City Council on Thursday approved spending half a million dollars for new lighting systems at the Alamodome and in the Henry B. González Convention Center.
The ordinance authorizing a contract with SA Smart Solutions, a San Antonio-based lighting company, to replace stage spotlights in the 30-year-old sports arena is worth $120,073. The cost will be funded through the Alamodome Improvement and Contingency Fund.
A city spokesman said the new lighting, which replaces well-worn, 20-year-old equipment, likely will debut this year during a San Antonio Brahmas football game.
In August, City Council approved two construction contracts worth over $29 million for 18 new luxury suites on the club level of the Alamodome and for major structural improvements ahead of the 2025 Men’s NCAA Final Four.
Through another ordinance, council members awarded CRI Electric of San Antonio a contract worth $397,300 to replace lighting panels at the convention center.
Lighting panels are electrical distribution panels that control and distribute power to lighting circuits in a building.
The convention center’s existing lighting panels were installed as part of a 1998 expansion of the building. The new panels will tie into the building’s automation system and will control lights in exhibit halls and pre-function spaces.
The work is expected to start this month and be completed in June.
The project will be paid for through the Texas Public Facilities Corporation in the fiscal year 2024-29 capital improvement program. The convention center underwent a $325 million expansion in 2016, nearly doubling its size.
In December, City Council approved an agreement naming both facilities as chosen projects to receive funding through a state tax-funded Project Financing Zone (PFZ). The funding mechanism allows a city to draw a 3-mile radius around a convention center or venue, then collect the growth in the state’s revenues from hotels and businesses within its boundaries for a 30-year period to spend on qualified projects.
However, neither lighting project approved Thursday will be funded through the PFZ, confirmed the spokesman, and other PFZ projects have not been identified.
