There are about 50 acres of developable land in and around the eastern quadrant of Hemisfair in downtown San Antonio — and the City of San Antonio wants a piece of it.
While it already owns much of the park and its buildings, the City is eyeing at least two other major parcels of what City Manager Erik Walsh said at a recent San Antonio Report event is about 40 to 50 acres of land ready to be developed.
The City’s holdings include the Tower of the Americas and the convention center, the U.S. Pavilion and Confluence Theater and more.
But the federal government, via the General Services Administration (GSA), owns the Union Square Building and surface parking lots totaling more than eight acres of land.
“We have the right of first refusal on that property,” Walsh said. “We’ve got to go through a federal process, and we’ve initiated that, but our idea is to acquire that from the federal government … So we’re moving in that direction.”
Plans for the GSA-owned property are unclear but reports for months have revealed that the City soon will present a proposal that could include a new San Antonio Spurs basketball arena in the area.
On Monday, Walsh did not talk about plans for an arena, instead saying the city needs more meeting space, and hotel rooms, to compete with cities like Austin, which is planning to build a new and bigger convention center.
In late 2023, the City designated the convention center and Alamodome as a Project Financing Zone (PFZ). A financing tool created by the state legislature, the PFZ allows the city to collect the growth in the state’s revenue from hotels and businesses within its boundaries for 30 years. The city could then use the funds for qualified projects.
The convention center underwent a $325 million expansion in 2016, nearly doubling its size. The city bankrolled the construction of a 1,000-room convention center hotel, the Grand Hyatt, in 2005.
“The value of a convention center hotel is the block rooms,” he said. “The fact of the matter is that we’re losing block rooms because we have so many leisure travelers coming into San Antonio, so they’re giving away the block rooms.”
He said City staff would present a plan to City Council in November. “And that’s just to begin the conversation,” he said.
In 2022, the City acquired from the GSA the John H. Woods Courthouse, formerly the Confluence Theater, and the Adrian Spears Judicial Training Center, which will soon become the new home of the Universidad Nacional Autonóma de México.
For several years, the City has told the GSA it would be interested in purchasing the Union Square Building and parking lots, said City spokesman Luke Simons.
“We have initiated conversations with GSA leadership and some of our congressional delegation informing them of our interest,” he said. “The GSA is in the early stages of the process and the formal process has yet to begin.”
Pearl developer Oxbow also has an interest in the property.
Oxbow plans to build a multifamily, mixed-use development known as Southtown Aldea directly across the street, at 141 Lavaca St., and adjacent to a GSA-owned parking lot on the south side of East César E. Chávez Boulevard.
Omar Gonzalez, director of development at Oxbow Development Group, has said the firm told City staff that what happens with the land is “critical” to what happens with future phases of its Aldea project. “We would love to own or lease or control what goes here,” he said.
The University of Texas at San Antonio has owned and operated the Institute of Texan Cultures (ITC), a major piece of the easternmost section of Hemisfair, since 1973.
UTSA closed the museum in May and plans to relocate the exhibits to a potential permanent site near the Alamo. UTSA has entered into a memorandum of understanding with the city and 1859 Historic Hotels, owners of the Crockett Hotel, to potentially build on what is currently a hotel parking lot.
The ITC makes up roughly 13.5 acres in the public-private Hemisfair development, enough land for the city to build a sports arena or other significant development if the building was razed.
In an effort to prevent the demolition, the Conservation Society of San Antonio has appealed to the state for landmark designation.
In January, the Texas Historical Commission ruled that the ITC is eligible to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places, making any redevelopment of the property entitled to historic tax credits. But the National Register listing puts no restrictions on what a future “non-federal” owner can do with the property, including demolition.
A month later, the University of Texas System Board of Regents agreed to start talks with the City of San Antonio about a potential sale of the ITC property.
The city has said a deal could clear the way for a “potential downtown revitalization project,” a move that heightened speculation that the property could be used as a new downtown home for the Spurs.
In April, the university announced it plans to demolish the building.
But on Friday, THC approved the Conservation Society’s request to designate the building a State Antiquities Landmark, the highest level of historical designation in Texas. The designation requires an institution of higher learning to consult with the commission before making alterations or razing the building, but according to statute, does not necessarily halt any such plans.
On Thursday, UTSA spokesman Joe Izbrand said the university acknowledges the history of the ITC and is looking at “how to best maximize and monetize the resources of the Hemisfair Campus to support the temporary and permanent homes of the ITC.”
