San Antonio leaders gather Wednesday at 2 p.m. in city council chambers for a fresh round of Project Marvel updates, and this time the proposed Spurs arena is taking a back seat. The briefing is expected to focus on potential improvements to the Henry B. González Convention Center and the Alamodome, along with financing questions and a potential grant to help connect the East Side with downtown. No formal action is expected at the meeting.
While a proposed Spurs arena has drawn much of the attention surrounding Project Marvel, as reported by KENS 5, the broader district is a more than 60-acre undertaking anchored by a $1.3 billion basketball venue and an expanded convention center, according to San Antonio Report. That outlet reports the city has proposed a nearly 200,000-square-foot expansion of the convention center, though an earlier account from TPR described the plan as adding 150,000 square feet of exhibition hall space plus new ballroom and meeting-room areas — a discrepancy that has yet to be resolved publicly. Early renderings reviewed by KENS 5 show outdoor gathering space and a ballroom opening toward Civic Park.
Why San Antonio Wants a Bigger Convention Center
City officials say the expansion is meant to keep San Antonio competitive as other Texas cities pour money into their own convention facilities, a point San Antonio Report also notes in describing Austin and Dallas as currently expanding their centers. The convention center expansion is part of San Antonio's effort to stay competitive as Austin and Dallas expand their centers, Houston pursues a renovation of the George R. Brown Convention Center, and Fort Worth expands its convention center.
Funding for San Antonio's convention center piece is expected to come from state sales tax dollars generated through the city's Project Finance Zone, San Antonio Report notes. City staff have been studying the expansion and had planned to present more information to council in September, the outlet reported, ahead of Wednesday's broader briefing.
Alamodome Upgrades Pushed Further Down the Road
Unlike the convention center push, Alamodome improvements remain a later-stage priority. City Manager Erik Walsh has said the convention center is the first priority while Alamodome improvements are down the road, according to KSAT. San Antonio Report similarly reports that city leaders describe an improved Alamodome as in the distant future due to a lack of resources. Earlier planning documents cited by TPR described envisioned upgrades that would let the Alamodome host NCAA College Football Playoff games and international soccer games, along with new luxury seating and suites.
Part of that delay traces back to the dome's existing commitments. The Express-News has reported that work on the Alamodome and development around it would take longer because the facility is hosting the NCAA Women's Final Four in 2029.
Infrastructure Plans Get Trimmed
Some of the district's supporting infrastructure has already been scaled back. San Antonio Report reports that an $85 million parking garage and a direct highway connection once considered part of Project Marvel are no longer under consideration, and that the infrastructure allocation tied to the new downtown Spurs arena has been cut from $250 million to just $35 million. The city is instead using a roughly $3 million U.S. Department of Transportation grant to study connectivity and pedestrian access across I-37, the outlet notes — a grant that lines up with the mobility study expected to come up at Wednesday's briefing.
That mobility work builds on a $3.7 million contract the San Antonio City Council unanimously awarded March 5 to Aecom Technical Services Inc. for a downtown-East Side connection study, according to KSAT. The firm will spend nine months exploring proposals to reduce or eliminate the stretch of I-37 separating downtown from the East Side, the station reports, calling that connection a priority for the billion-dollar district. San Antonio Report adds that results from the AECOM study are expected in January.
Financing and a Paused Hotel
The city is also weighing a new five-year, $442 million bond program for 2027, a notable step down from the $1.2 billion bond voters approved in 2022, San Antonio Report reports. Separately, a planned convention center hotel remains paused while the city-owned water utility studies whether a water chilling plant can be relocated, the outlet notes. The arena itself is expected to be completed by summer 2032, and the Spurs agreement calls for at least $500 million in mixed-use development — likely including apartments, restaurants, shops, office space and hotels, per San Antonio Report — to be completed before the city issues bonds to help pay for construction.
