The University of Texas at San Antonio is continuing its march across downtown San Antonio, recently acquiring another 1.67 acres of prime real estate in the urban core.
County records show UTSA bought the circa-1900 storefront buildings and parking lot known as Kallison Square in early March.
UTSA bought the property at the corner of Dolorosa and South Flores streets, adjacent to the UTSA School of Data Science, from San Antonio-based developer GrayStreet Partners.
UTSA Spokesman Joe Izbrand said UTSA has “no immediate plans” for the property and will continue to operate the parking lot there.
“We intend to study adaptive reuse opportunities to activate the street level as part of our planning for the expansion of academic programs in the future,” he said, adding that any future development will not affect the historic facade of the buildings.
In the same area of downtown, the university began construction in 2023 on the Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Careers building, its San Pedro II project at 622 Dolorosa St. The 182,000-square-foot building is expected to be completed in the fall and open to students in January 2026.
An art school and office building
UTSA began the expansion of its downtown campus with a groundbreaking for the School of Data Science and National Security Collaboration Center in January 2021. The 167,000-square foot, six-story building on Dolorosa Street known as San Pedro I opened in January 2023.
Also in 2021, the Southwest School of Art campus at 300 Augusta St. became part of the university and was integrated into UTSA’s College of Liberal and Fine Arts.
Last fall, UTSA purchased an 18-story office building, One Riverwalk Place at 700 N. St. Mary’s St., from Affinius Capital and Patrinely.
University officials said the office building purchase was part of UTSA’s 10-year phased approach “to accelerate the development of its downtown campus” and promote workforce development in the center city.
Academic departments and support services are expected to move into the building after the finish-out is completed this summer.
In addition to its main downtown campus at 501 W. César E Chávez Blvd., UTSA also owns the building formerly occupied by the Institute of Texan Cultures, which sits squarely in the path of plans for a downtown sports and entertainment center and new Spurs arena.
The seven tracts of land UTSA now owns downtown have a combined assessed value of over $5 million, according to 2024 evaluations from the Bexar Appraisal District.
A faded cowboy and an author
GrayStreet bought the Kallison’s property in 2018 from Austin developer Teeple Partners, which had canceled its plans to build twin apartment towers.
GrayStreet Partners managing partner Kevin Covey did not respond to a request for comment about the sale to UTSA.
A spokeswoman for the developer said at the time GrayStreet acquired the property, it had no defined plans for the site. Several small businesses that were operating from the storefronts, including a food mart and three restaurants, have long since shuttered.
Situated across from City Hall and Bexar County Justice Center, the property gets its name from the buildings once occupied by Kallison’s Western Wear, a downtown institution that closed in 2002 after a century in operation.
Many knew the building for its cement statue, the saddle-toting Kallison Cowboy, which stood atop the store for an unknown number of years and had long since faded.
In 2019, GrayStreet removed the statue and placed it in storage where it awaited restoration, according to Covey. A portion of the statue can be seen on its original pedestal.
In January, UTSA also became the official owner, through a gift deed from developer Weston Urban, of the historic O.Henry House.
Two years ago, the developer relocated the adobe brick house in which the short-story author lived in 1885 from its spot at the corner of Dolorosa and South Laredo streets to make way for a residential development on the site.
