San Antonio officials broke ground Monday on a new police substation for the South Side, a project city leaders frame as both a long-awaited public safety investment and a symbol of growth.
The South Flores Police Substation will be located at 8811 S. Flores St. near the intersection of South Flores Street and Roosevelt Avenue. The nearly 29,000-square-foot facility is expected to open sometime in 2027 and will feature community meeting spaces, similar to those found in the newly opened Saint Mary’s substation.
The project stems from the 2022-2027 bond project. City Manager Erik Walsh recounted persistent efforts by District 3 councilmembers to secure the substation, dating back to the beginning of his tenure with city in 2019.
“I remember distinctly, Councilwoman Rebecca Viagran’s question to me, both before and during the process. And it was ‘Talk about a commitment about a South Side substation,’” he said. “And here we are, so I want to thank former Councilwoman Rebecca Viagran and current Councilwoman Phyllis Viagran, who was extremely diligent in pursuing this project as part of the 2022 Bond program.”
Walsh described the groundbreaking as an overdue correction for a fast-growing part of the city that has historically lagged behind in police infrastructure.
“For an area of San Antonio like the South and the Southeast Side, which has seen tremendous growth — and has plenty more to grow — this type of investment is going to be important for a long time to come,” Walsh said.” It’s an investment. This is an important facility that’ll be here for generations.”
San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said the facility will represent “safety, partnership, and progress” for the area, and emphasized that it was driven by “collaboration and shared priorities.”
“Today’s groundbreaking was more than just starting construction of the building, it reinforces our commitment to this community here,” McManus said. “Public Safety works best when we work together.”
Councilwoman Phyllis Viagran said the substation reflected District 3’s ongoing push to expand public safety resources as development continues to move south.
“This was rural San Antonio, so here we are and we’re growing. And we know the subdivisions are coming, and we know the multi-family apartment complexes are coming,” she said. “So it is really important that we’re here at this location, where we sit kind of on the cusp between the County border and the city.”
Viagran pointed to improved response times as a key objective to address as development continues.
At the ceremony, Viagran spoke of joint efforts throughout the community to bring the project to fruition. She pointed to efforts from her predecessor and sister Rebecca Viagran that were met with a lack of data because community members were not reporting crimes in the area.
Viagran described community members minimizing crimes and not reporting incidents to SAPD making it difficult to justify the investment needed for additional resources in the area.
“When Rebecca started having these conversations because the community was growing, she was told the data was not there — they’re not reporting the crime,” Viagran said. “She’d go to the neighborhood associations and they would say, ‘Well, the kids left the bikes out in the yard and they got stolen.’ So that’s our fault, and her and her staff would have to say, ‘No, it’s not your fault, call.’”
As a part of the push for funding, residents were encouraged to report crimes and suspicious activity so the city could document the demand for additional police presence in the area.
“This is what we did as a community. We started to call. We started to say we need to see our officers,” Viagran said. ”We worked. We got the data and we came to the ’22 bond and with the help of my council colleague Councilmember Teri Castillo and the people that saw it on her committee with then Mayor Ron Nirenberg … we got it done.”
