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The Spurs Coyote and Manu Ginobili at the Spurs\u2019 arena campaign launch party last year. Credit: Michael Karlis<\/p>\nThe Spurs Coyote and Manu Ginobili at the Spurs\u2019 arena campaign launch party last year. Credit: Michael Karlis<\/p>\n
Project Marvel \u2014\u00a0the $4 billion downtown sports and entertainment district anchored by a new Spurs arena at Hemisfair \u2014\u00a0isn\u2019t going to be as sweeping as once promised.<\/p>\n
Or so City Manager Erik Walsh, Chief of Financial Officer Ben Gorzell and other city staffers told reporters during a closed-door meeting on Wednesday. Rising interest rates, inflationary labor costs and the price of materials continue to wreak havoc across the economy at large, affecting plans for a major remake of SA\u2019s city center, they cautioned.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not going to be able to do an expansion of the convention center, an arena and a major renovation to the dome,\u201d Gorzell said. <\/p>\n
In a statement emailed to the Current following the meeting, Walsh said it\u2019s important for the city to balance urgency on moving forward with the massive project with due dilligence.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are major investments that will shape San Antonio for decades, and we want to make sound decisions every step of the way,\u201d Walsh said. \u201cWe\u2019re especially excited about beginning the solicitation process for the Convention Center expansion in 2027. That\u2019s a significant step toward strengthening our tourism economy, attracting more conventions and keeping San Antonio competitive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Details about those scaled-down plans come days after real estate developer Weston Urban told the Express-News<\/a> that plans for a new minor league baseball stadium near downtown are also uncertain due to economic headwinds, including rising material costs and interest rates.<\/p>\n \u201cAnything that goes into a data center is escalating, and we have a lot of those things,\u201d Weston Urban CEO Randy Smith told the city\u2019s Development Services Department this week. \u201cSo we need to price it again. I need to keep that as a footnote, as an asterisk. But those same dynamics affect our adjacent development and our ability to raise capital.\u201d<\/p>\n An abundance of parking <\/p>\n The downsizing of Project Marvel\u2019s components amounts to more than shaving off a million bucks here and there, according to Wednesday\u2019s city briefing.<\/p>\n The $1 billion in planned renovations to the Alamodome \u2014\u00a0which advocates argued was necessary to keep the venue competitive in luring events like the NCAA Final Four \u2014\u00a0has been revised to $125 million over the next decade.<\/p>\n The proposed land bridge spanning I-37 is now re-envisioned as a pedestrian and bicycle bridge. Still, the city hasn\u2019t ruled out tearing down a newly built pedestrian bridge and replacing it with a land bridge if federal funding eventually becomes available.<\/p>\n Beyond that, the outlook on downtown parking has also changed significantly, city staffers said Wednesday. <\/p>\n Last month, the city opted due to budget restraints not to move forward on an $85 million Alamodome parking garage under consideration as part of Project Marvel. However, consulting firm Walker, which the city paid $500,000 earlier this year to conduct a downtown accessibility and mobility study, found that San Antonio doesn\u2019t have a parking problem at all.<\/p>\n \u201cPreliminary findings suggest downtown\u2019s transportation challenges are not primarily caused by a shortage of parking spaces,\u201d the city said of AECOM\u2019s report.<\/p>\n According to the consulting firm\u2019s report, San Antonio has enough downtown parking to accommodate a Spurs game at Hemisfair, a sold-out show at the Alamodome and a full convention, all at the same time.<\/p>\n Where\u2019s the arena?<\/p>\n City officials offered few details Wednesday about when construction might begin on the new Spurs arena, which voters approved nearly a year ago.<\/p>\n In June, Walsh told reporters that although the city hadn\u2019t begun discussions with Spurs Sports & Entertainment, it was on track to wrap up negotiations by year\u2019s end. But the goalposts have moved on that too.<\/p>\n CFO Gorzell said it\u2019s presently unclear when negotiations may come to a close. <\/p>\n \u201cI said back then that we would be targeting to get done by the end of the calendar year,\u201d Gorzell said. \u201cMy assumption, when I said that, is we would have started a little bit earlier.\u201d<\/p>\n Indeed, he added that the city is still in talks with UT-San Antonio to close out the acquisition of the former Institute of Texan Cultures property \u2014\u00a0the location where the arena is to be constructed.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s nearing completion, but we don\u2019t actually own the site [where the arena is going] today, but we\u2019re wrapping up that process,\u201d Gorzell told reporters. \u201cI think the Spurs talked about an arena opening in July 2030. We have not developed with them a detailed schedule of when they would exactly break ground from a construction perspective, but that I believe is what they\u2019re targeting.\u201d \u200b<\/p>\n According to details in the initial term sheet with SS&E that City Council approved last year, \u201cDesign and construction of the arena is expected to take 57 months, with a completed facility delivered for Spurs and fan use by the start of the 2032-33 NBA regular season.\u201d<\/p>\n Using that timeline, the Spurs would have needed to begin construction last year to meet Gorzell\u2019s date \u2014 or sometime next year at the latest to meet the conditions outlined in the original term sheet.<\/p>\n Convention center improvements<\/p>\n The downsized details presented Wednesday come after the city already canceled plans for a 1,000-room convention center hotel that was to be part of Project Marvel. <\/p>\n Beyond that, the status of plans to redevelop the shuttered John H. Wood Jr. Federal Courthouse, which the city planned to turn into a concert venue, remains anyone\u2019s guess.<\/p>\n Even, so Wednesday\u2019s briefing did include some good news for those hoping to see Project Marvel come to fruition.<\/p>\n The city plans to move forward with a two-phase $850 million renovation and expansion of the Henry B. Gonz\u00e1lez Convention Center. But that too has been scaled back: from 200,000 square feet of new exhibit space to 136,000 square feet.<\/p>\n Those renovations, along with the $125 million for the Alamodome, will be financed through a city Project Finance Zone, which relies on projections of hotel revenue over the next 30 years.<\/p>\n The decision to reduce the scale of both projects came down to available money and rising material costs, Gorzell said.<\/p>\n The $1.3 billion arena, meanwhile, will be financed by the Hemisfair Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ), which in turn depends on SS&E persuading developers to build residential and retail space in the area.<\/p>\n With economic clouds scaring away development, it\u2019s not clear just when those projects may appear. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll just say we have begun negotiations with the Spurs, and we don\u2019t have a specific timeline of when they will be done,\u201d Gorzell said. <\/p>\n Sign Up for SA Current newsletters.<\/a><\/p>\n Follow us:\u00a0Apple News<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Google News<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0NewsBreak<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Reddit<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Instagram<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Facebook\u00a0<\/a>| Twitter<\/a>\u00a0| Or sign up for our\u00a0RSS Feed<\/a><\/p>\n Related Stories<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\tAt least four council members are considering another property tax increase to help fund infrastructure projects. \t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
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