![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Erik_Walsh_William_McManus_South_Flores_Substation_Groundbreaking_1.12.2026_Diego_Medel.jpg\")
City Manager Erik Walsh and San Antonio Police Chief William McManus spoke Monday about the yearslong effort by District 3 councilmembers to secure a police substation for the area. Credit: Diego Medel \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\nSan Antonio officials broke ground Monday on a new police substation for the South Side, a project city leaders frame as both a long-awaited public safety investment and a symbol of growth.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The South Flores Police Substation will be located at 8811 S. Flores St. near the intersection of South Flores Street and Roosevelt Avenue. The nearly 29,000-square-foot facility is expected to open sometime in 2027 and will feature community meeting spaces, similar to those\u00a0 found in the newly opened Saint Mary\u2019s substation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The project stems from the 2022-2027 bond project. City Manager Erik Walsh recounted persistent efforts by District 3 councilmembers to secure the substation, dating back to the beginning of his tenure with city in 2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember distinctly, Councilwoman Rebecca Viagran\u2019s question to me, both before and during the process. And it was \u2018Talk about a commitment about a South Side substation,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cAnd here we are, so I want to thank former Councilwoman Rebecca Viagran and current Councilwoman Phyllis Viagran, who was extremely diligent in pursuing this project as part of the 2022 Bond program.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
City Manager Erik Walsh and San Antonio Police Chief William McManus spoke Monday about the yearslong effort by District 3 councilmembers to secure a police substation for the area. Credit: Diego Medel \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n
Walsh described the groundbreaking as an overdue correction for a fast-growing part of the city that has historically lagged behind in police infrastructure.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor an area of San Antonio like the South and the Southeast Side, which has seen tremendous growth \u2014 and has plenty more to grow \u2014 this type of investment is going to be important for a long time to come,\u201d Walsh said.\u201d It\u2019s an investment. This is an important facility that\u2019ll be here for generations.\u201d<\/p>\n
San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said the facility will represent \u201csafety, partnership, and progress\u201d for the area, and emphasized that it was driven by \u201ccollaboration and shared priorities.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cToday\u2019s groundbreaking was more than just starting construction of the building, it reinforces our commitment to this community here,\u201d McManus said. \u201cPublic Safety works best when we work together.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Councilwoman Phyllis Viagran said the substation reflected District 3\u2019s ongoing push to expand public safety resources as development continues to move south.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was rural San Antonio, so here we are and we\u2019re growing. And we know the subdivisions are coming, and we know the multi-family apartment complexes are coming,\u201d she said. \u201cSo it is really important that we\u2019re here at this location, where we sit kind of on the cusp between the County border and the city.\u201d<\/p>\n
Viagran pointed to improved response times as a key objective to address as development continues.<\/p>\n
At the ceremony, Viagran spoke of joint efforts throughout the community to bring the project to fruition. She pointed to efforts from her predecessor and sister Rebecca Viagran that were met with a lack of data because community members were not reporting crimes in the area.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Phyllis_Viagran_Rebecca_Viagran_Teri_Castillo_South_Flores_Substation_Groundbreaking_1.12.2026_Diego.jpeg\")
District 3 Councilmember Phyllis Viagran and former District 3 Councilmember Rebecca Viagran talk with District 5 Councilmember Teri Castillo at the groundbreaking ceremony for the new South Flores Police Substation on the South Side. Credit: Diego Medel \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n
Viagran described community members minimizing crimes and not reporting incidents to SAPD making it difficult to justify the investment needed for additional resources in the area.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen Rebecca started having these conversations because the community was growing, she was told the data was not there \u2014 they\u2019re not reporting the crime,\u201d Viagran said. \u201cShe\u2019d go to the neighborhood associations and they would say, \u2018Well, the kids left the bikes out in the yard and they got stolen.\u2019 So that\u2019s our fault, and her and her staff would have to say, \u2018No, it\u2019s not your fault, call.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
As a part of the push for funding, residents were encouraged to report crimes and suspicious activity so the city could document the demand for additional police presence in the area.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is what we did as a community. We started to call. We started to say we need to see our officers,\u201d Viagran said. \u201dWe worked. We got the data and we came to the \u201922 bond and with the help of my council colleague Councilmember Teri Castillo and the people that saw it on her committee with then Mayor Ron Nirenberg \u2026 we got it done.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"San Antonio officials broke ground Monday on a new police substation for the South Side, a project city…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":120457,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[20571,36110,47067,14613,4805,52466,50442,52467,52468,8774,40534,52469,82,84,83,5264,632,52470,52471,4937,52472,18247,3028,6251,26126],"class_list":["post-120456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-2022-bond","tag-chief-william-mcmanus","tag-district-3","tag-erik-walsh","tag-icymi","tag-phyllis-viagran","tag-police-chief-william-mcmanus","tag-police-substation","tag-rebecca-viagran","tag-ron-nirenberg","tag-roosevelt-avenue","tag-saint-marys-substation","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news","tag-san-antonio-police-department","tag-sapd","tag-south-flores-police-substation","tag-south-flores-street","tag-south-side","tag-south-side-growth","tag-teri-castillo","tag-typedaily","tag-wc-500-750","tag-william-mcmanus"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120456"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120456\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}