San Antonio City Council gives consultant millions to find alternatives to scrapped land bridge

So far, Project Marvel’s land bridge, Alamodome renovation and convention center hotel have been either paused or scrapped. Credit: Courtesy Image / City of San Antonio

Last week, City Council voted unanimously to award Dallas-based Aecom Technical Services $3.7 million to study ways to facilitate pedestrian traffic across I-37 downtown, hypothetically connecting the Alamodome to the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center.

The funding extended to the infrastructure consulting firm includes a $2.96 million grant awarded to the city by the U.S. Department of Transportation as part of a Biden-era Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods program. The city will pay the remaining $740,000 through hotel occupancy taxes.

Initially, the city proposed building a land bridge to connect a renovated Alamodome to Hemisfair as part of the vision for a broader Project Marvel sports-and-entertainment district. However, City Manager Erik Walsh told reporters during the San Antonio Report’s City Fest in October that the land bridge was on an indefinite pause.

When former City Manager Lori Houston first unveiled details of Project Marvel to City Council in 2024, she proposed that funding for the hypothetical, billion-dollar land bridge might come from federal funds. However, those plans were put on hold after President Donald Trump and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) began slashing what they deemed wasteful spending.

Scaling back Marvel

The land bridge is just the latest aspect of Project Marvel that’s been dialed back or scrapped altogether in recent months.

Since voters approved $800-million in public financing for a new Spurs arena at Hemisfair — the anchor of the ambitious downtown development — the city has also put a new convention center hotel and $1 billion in improvements to the aging Alamodome on pause due to lack of funding.

A 200,000-square-foot expansion to the Henry B. González Convention Center is also on pause until city officials have a better understanding of the post-COVID convention market, City of San Antonio Chief Financial Officer Ben Gorzell said during a January council meeting.

As for the basketball arena, Spurs Sports & Entertainment (SS&E) and city officials initially said they would break ground this fall. However, the city has yet to acquire the land for the facility from the University of Texas System.

Still, construction isn’t expected to begin on the arena until SS&E begins construction on the surrounding residential, retail and restaurant space at Hemisfair, where sales tax revenue will be used to pay back bonds issued by the city for the arena.

Although the city has purchased the land for some of that development, construction on the project appears a long way off. As those following the plan may recall, the Spurs were purportedly on the hook to invest $500 million in surrounding economic development before the city issues the bonds.

While it may be too early to throw around the term “boondoggle,” the details surrounding Project Marvel sure look murky right now.

San Antonio City Council gives consultant millions to find alternatives to scrapped land bridge

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