SAN ANTONIO, Texas — City leaders in San Antonio, Texas, are trimming the downtown sports and entertainment plan known as Project Marvel, steering money toward a bigger Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center while putting a full Alamodome remake on hold for roughly a decade.
At a council briefing Wednesday, staff pitched a two-phase convention center expansion priced at $850 million, about $100 million above the prior estimate. The first $700 million phase would add all of the new exhibit and ballroom space. A second $150 million phase, holding most of the meeting rooms, could wait until the economy improves. Altogether the expansion adds upward of 209,000 square feet and links the building with Civic Park.
The Alamodome gets far less. Earlier talk of roughly $1 billion in renovations has given way to $125 million over 10 years, mostly to keep the stadium running as it does now. A major overhaul is pushed to 2035 or later.
Chief Financial Officer Ben Gorzell said the city cannot afford a convention center expansion, a new arena and a major dome renovation all at once. City staff blamed rising interest rates, labor costs and material prices.
Both projects would be paid for through the project finance zone, which captures part of the state hotel taxes along with the local hotel occupancy tax. Gorzell said the city hopes to seek a designer in spring 2027, with construction likely not starting until late 2028 or early 2029.
Other pieces are shifting too. The full district was once billed at $4 billion. A planned convention center hotel was dropped because moving a chilled water plant would cost too much, and the land bridge over Interstate 37 is now pictured as a pedestrian and bicycle bridge.
The $1.3 billion Spurs arena at Hemisfair is still moving forward, but the city has not yet closed on the former Institute of Texan Cultures site from UTSA, and there is no firm date for a final deal with the team.
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