San Antonio Report
by Shari Biediger
Downtown San Antonio suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It became a ghost town,” said Trish DeBerry, founder and CEO of TD Strategies and interim chairwoman of the board of Centro San Antonio.
But the nonprofit caretakers of downtown San Antonio say they have a recovery plan.
On Tuesday, Centro SA leaders unveiled the organization’s Downtown Tomorrow Strategy, a plan that builds on the momentum nearly lost during the pandemic.
Centered around five measures, the strategy is a framework for the goals Centro seeks to achieve to make the downtown regional center and its urban neighborhoods more desirable for both locals and visitors.
“A vibrant downtown … is crucial to the health of our city,” said Mayor Ron Nirenberg. “It’s the heartbeat of our city, and we deserve a world-class Center City as we move forward beyond the pandemic and the impacts that we’ve all been through. San Antonio’s downtown sector is mounting its comeback.”
Core to the five key elements of the plan is making sure downtown San Antonio is viewed as a clean, safe and resilient place for all, and that there are attractive and efficient ways to move people in and around downtown.
The other focus areas identified in the plan call for creating an enjoyable and livable community in downtown, enhancing economic opportunities for businesses, and attracting visitors to downtown through arts, culture and entertainment.
Invoking the nickname of former San Antonio Spurs power forward Tim Duncan in anticipation of Tuesday night’s anticipated NBA Draft Lottery, Centro’s leadership said the strategy focuses on the essentials.
“We are committed to pounding the rock and the fundamentals of making downtown beautiful, safe, clean, prosperous, welcoming and playful,” said Matt Brown, CEO of Centro SA.
The Downtown Tomorrow Strategy also aligns with more than a dozen other plans focused on improving the center city, he said, including VIA Metropolitan Transit’s 2040 Long Range Transit Plan, the 2030 District Plan, the Bike Master Plan, and others targeting the climate, homelessness and economic development.
“This is not Centro’s strategy,” Brown said. “We’ve worked with a bunch of people, we listened, we researched, we did focus groups, and then we drafted and we got feedback and … we just did that on repeat cycle until it was ready for primetime.”
Matt Brown, president and CEO of Centro San Antonio.
Credit: Scott Ball / San Antonio Report
The plan also describes seven large developments in every part of downtown San Antonio that are considered catalytic to the city’s economic, cultural and social growth, but that may also need additional support to fully develop.
They include Hemisfair, the Alamo Plaza redevelopment project, Lone Star, Zona Cultural, the Scobey Complex, the UTSA downtown campus network and the proposed Innovation District envisioned by the Texas Research and Technology Foundation and VelocityTX.
“We specifically call them out because they are making an impact on all five of these focus areas,” said Sarah Esserlieu-Khalil, economic development director for Centro SA.
Officials with each of those projects also gave status updates at the Centro SA event held at The Espee in Sunset Station.
Alamo Trust Executive Director Kate Rogers, who also serves on the Centro SA board, described the $500 million preservation and redevelopment project that has begun on the grounds and areas surrounding the Alamo.
The project is expected to result in $8.5 billion in economic returns over 10 years to the city of San Antonio, she said. “So while the Alamo represents our past in many ways, it also represents our future.”
The Downtown Tomorrow Strategy event attended by developers, business leaders and city officials also served as a kickoff for implementing its plans, which include goals such as increasing shade on downtown sidewalks, reducing crime, attracting new housing and small business, increasing the number of events and drawing more tourists.
Esserlieu-Khalil said committees for each focus area will be chaired by members of the Centro SA board, including Suhail Arastu, advancement director of Musical Bridges Around the World.
Arastu said that when he was called upon to help revitalize the urban core, he looked at how it became deserted in the first place. The flight to suburbia and highways are partly to blame.
“In San Antonio, we have no distinct natural boundaries, so being part of the city center is very easily diluted,” he said. But nowhere in the city is San Antonio’s culture and heritage more present in downtown.
The Alamo Trust, Centro SA, Musical Bridges, UTSA and VIA Metropolitan Transit are financial supporters of the San Antonio Report. For a full list of business members, click here.