San Antonio City Council hears update on proposed downtown sports and entertainment district, acquisitions and funding timeline

San Antonio City Council on June 17 received an update on the proposed Downtown Sports and Entertainment District, an initiative staff said could include a downtown arena, convention center expansion, enhanced connectivity and mixed-use development. The briefing covered recent property acquisition plans, consultant work for mobility and parking, the city’s hire of an executive program manager and an overall timeline toward definitive agreements.

Shannon Miller, chief downtown officer, told the council the city has hired Accenture as the executive program manager to align strategy, funding, governance and delivery across projects in the district. “Accenture will be preparing a public facing dashboard to track priority metrics, which will launch in the new year,” Miller said, and staff plans to show a dashboard preview to council in September to gather feedback.

The presentation identified two pending land acquisitions the city expects will help support financing for the arena. Miller said the city plans to purchase a Federal Building at Indianola and Cesar Chavez Boulevard (about 5.7 acres) for $30,000,000 plus up to $120,000 in closing costs, and that the Spurs will contribute toward that purchase; closing is expected in July. Staff also said the former ITC site near I-37 (about 13.5 acres) is planned for the arena and mixed-use development, with an estimated cost of about $60,000,000 (appraisals pending) and funding anticipated to come from the Midtown TIRS program; that acquisition is expected to be finalized later this year.

On facilities, Miller said staff will present a convention-center feasibility study to council in September that will assess expansion needs (including about 180,000 square feet of additional exhibit space, she said) and a separate 10-year capital-assessment for the Alamodome. Miller said the feasibility work and mobility studies will inform definitive negotiations with the Spurs, the Spurs developer, Bexar County and other partners.

Staff also highlighted transportation and parking work planned for the district. Miller said the council will consider a Walker Consultants contract “valued at just under $500,000” on June 18 to lead a downtown mobility and accessibility study that will treat parking as one component of a broader mobility system. The city also has a U.S. Department of Transportation planning grant to study improved connectivity across I-37; public workshops tied to that work were announced for June 25 and 27.

Council members pressed staff on public engagement, small-business inclusion and transparency. Councilman Galvan asked that the EPM and consultants actively participate in public meetings and requested that the city provide post-meeting summaries so residents can track what was discussed and what changes were made. Miller and other staff said the EPM team and project consultants will be engaged in public input and that the dashboard will be previewed to the council in September.

Several council members sought clarity on specific project elements and financing. Troy (staff) and Eric (staff) answered questions about a previously discussed hotel that might have been located over a chilled-water plant: staff said SAWS’ feasibility made relocating the chilled-water plant prohibitively expensive and the hotel plan for that plant site was discontinued. “It won't make up because it wasn't considered,” Troy said of any replacement hotel; staff said no replacement, convention-center–adjacent hotel has been formally identified.

Councilman McKea Rodriguez criticized earlier briefings for offering little new information and urged greater public clarity before formal negotiations begin. “There wasn't much substance in the briefing outside of the same calendar that we've seen all year,” McKea Rodriguez said, and he asked that staff provide a public timeline for negotiations and a clear set of council priorities to inform those talks. Eric replied that negotiations with the Spurs have not yet begun and that staff is awaiting results of the district cost-and-revenue study approved May 7, which is expected at the end of the summer.

On legal and funding limits, Troy clarified the range of permissible uses for certain state-authorized funds. When asked whether PFC (the state-authorized convention/venue funding mechanism discussed earlier) can be used for affordable housing, Troy replied, “Then, no. It cannot be used. PFC cannot be used for affordable housing,” and said any PFC-related spending must meet statutory definitions and would require Texas Attorney General review.

Council members also discussed an outstanding council-consideration request (CCR) to create an oversight advisory body for the community benefits agreement (CBA) and a separate CCR focused on a public dashboard. Staff told council the CCRs remain in the governance committee; council members urged that a framework for an oversight commission and the dashboard be revisited publicly so the community can participate before definitive agreements are signed.

Staff said that definitive legal agreements for the arena project and other district elements will be informed by the ongoing studies and negotiations and that they expect to complete negotiations by the end of December. No votes or binding actions were taken at the B-session; council adjourned open session at 4:05 p.m. and moved to executive session to consult with the city attorney on economic-development negotiations and real-property matters. Staff reported no official action was taken in executive session.

What’s next: staff will return with the mobility and convention feasibility findings in September, a public preview of the Accenture dashboard later this year, and additional materials tied to definitive agreements and the district cost-and-revenue study later in the fall.