a different key from each suite, so one tenant's change leaves the others alone

For a shop or office, check which party the lease makes responsible for changing locks before work starts. The lock rekeying page explains how rekeying works.

What to include in a request

Give the business or building name, the street and nearest cross street, how many doors and which kinds (glass storefront, wood entry, rear service door), whether the building is in a historic district, and whether you own it or lease it with the landlord's approval. See commercial locksmith for the service and San Antonio for the local picture.