City emails reveal big plans for downtown Spurs arena and entertainment district

SAN ANTONIO – Hundreds of pages of city emails are shedding new light on long-rumored plans to bring the San Antonio Spurs back downtown, and it appears those plans will come with a multi-billion-dollar price tag.

The emails were obtained through an open records request and go back more than a year and a half, revealing conversations among city leaders that lay out a vision for a massive sports and entertainment district costing roughly 3 to 4 billion dollars.

Referred to as Project Marvel, it would be located across 281 from the Alamodome on the current site of the Institute of Texan Cultures.

Back in February, the board of regents at UT Austin cleared the way for a new Spurs arena on the ITC property by giving the city of San Antonio the exclusive option to buy or lease the land.

“The city is interested in every opportunity, and as much flexibility as possible, in realizing the future of downtown San Antonio,” Mayor Ron Nirenberg said in February after the UT vote. “As conversations evolve about the development of downtown, Hemisfair and the area surrounding it remain central to the re-envisioning of the region. The property where the ITC is located could prove to be a central piece of our larger plans to deliver one of the most unique downtown experiences in the nation.”

Now, after looking through nearly 300 pages of city documents, it’s clear the scope of these plans is even larger than originally thought.

“We are in the feasibility phase for a $3-4 billion Sports and Entertainment District,” Assistant City Manager Lori Houston wrote in an email to a potential consultant in June of 2023. “We are in need of real estate advisory services and will most likely issue a solicitation to a group of qualified firms. If you are willing to meet, we will request that you and your team sign an NDA before our meeting.”

Records show the city also briefed UTSA and Hemisfair officials about the plan as far back as April of last year, inviting them to a presentation with the mayor, city manager, and a top architect, but reminding them that they’d need to sign a non-disclosure agreement in order to attend the meeting.

In fact, a vast majority of the emails released to us involved discussions of non-disclosure agreements with developers, consultants, architecture firms and others.

And so, a lot of secrecy remains. But here’s what Mayor Nirenberg had to say late last year about bringing the Spurs downtown.

“Suffice it to say, we are going to continue to nurture the relationship with the Spurs,” he said at the time. “Civic leaders are an important element of making sure that the big pieces on the board are moving in the right place. So, that’s a role that I look forward to playing.”