San Antonio is heading into the new year with much of its downtown construction projects still active — a lingering pain point for some downtown business owners who earlier this year launched a political action committee out of frustration.
The city’s public works department was able to complete one major construction project in the downtown area this year — the Lower Broadway Bond Project, said department spokesman Nicholas Olivier in an email.
However, the South Alamo project and Zona Cultural projects remain active, he said.
Both are scheduled for completion in 2025, with coordination efforts underway to accommodate Final Four activities, Olivier added. The 2025 NCAA Men’s Final Four, the Division I Men’s Basketball Championship, is set for April 5 and 7 in San Antonio.
“The City of San Antonio and the NCAA agreed that improvements were needed to the Alamodome,” he wrote. “Those projects, including the addition of more box suites, are on schedule for completion ahead of the Final Four.”
Downtown construction projects have long been a point of contention between the city and local businesses with storefronts affected by street closures.
Earlier this year, ongoing construction for the $185 million Alamo Visitor Center and Museum posed challenges for businesses along Houston Street.
Some have pointed to construction project failures on N. St. Mary’s Strip being among the reasons former Councilman Mario Bravo was ousted from his District 1 seat in 2023 by Sukh Kaur.
In response to what local business leaders categorized as a systematic failure by the city to protect businesses from the effects of downtown construction, several local business owners rallied to launch the Business Community PAC in July, with aims of taking on a more formal role in the next city election, which includes an open mayoral race.
Aaron Peña, the bar impresario behind Southtown’s Amor Eterno, Gimme Gimme and A Perfect Day, was the registrant of the new PAC. The PAC’s founders include the Friendly Spot’s Jody Bailey Newman and Chad Carey of the Empty Stomach Group.
Earlier this year, Newman told the San Antonio Report that the group hopes to help support a mayoral candidate and council members who will hold City Manager Erik Walsh accountable for the failures they see in every city construction project.
“They talk about the failure at North St. Mary’s like it was some big one-off,” Newman said at the time. “But every project is North St. Mary’s.”
The city council responded by aiming to prioritize roadwork in the 2025 budget. Council approved the $4 million 2025 fiscal budget in September.
Here’s a quick look at which downtown projects are still underway:
South Alamo Street
The South Alamo Street Project is a 2017 bond project that aims to reconstruct Alamo Street from Market Street to Cesar E. Chavez Boulevard.
It includes adding pedestrian amenities and enhancements, as well as drainage work, chilled waterlines work, sewer work and CPS Energy underground electric work. To date, roughly $48 million has been spent on this project.
The project grabbed local attention earlier this year when the city sought to get the San Antonio Water System to sign onto a memorandum of understanding agreeing to take on liabilities and costs associated with not replacing a 100-year-old water main and sewer main — despite SAWS officials pushing the city to do so. SAWS officials refused to sign the MOU, which has not been returned to their desk since, SAWS Vice President of Communications and External Affairs Gavino Ramos confirmed on Dec. 20.
Due to a hard deadline for hosting the Final Four, the long-standing, oft-delayed project will have to be partially completed by the spring. Estimations for the project’s completion are set for mid-February and includes instead patching the sewer main while leaving the water main untouched.
South Presa Street
The South Presa Street project is a 2017 bond project that aims to construct corridor improvements from Military Drive to Southcross. To date, roughly $22 million has been spent on this project.
Project construction began in September 2022 and is expected to wrap by this spring.
Zona Cultural Streets
Zona Cultural is a 44-block historic district on the western edge of downtown San Antonio. As “the birthplace of San Antonio,” it enjoys a strategic location within the city and is home to many established businesses and long-term residents.
Contractor Sundt Construction continues reconstruction work on the Zona Cultural Streets project, which began in 2022.
The project consists of three 2017 bond projects, including Commerce Street from Frio to Santa Rosa streets; San Saba Street from Nueva to Martin streets; and Santa Rosa Street from Cesar E. Chavez Boulevard to Martin Street. Construction for this area is expected to be completed by March.
Zona Cultural has been a reconstruction hotspot in San Antonio since 2020.
