It wasn’t long after the City Council voted in June to amend the city’s sign code to allow digital billboards in San Antonio before permit requests started rolling in.
On Wednesday, the Historic and Design Review Commission (HDRC) approved the latest request in the pilot project, a brightly lit sign to be installed on the side of a building at 1301 E. Commerce.
But for applicants, the process doesn’t end there. Before the Times Square-style signs can go up, approvals and permits are also required from the city’s Development Services Department and, in some cases, the Texas Department of Transportation.
Several other requests have made it through HDRC and await those approvals, including one at 123 Hoefgen Ave. in the St. Paul’s Square area downtown, and another at 451 Soledad St., a public parking garage.
The latest sign to win HDRC approval is proposed for a non-historic Store Space self-storage building on the near East Side. The sign measures 15 feet wide by almost 19 feet tall and is planned for the south facade of the building, which is located in the Dignowity Hill Historic District.
Commissioners granted the certificate of appropriateness without discussion.
The Digital Media and Arts Pilot Program, approved by City Council in June 2025, is intended to promote the arts through an art component for the digital displays and create a revenue stream for the city’s Arts and Culture Department.
The flashy, rotating signs are common in cities like Denver and Atlanta.
San Antonio’s pilot program allows up to 10 off-premise digital sign installations on private property in eight defined program areas. Two of the 10 spots will be set aside for the city and eight are available to private applicants on a first-come, first-served basis.
Signs can’t be put up on historic buildings and other structures or the River Walk.
But installations within one of the city’s historic districts, like the one at 1301 E. Commerce, require HDRC approvals.
The panel had previously been granted conceptual approval for the project with commissioners requesting slight changes to the positioning, said Cory Edwards, interim director of the Office of Historic Preservation.
“With all of these, they have kind of recommended that the proportions follow architectural cues of the buildings,” he said. “Ultimately, the applicants are motivated to get approval so they’ve been really willing to kind of modify the proposals and incorporate feedback to get that approval.”
When proposed, the pilot program generated some pushback from preservationists, residents and some council members, and raised new questions and issues for the commissioners and OHP even as the requests came in.
“What is interesting about this is the pilot basically establishes a path for something that is not normally allowed in historic districts,” Edwards said. “That was sort of the initial kind of hurdle for the commissioners.”
