San Antonio restaurateur Andrew Goodman’s art-filled, two-bedroom, two-bath rental apartment in The ’68 building is located right where he wants to be: smack dab in the middle of Hemisfair and everything happening downtown. It’s also within walking distance of his two restaurants. 

Goodman is owner of the restaurant Battalion on South Alamo Street and is a partner in the Rebelle restaurant and the Haunt lounge, both in the St. Anthony hotel. He previously owned the now-closed Playland and Feast restaurants.

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Goodman’s top-floor apartment is considered The '68's penthouse because it has taller, 14-foot ceilings, larger windows and a bigger balcony than the building's other 150 units.

Andrew Goodman, 54, is owner of the restaurant Battalion on South Alamo Street and is a partner in the restaurant Rebelle and the lounge Haunt, both in the St. Anthony hotel. 

Goodman personalized the apartment by turning a built-in kitchen desk into a compact, cosmopolitan bar.

The apartment's white walls let Goodman's art collection pop, including this piece by San Antonio painter Waddy Armstrong.

Much of the apartment's decor, such as this leather-covered horse that lived in the now-defunct Playland, at one time decorated his restaurants.

Andrew Goodman, who lives in The '68 apartment building in Hemisfair, poses with his dog Champ.

Goodman positioned his bed in the center of the room facing the windows so he can see that expansive view of the city. To make it work, however, he had to buy a bed with a headboard finished in the back, since it would be visible to visitors.

The main bathroom has a large tub and a glass-enclosed, walk-in shower. He added the blue lights to provide some atmosphere.

The guest bedroom has equally stunning views of the city skyline,

Andrew Goodman personalized his penthouse apartment in The '68 by filling it with plenty of colorful art.

Goodman whimsically decorated a two-headed sculpture in the kitchen by adding beads and a paper crown. 

The Eiffel Tower visits San Antonio in Andrew Goodman's eight-floor apartment in The 68 in Hemisfair.

Goodman used his restaurant connection when he went looking for paintings, sculptures and other art pieces to decorate the place.

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Andrew Goodman’s art-filled, two-bedroom, two-bath rental apartment in The ’68 building is located right where he wants to be: smack dab in the middle of Hemisfair and everything happening downtown. It's within walking distance of his two restaurants as well. 

“I think I have some of the best views in the city,” said Goodman recently as he gazed out the window of his eighth-floor penthouse. It’s a view that encompasses the entirety of downtown, from the federal courthouse and the Alamodome , past the Grand Hyatt and the convention center and all the way to the Tower Life Building. 

“And whenever there’s anything going on downtown, like the Diwali Festival, Luminaria or the New Year’s Eve fireworks, I’ve got a front row seat,” he said.

To prove his point, he asks a visitor to sit in a living room chair, "the money seat," where the Tower of the Americas is perfectly framed by one of the room’s tall, narrow windows. 

Viewed from what he calls the "money seat," the Tower of the Americas is perfectly framed in one of the living room's tall, narrow windows.

Built in 2019, the ’68 was named for HemisFair ’68, the World’s Fair often credited with putting San Antonio on the international map. Goodman’s top-floor apartment is considered the penthouse because it has taller, 14-foot ceilings, larger windows and a bigger balcony than the building's other 150 units.

He said he pays about $3,700 monthly in rent, which includes parking and a pet fee.

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At 54 and single, the apartment’s downtown location fits with Goodman's lifestyle.

“I love living downtown,” he said. “I grew up on the North Side; I went to Lee High School. But as soon as I graduated, I moved downtown. I’ve been here ever since. I can walk to work in five minutes.”

Because the apartment is a rental, he’s limited to what he can do to personalize the place. Still, anyone who has dined in any of his signature stylish restaurants will recognize the apartment’s modern, even futuristic decor, if only because so much of it came from his restaurants. 

Goodman said he doesn’t cook often, but his kitchen is large and attractive enough that he and fellow restaurateur Stefan Bowers used it to do several Facebook Live cooking segments during the pandemic.

There’s the mirror-covered lion that once greeted guests at the entrance to Rebelle , the leather-covered horse that lived in Playland and a piece by San Antonio artist Kimberly AuBuchon that hung in Feast.

The rest of the apartment is done in clean lines with white-and-chrome furnishings, colored lights in the shower and multi-hued area rugs that warm and soften the concrete floors. He also kept the museum-white walls to better showcase his collection of art that includes, among others, San Antonio painters Ben Mata and Waddy Armstrong and Ruben Sanchez, who did the mural on the building's parking garage.

He personalized the apartment by turning the built-in desk in the kitchen into a compact, cosmopolitan bar simply by adding shelves to the top to display his impressive liquor collection and wine refrigerators below to keep vintages and other bottles chilled. 

While he says he’s mostly happy with the finish outs provided by the developer, Area Real Estate, there are some improvements he said he'd make if he owned the place. These include replacing the white subway tile in the bathroom and the black quartz countertops in the kitchen and bath.

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“I might upgrade some things a bit,” he said. “I might do marble countertops and maybe some more colorful tiles in the shower. But I do understand why they went with basic black and white, and I love the way the two contrast with each other.”

He also added some color to the bath by installing blue lights above the shower stall.

Another personalization: He positioned his bed not against either of the two walls suggested by the room’s design. Instead, he put it in the center of the room facing the windows so he can see that that expansive city view first thing in the morning and last at night. 

The view from Goodman's balcony includes the Alamodome, the Tower of the Americas, the Grand Hyatt and the convention center.

“Why wouldn’t you want it this way?” he said. “It’s especially great at Christmas when you’ve got the Christmas lights at La Villita , the Hilton does their thing and I can see the lights twinkling on the river."

To make it work, however, he had to buy a bed with a headboard that is finished in the back, since it would be visible to visitors.

He said he also appreciates the main bathroom's glass-enclosed, walk-in shower and large tub. 

“I’ve never seen a tub that size in a rental apartment,” he said. “And what’s super cool, they did a dual-head shower, so it’s pretty nice. They also did dual sinks, even though I live alone, so I don’t really need them.”

Goodman said he doesn’t cook often, relying more on his restaurant kitchens for meals. But the kitchen was large and attractive enough that he and  fellow restaurateur Stefan Bowers used it to do several Facebook Live cooking segments during the pandemic.

rmarini@express-news.net | Twitter: @RichardMarini

Richard A. Marini is a features reporter for the San Antonio Express-News where he's previously been an editor and columnist. The Association of Food Journalists once awarded him Best Food Columnist. He has freelanced for American Archaeology, Cooking Light and many other publications. Reader's Digest once sent him to Alaska for a week. He came back.