San Antonio's Historic and Design Review Commission signed off Wednesday on rooftop dining plans for two downtown restaurants, clearing the way for a new bar atop the 80-year-old Casa Rio on the River Walk and a rooftop dining area for Chef Johnny Hernandez's long-planned Mexican restaurant in La Villita's Maverick Plaza.
The commission's approval, first reported by the San Antonio Report, covers two separate projects that have been years in the making. At Maverick Plaza, the panel approved a request to add a 28-foot stair tower, clad in brick, to the rooftop dining area of the restaurant Hernandez is developing through his company, Grupo La Gloria. The two-story building, designed by Fisher Heck Architects and incorporating precast stone, brick and stucco, is planned for the corner of East Nueva and South Alamo streets, though construction has not yet broken ground, according to the same report.
Casa Rio, founded in 1946 by Alfred F. Beyer shortly after completion of the downtown river channelization project, is recognized as the oldest continuously operating restaurant on the River Walk, per MySA. The restaurant is an individually designated landmark occupying a structure built around 1885, and its owners secured approval to build an addition on the restaurant's south side that will include a street-level space or balcony along with a full rooftop level, per the San Antonio Report.
A New Concept Named for a Childhood Memory
The rooftop addition will be known as the Night Heron, and it will combine flavors from Casa Rio with those of Schilo's, the historic German-Texan deli that moved to its current downtown location near the river in 1927, according to Schilo's. Both restaurants are owned and operated by Los Leones, the family group behind a wider portfolio of local institutions that also includes Broadway News, per the San Antonio Report.
Co-owner Elizabeth Lyons Houston said the name honors nesting night herons seen along the River Walk, tracing back to a childhood memory of finding and nursing an orphaned heron, as reported by CultureMap San Antonio. The new concept, located at 430 E. Commerce St., will feature interior design by local firm Day Atelier built around marbled greens, midnight blues and rich terracotta, alongside a beverage program spotlighting agave spirits and Mexican wines. CultureMap San Antonio reports the Night Heron is targeting a spring 2027 opening, with a small-bites menu inspired by restaurants in Mexico City, per the San Antonio Report.
The Night Heron project received conceptual approval nearly a year before this week's vote, and architecture firm Overland Partners has since changed the proposed massing and facade arrangement. The approval requires removal of two rear additions, along with an existing awning, column and exterior finishes, and mandates that all windows meet new-construction standards. Final plans must still go to the city's Office of Historic Preservation for review, according to the San Antonio Report. Houston said stakeholders should contribute collaboratively to downtown revitalization, the outlet notes, and once complete, the Night Heron will add a new food and beverage option to its stretch of the River Walk.
Maverick Plaza's Long Road to a Rooftop
The Maverick Plaza restaurant traces back to a 49-year lease agreement Grupo La Gloria signed with the City of San Antonio in May 2018, granting concession rights for indoor restaurants, outdoor kitchens and kiosks in the historic plaza, according to the San Antonio Current. The transformation was structured as a $12 million public-private partnership, with Grupo La Gloria committing $7.6 million and the city contributing $4.4 million from Inner City Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone funds toward utility infrastructure, repaving and a central fountain.
The plan has not been without friction. The San Antonio Current reports that opposition from the Conservation Society of San Antonio centered on concerns that new restaurant footprints would shrink open public space by 35%, from 27,300 square feet down to 17,750 square feet, with the group also worried about effects on its annual A Night in Old San Antonio fundraiser. The commission granted conceptual approval to Maverick Plaza's plans for two food and beverage outlets back in August 2022, and gave final approval to the restaurant itself this past February, per the San Antonio Report. A separate Faville House restaurant proposal that appeared in the 2022 designs, along with a German restaurant concept, were not part of the recent submission to the Office of Historic Preservation.
La Villita's broader upgrades date back to 2021, when the district received city-approved improvements including new utilities, a fountain, landscaping, pavers and lighting, following commission approval in August 2020. Grupo La Gloria now operates about a dozen restaurant concepts around the city, including La Gloria locations at the Pearl, Brooks and San Antonio International Airport, as well as Alta Cocina in Southtown — the mole-forward rebrand of Hernandez's former Casa Hernán cantina that Hoodline reported in March. Hernandez said he wants a beautiful rooftop dining experience for guests at the new Maverick Plaza restaurant, according to the San Antonio Report.
Part of a Bigger Downtown Push
Both rooftop projects arrive as San Antonio leans further into its culinary identity. The city was designated a Creative City of Gastronomy by UNESCO in 2017, making it only the second U.S. city after Tucson, Arizona, to receive the honor, according to the San Antonio Report's earlier coverage of the commission's role. The HDRC itself functions as an advisory board appointed by City Council to regulate exterior design, structural additions and material alterations within the city's historic districts, with projects required to align with Office of Historic Preservation design guidelines.
The Maverick Plaza restaurant is also intended to showcase San Antonio's culinary legacy, per the San Antonio Report, arriving alongside the city's much larger Project Marvel plan — a proposed multi-billion-dollar downtown sports and entertainment district anchored by a $1.3 billion arena for the San Antonio Spurs near Hemisfair, according to KENS5, which reported the city finalized a $30 million property purchase for the district in July. Downtown business owners have pointed to that larger investment as a sign that rooftop additions at places like Casa Rio and Maverick Plaza fit into a broader wave of momentum for the urban core, even as neither project has a firm construction start date yet.
