Spurs Sports and Entertainment held a public meeting where about two dozen people gathered at Morgan’s Wonderland with suggestions for the new Spurs downtown arena and the surrounding 20 acres waiting to be developed.
“I wanna see fine dining, but what I put as the primary thing is I want to go in there, I wanna feel that it is San Antonio,” said George Malick.
Liberty Swift with Spurs Sports and Entertainment communication team says the 20 acers are located at and around where the Institute of Texan Cultures used to sit.
“What we’re hearing is making sure that these options are both family-friendly spaces we can use year-round,” said Liberty Swift.
So far, the feedback from residents is that they’d like to see cafés, restaurants, and event spaces. Swift says in prior meetings people have brought up ideas they did not expect.
“Other things just as practical as families telling us we wanna see more restrooms,” said Swift.
Parking has also been a common topic.
“We’ll make sure to construct our own parking facility there as well. We’ll leverage parking for big event days like games at the Alamodome,” said Swift.
District 5 Councilwoman Teri Castillo, who wants local artists to help with the design and decoration of the new downtown district.
She also wants contract workers on the project to be paid a minimum wage of $18 an hour or more, in line with the city’s minimum wage.
“If we raise our minimum wage to $19, they would then also have to raise their wage to $19 an hour,” said Castillo.
One more meeting will be held to take public input on Monday. Construction is expected to begin on the project late next year.