SAN ANTONIO – The fate of a federal office tower in the heart of San Antonio’s planned sports and entertainment district is now uncertain, as the U.S. General Services Administration has identified the property for accelerated disposition.
The 163,000-square-foot structure is in Hemisfair’s southeastern quadrant, next to where the city has proposed constructing a new billion-dollar arena for the San Antonio Spurs as part of a larger sports and entertainment district plan dubbed Project Marvel.
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As the GSA seeks to shrink its federal real estate portfolio, it is expediting efforts to move select properties, including the San Antonio tower built decades ago. Interested parties have been invited to submit non-binding term sheets for the available real estate.
Hemisfair Park Area Redevelopment Corp. had previously explored opportunities to redevelop the tower site into a mixed-use development that would include new residential space. Plans for the area have shifted since the city unveiled its Project Marvel plan.
HPARC CEO Andres Andujar, who confirmed in February that he plans to retire on April 1, says the City of San Antonio should secure the site to protect its future use.
“It’s pretty critical that they take control,” Andujar told me. “If at the end they don’t need it, then they can put it out for bids. You’ll have all sorts of developers that would be interested.”
The city is interested in striking a deal for the tower.
“It’s a priority,” City Manager Erik Walsh told me.
GSA officials noted with the accelerated disposition listing a commitment to potentially partnering with a variety of interested stakeholders, including local jurisdictions, homeless assistance providers and the historic preservation community.
“They want to know who, if anyone, is interested in the building,” said San Antonio Assistant City Manager Lori Houston, who has played a key role in helping craft a downtown sports and entertainment district strategy. “The city continues to work with GSA on the acquisition of the building.”
The office structure is adjacent to Hemisfair’s Tower Park, next to a former federal courthouse, which city officials want to repurpose as a new event venue. The office tower and multiple parking lots tied to it have been earmarked for potential mixed-use development as part of the Project Marvel proposal municipal leaders rolled out late last year.
“It’s a good building. It’s a solid structure. It’s not beloved necessarily because of its institutional or federalist design of the 1970s,” Andujar said. But he noted its future use could spur additional area reinvestment.
“The first priority is for the city to take it,” Andujar said.
Read more of this story at the San Antonio Business Journal website.
Editor’s note: This story was published through a partnership between KSAT and the San Antonio Business Journal.
