Midnight Swim, the DJ-focused bar that has anchored a stretch of San Antonio's St. Mary's Strip for seven years, is closing for good on January 3, 2027. Owner John Michael Villanueva announced the shutdown earlier this month in a social media post, framing it not as a defeat but as the start of a roughly three-month farewell tour.
Villanueva told followers the team behind Midnight Swim has other plans for the location at 2403 N. St. Mary's St., according to the San Antonio Current. He called the send-off the farewell tour, grand finale and end, and said the bar plans to go crazy over Halloween weekend with drink specials and curated events running up until closing time in early 2027. The message to regulars, per that same report, was simple: have fun before it's over.
Midnight Swim first opened on August 30, 2019, as a collaboration between Villanueva, a local DJ, and Sophie Covo-Gonzales, managing director for Empty Stomach Restaurant Group, per the San Antonio Current's original coverage of the opening. The bar was built around Villanueva's local DJ collective, bringing digital music programming and house-party-style events to the strip, and became known for its DJ sets and cocktails.
A Space That Keeps Reinventing Itself
The 2403 N. St. Mary's St. address has a history of conceptual pivots under the same ownership group. Before Midnight Swim moved in, the space housed Chisme, a Tex-Mex restaurant run by the same parent company, according to CultureMap San Antonio. Empty Stomach Group is owned by restaurateur Chad Carey and is associated with several San Antonio venues, the San Antonio Express-News reports.
The team behind Midnight Swim has other plans for the location at 2403 N. St. Mary's St.
A Strip Still Recovering From Years of Roadwork
Midnight Swim's closure comes against the backdrop of a commercial corridor that has weathered serious disruption in recent years. The North St. Mary's Strip endured more than two years of city roadworks and utility construction, which was completed in September 2023 and severely cut into customer traffic, according to KSAT.
Those revenue losses contributed directly to at least one prior closure on the strip: live-music venue The Squeezebox shut its doors in July 2023 after seven years in business, with owner Aaron Pena citing the construction-era revenue shortfalls as the primary reason, per the same KSAT report. The City of San Antonio and District 1 officials later held a Rock the Block celebration in April 2024 to mark the completion of improvements along the corridor, including wider sidewalks, pedestrian lighting, benches and updated utility lines, according to the San Antonio Report. District 1 Councilwoman Sukh Kaur said her office would help establishments that had survived the disruption.
What Comes Next
Despite those tensions, new investment keeps arriving on the strip. Nearby, a renovation is planned for the former Gallery Club at 2726 N. St. Mary's St., according to CultureMap San Antonio. Separately, a new concept called Lesser Saints has entered construction at 2811 N. St. Mary's St.; Casey Lange is one name attached to a liquor license, though it is unclear whether he is the former Limelight owner, per CultureMap San Antonio.
For now, Midnight Swim's farewell tour gives longtime regulars one more stretch to say goodbye, starting with what Villanueva has promised will be a wild Halloween weekend. What exactly replaces the DJ bar at 2403 N. St. Mary's St. after January 3 remains undisclosed, but the space's long pattern of reinvention looks set to continue.
