This article has been updated.
Since summer 2020, guests seeking a bite at Augie’s Alamo City BBQ have been “dodging barricades and bulldozers” due to construction along lower Broadway, said owner Augustine “Augie” Cortez Jr.
On Thursday, he finally threw in the towel.
“We have invested so much into serving our community and are heartbroken by not being able to continue our legacy at this location, but at this point we have no other choice,” he wrote in a press release announcing the closure.
On Thursday, the stretch of Broadway in front of the restaurant had two of three lanes open, but an array of orange barrels along the street indicated the road construction was continuing.
The announcement comes one day after City Council delayed implementation of a third construction mitigation grant program over eligibility requirements, which could provide $1.4 million in grants ranging from $10,000 to $35,000 to small businesses impacted by long-term construction projects.
The City of San Antonio released a statement Thursday afternoon acknowledging the burden construction places on small local businesses and listed the steps it takes to reduce that burden, including maintaining access to businesses and relief in the form of grants and other resources.
Augie’s BBQ was a recipient of “multiple” grants, according to the city’s statement, linking to a list of all the recipients of its pandemic and construction-related grants.
According to the list, Augie’s Alamo City BBQ received $15,000 in 2020, a $50,000 “hospitality grant” in 2021 and $35,000 in 2023.
Cortez has become an outspoken advocate for small businesses like his that have been affected by the many major construction projects underway around the city.
“I’d rather not ask you for money. I’d rather have accessibility for my guests,” he said during a small business town hall meeting in September hosted by Maestro Entrepreneur Center and attended by a handful of City Council members and a phalanx of city staff.
Cortez, also known for being the 73rd Rey Feo, will continue to serve barbecue and cater events from Augie’s Barbed Wire Smokehouse on North St. Mary’s Street near the San Antonio Zoo. “We humbly ask that you visit us at this location, and enjoy theBBQ where our dreams began.”
Julissa Carielo, who co-founded Maestro and went on to launch the private development firm DreamOn Group, issued the press release on Cortez’s behalf, and lamented the closure in it.
“We thought the pandemic was our biggest challenge,” she said, “but four years of street shutdowns provides no hope for survival. We are not against the new developments and improvements, we want them too, but our small businesses should not be forced to choose between saving their business versus having a new street.”
She called for more help for businesses impacted by construction, including ways to “reactive these areas to help our local small businesses get back to normal.”
The city should do more, she said. “How great would it have been for Augie to get a call two years ago stating, ‘We want to help you with a few utility or property tax bills since it’s our project that’s holding you back,’ or offered to relocate him to a new location.”
Council will be considering a line item in future budgets for construction mitigation, and City Manager Erik Walsh said Wednesday that the city is also exploring how CPS Energy and SAWS might be able to offer some utility bill relief as part of an ongoing program.
Thus far, construction mitigation grants have come from federal pandemic relief funds, meaning the city will have to seek other sources of revenue for a permanent program.
“We have initiated conversations with both those entities,” Walsh said Wednesday of the utility providers.
The top three uses for previous grants were rent and mortgage, payroll, and utilities, said Ana Bradshaw, assistant director of the Economic Development Department.
Augie’s Alamo City BBQ opened at 909 Broadway in 1999. The restaurant began struggling during the COVID pandemic and then construction.
