Watching the city council presentation on this proposed sports and entertainment district downtown. It is already pissing me off.

First thing - they just expanded the convention center ten years ago, and they are complaining that it is too small. Said they had several conventions turn us down because of small size. They don't mention that the current mayor publicly turned down the republican convention.

I am sure they will bring up other things.

Land bridge over IH 37 looks like a huge boondoggle

Link for details of the plans-

https://www.foxsanantonio.com/news/local/gallery/proposed-downtown-sports-and-entertainment-district-presented-to-san-antonio-city-council-spurs-alamodome-visitors-tourism-buildings-construction?photo=4

Have they discussed how they're going to fund it?

The Dome has turned a profit the past couple of years, which is rare for an arena of that size. The multi-family/hotel development will likely be a PPP or a ground lease from the city, so that should be a 100% go.

She just pulled up the slide and said rhetorically, "How do we fund this? We don't know yet."

She had a really long list of options.

Great.

Repurposing the old federal courthouse to a 5000 seat concert arena.

I guess Tobin is too passe

Talking major renovation the the Alamodome, but don't give specifics. Mainly more suites.

The video showed open roof.

No mention NFL when talking about the Alamodome

Also no mention that UTSA football would like a stadium on campus

Burdizzo said:

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Repurposing the old federal courthouse to a 5000 seat concert arena.

I guess Tobin is too passe

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Although I'm in favor of the new arena (which won't be popular on here), I had the same thought. Tobin Center maxes out at 3,000 or so, but still. Not needed.

I also saw mixed use development on the Dome's parking lots, which is also stupid. If anything, build parking garages on two of those lots.

A new Spurs arena is probably the least of my concerns with this plan. IMO, the the Alamodome was too ambitious a project, which set in motion the Spurs moving out of downtown. The Spurs should be downtown, but it frustrating the roundabout way and the amount of money that has been wasted on them.

The city has a lot on its plate right now between the Missions ballpark and now this grandiose plan. I kind of appreciate the vision, but I have little faith this towns leadership won't foul it up. This is also a very long term plan. A couple of election cycles could change this significantly.

And don't be deceived. The taxpayer burden won't be insignificant. Lori Houston said the only thing they are looking to find is the "infrastructure" (roads and drainage and parks). That stuff isn't cheap. Never mind all the utility work that SAWS and CPS will have to replace, upgrade, or move for these projects. Some of that will be recovered from the development, but most of it will not.

The city got ambitious for once.

Burdizzo said:

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p_bubel said:

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The city got ambitious for once.

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It is ambitious because it is big. However, I don't consider it very visionary. It looks pretty, but all it really does it creates more jobs for housekeepers, waitstaff, and part time jobs for ushers. A vision would be something like, "We are going to be the cyber security center for the hemisphere" or "We want to be the North American nerve center for private space operations."

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Every city wants that, the new airport terminal will be a positive for economic growth, doing things like this will help to draw businesses to town or keep growing companies from leaving.

Wouldn't it be cheaper to make a tunnel than a land bridge

MookieBlaylock said:

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Wouldn't it be cheaper to make a tunnel than a land bridge

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With a land bridge, every driver on IH-37 gets to see "Ron Nirenberg Mayor Of This GD City Overpass" every time they drive by. With a pedestrian tunnel, not so much

Burdizzo said:

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First thing - they just expanded the convention center ten years ago, and they are complaining that it is too small. Said they had several conventions turn us down because of small size. They don't mention that the current mayor publicly turned down the republican convention.

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You do realize that it can still be true for them to expand the convention center but still be turned down by some conventions because of size? The Henry B Gonzales convention center is not even in the top 20 largest convention centers in the US so of course the bigger conventions will automatically consider the other 20 locations over San Antonio just because of size.

MookieBlaylock said:

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Wouldn't it be cheaper to make a tunnel than a land bridge

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Don't know if it's cheaper to bore tunnels into limestone or not, but the main purpose of the land bridge is to not only physically connect the Alamodome area to the rest of downtown, but to also "socially" bridge the two together by providing a green park space that locals and tourist can gather. Austin trying to do the same exact thing with their Cap-n-Stitch project over I-35. They all want it to end up like Klyde Warren Park in Dallas.

Speaking of conventions. Buddy in charge of booking conventions at JW said biggest hurdle is the airport.