SAN ANTONIO – There are still many questions surrounding plans for the Hemisfair Park area and the San Antonio Spurs’ involvement with the future of the site, but San Antonio city officials are attempting to keep any and every detail close to the vest.
KSAT recently requested open records for the Hemisfair Master Plan. That request included records related to a potential sports venue or arena, enhancements to the Alamodome and the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center and a land bridge over Interstate 37.
In July and August 2023, KSAT reported on conversations and meetings that were held by Spurs Sports and Entertainment (SS&E) officials and high-ranking city officials about a potential move downtown. Those discussions were held as early as January 2023 based on text messages and emails obtained by KSAT.
Sources tell KSAT those conversations between the Spurs and the city are ongoing, but a new arena would ultimately fall under a massive city-led project to revitalize the Hemisfair and the southeast downtown area.
The city withheld releasing those records, requesting a ruling from the state Attorney General’s office to withhold documents from disclosure. The letter cited, among other things, privacy rights, third-party interests and confidential or proprietary information that involves trade secrets or other commercial or financial information.
However, through the records request, KSAT obtained several letters from the city to third-party entities, indicating the scale of the project and conversations that are being held between the city, the Spurs and several stakeholders.
Those third-party letters included stakeholders such as SS&E, Alamo Trust, Inc. and UTSA. Letters were also sent to the San Antonio Local Organizing Committee (SALOC), outside engineering firms, conventions and consulting companies. Another letter was sent to Populous, a global architectural design firm specializing in creating entertainment environments and venues.
Each letter gave those entities an opportunity to object to the records request. As of Thursday, the attorney general had not ruled whether to release any communication records from those companies and the city. However, the inclusion of those companies and local stakeholders shows how many moving parts are involved in the project.
The Alamodome and the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center would also likely see major upgrades, but it’s unclear how a project of this size would be funded.
A new NBA and entertainment arena alone would likely cost around $1 billion. In May, Oklahoma City and the Thunder came to an agreement to build a new $950 million arena for the team.
Taxpayers would likely be asked to fund part of the project, but how much remains unknown. The rest could be funded by the private sector or monies from a state bill that allows San Antonio to designate parts of the city as project finance zones.
The designation makes it possible for the city to get tax rebates that would help fund the projects that expand tourism. A zone around the Alamodome and convention center could bring in an estimated $222 million for improvements to those facilities.
For their part, the Spurs have not released any public statements on plans for a new arena downtown or revealed any plans to renovate Frost Bank Center, their current home. The proposed site for a new arena would likely be the Institute of Texan Cultures site. The museum will be demolished and relocated to a temporary site, leaving 13.5 acres open on valuable property.
The Spurs’ lease at the Frost Bank Center, a Bexar County-owned facility, runs through 2032. The franchise has not given any indication that they would leave the facility before then.
More Spurs and Hemisfair-related coverage on KSAT: