With a decision during Commissioners Court on Tuesday, the 86-foot pylon sign adorning the historic Alameda Theater marquee could again light up West Houston Street.
Commissioners approved allocating $2.5 million to refurbish and restore the blade-shaped, neon sign, a distinctive feature of the former movie palace in downtown San Antonio along San Pedro Creek.
The project is expected to start this summer in tandem with a complete renovation of the 1949 theater — a goal that’s been in the works almost since the day it closed in 1990.
The newest funding granted for refurbishing the sign comes on top of almost $12.8 million the San Antonio City Council allocated for the theater renovation project through the Houston Street Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone, and $7 million the county contributed in 2021.
In its early years, the Alameda Theater served as a prominent Mexican-American entertainment venue and housed the offices of the Mexican Consulate and the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
The city acquired the shuttered Alameda property in 1995 for just under $1 million with an eye toward preserving the theater. The city formed the conservancy in 2017 and has assigned all responsibility for the property to the group for the next 40 years. Both the city and county have since contributed to its operational funding.
Today, the Alameda Theater shares space with Texas Public Radio (TPR), which contributed $5 million to build its offices along the county-funded San Pedro Creek Culture Park. The Alameda’s stagehouse, which sits behind the performing stage, shares a wall with the station.
“For my family and I, the preservation and reactivation of the Alameda Theater has become a multi-generational endeavor,” Pete Cortez, chairman of the conservancy board, told commissioners. “My late father, Jorge Cortez, was a vocal advocate for preserving Latino culture on the west end of downtown. He often referred to this theater as the crown jewel of the Zona Cultural.”
A long time coming
The group tasked with overseeing the renovation project has so far obtained $22 million in state and federal historic tax credits, and has a capital campaign underway that’s “finally showing success,” said Trey Jacobson, interim executive director of the Alameda Theater Conservancy.
The conservancy has raised a total of $1.4 million and received another $6.85 million in commitments from donors, he said.
“The project’s been going on for so long that one of our enemies, in terms of fundraising, is skepticism,” Jacobson said. “It’s been going on … for 31 years, and so people are like, is this really going to happen?”
The theater is expected to open in spring 2028 after $64 million in renovations.
Jacobson said the sign is the largest part of the cost, and the most visible of the project, requiring refinish work on all the metal panels in the sign, replacing electronics and remaking the neon tubes.
But the time has nearly come to remake the theater. Jacobson told commissioners that they are ready to get started. Design plans are approved and permits requested.
“We are anticipating that we will close on our financing as early as June 30 of this year,” he said, then work can begin.
The conservancy recently contracted with ATG Entertainment to manage the entertainment spaces, which is expected to feature Latino-focused artists and performers.
