SAN ANTONIO – Workforce housing, a Texas A&M graduate veterinary school and parking garages are among the proposed ideas residents and community leaders have shared for the future of the East Side.
Earlier this month, Bexar County Commissioner Tommy Calvert released a nearly 400-page report detailing recommendations from two town halls.
Now, neighbors who spoke at those town hall meetings are reacting to the future of the project and sharing how they want to avoid further “broken promises.”
Should voters approve “Project Marvel,” which includes a downtown arena for the San Antonio Spurs in Hemisfair Park and the city’s wider plans for an entertainment district, taxpayers must decide whether and how to repurpose over $300 million they have invested at the Frost Bank Center and Freeman Coliseum grounds.
The town halls focused on community brainstorming, concerns and recommendations for economic development.
More than 375 people participated in the Jan. 25 and Feb. 1 town halls, according to the report.
“I thought there was a lot of good input. I left there very hopeful that we would have some positive outcome if the Spurs decided to leave the Frost Bank Center,” said Dr. Eva Mason.
Mason, who grew up on the East Side, said she feels like broken promises were made when the Frost Bank Center was originally built. Now, she wants people to speak up about making sure any new plans benefit the community.
“Because if we don’t do something now, and we don’t speak up now and we let this happen again, the East side is going to, you know, demolish itself. It’s not going to flourish, you know? It’s just not going to flourish, and we need it to flourish,” Mason continued.
The bulk of their suggestions focused on attracting new businesses and preventing exploitation in the area.
“Residents are demanding innovative plans and job inducing industries that spur economic development in an area of San Antonio that has been historically denied the same level of shared economic prosperity as more affluent areas within the county,” according to a news release issued by Calvert’s office.
Residents expressed the following suggestions:
- Include local residents and businesses in future plans, particularly those that have been hurt because of traffic cones preventing patrons from going to their business
- Refurbish both arenas similarly to other cities to have a water theme, beautiful windows, inside a park, apartments, senior living, college student living, restaurants, sidewalk cafes, concourse remade into a running track, keeping some facade to maintain the historical aspect of the arena, leave the floor logo for historical purposes and at entrances
- Parking garages with housing and additional rodeo and multipurpose halls on the rooftops, ground floors with restaurants, shops and offices
- Create railroad over or underpasses so that traffic can flow better
- Create spaces where educational and trade learning can be taught on the Coliseum Grounds
- Invest in the people rather than just buildings and entertainment and provide hospitals, community gardens and education centers
- De-bundle contracting opportunities
- Get the level of care and planning that Project Marvel has for Freeman Coliseum and Frost Bank Center
Community leaders agreed in their opposition to a casino in the area, citing concerns about attracting organized crime and other illegal activity, the report stated.
In the report, Calvert recommended a deed restriction on casinos be implemented on the grounds of the Frost Bank Center, Freeman Coliseum and Willow Springs Golf Course.
Calvert also proposed a plan to redevelop the Willow Springs Golf Course with a Texas A&M graduate school of veterinary medicine to assist the rodeo.
The county would develop the areas and build workforce housing, according to the report.
Concept renderings in the report showed River East at Salado Creek as a potential catalyst for East Side economic growth, with proposed ideas to reduce flood potential on certain corridor areas.
Other ideas in the report depicted a new vision for the River East area, using Salado Creek as a framework for the district, with new gathering spaces and a link between the Frost Bank Center and a new 24/7 mixed-use center.
According to Calvert’s release, a study revealed the Frost Bank Center would need more than $244 million in maintenance for the next 20 years, which does not account for the 75-year-old Freeman Coliseum building and the property’s expo halls.
To read the full report, click the link here.
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