There’s some big plans unfolding in South Texas.
One that’s especially noteworthy: A sports and entertainment district in San Antonio, including an expansion of the city’s convention center, new hotel and performing arts venue, improvements to the Alamodome and a new arena for the San Antonio Spurs, among other things.
This whole initiative is labeled Project Marvel, and its price tag stretches well into the billions. If approved as-is, residents of San Antonio and Bexar County would be picking up part of the tab.
Jasper Kenzo Sundeen covers business for the San Antonio Report and he joined Texas Standard to discuss. Listen to the interview above or read the transcript below.
This transcript has been edited lightly for clarity:
Texas Standard: Let’s talk a little bit more about where the money is coming from. Spell that out. How much is the county and the city expected to put up for this project?
Jasper Kenzo Sundeen: The county is sending around $311 million in funding – or 25% of the cost, whichever is lower – to voters. So voters will get to decide. That money would come from a rental car tax and increase in taxes on hotel rooms.
The city funding is coming from a couple different places. They’re going to go into debt and borrow against future property taxes and future taxes also on hotel rooms and some other associated hotel costs.
So city and county officials will tell you that all of this money – or most of this money – is coming from visitors, rather than local residents. Critics will tell you it’s still public money and they’ve got other wants and desires.
Well, if we’re talking about possible tax increases in public money being used, what’s the projected economic benefit? Who stands to benefit the most?
That’s something that people are still really trying to figure out. And we’re kind of at a point where a lot of economic analyses are being looked at.
I think the biggest benefit that folks have brought to the table is that the Spurs would stay in town, that you would have opportunities for more spending and possibly more job creation if you have more restaurants and hotels and businesses going on. Exactly how much we can expect is still kind of up for debate and really depends on what portion of the project you’re looking at.
An economic analysis released by a company contracted with the city earlier this month said you’re looking at around 3,000 jobs, but that doesn’t include the arena. And so you’re seeing lots of numbers thrown out around here and I think people are still trying to kind of get to the bottom and figure out what exactly we’ll see.
This area we’re talking about has seen a lot of upheaval redevelopment over the past 60 years. What about members of the community – public input? What are you hearing from them and what are their concerns?
You’re hearing a lot from a lot of different people.
I would say, first of all, going into this project, there was some initial distrust. People felt like they hadn’t been consulted and they hadn’t really been heard. Now you’re seeing kind of a mix.
There’s definitely a strong camp that thinks this is a great project. This will have a lot of benefits for the community and that this is a good way to keep the Spurs in town.
And then you have groups of nonprofits and community organizations that are really concerned about the amount of public dollars that would go into this, that are really worried about a new downtown arena and don’t feel like that’s accessible for more working-class folks.
And then you have people who are just saying, hey, we don’t have enough information and even if this is going to happen, we should slow down until we have more data.
So that’s kind of your mix between the people really going for this, the opposition, and the people who are still kind of in between.
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Is there anyone talking about killing this thing or does this seem to be of such urgency for the city that that’s not something anyone’s talking about?
You do have people who have stood up during meetings and said, no, we don’t want an arena downtown at all. That’s definitely part of the opposition here.
I would not say that’s a real strong or a real majority position. For example, people trying to hold up and slow down in local government are often saying, hey, we want more information. We’re not gonna say no, but we want to learn more before we say yes.
You write that it’s crunch time for Project Marvel. Why crunch time?
That’s primarily due to the county’s election deadline. Bexar County had to put a proposition on the ballot to get voter approval for their portion of funding the new downtown San Antonio Spurs Arena. So, they were really up against this mid-August deadline for their $311 million portion. And that was driving a lot of this conversation.
City and team officials have also pushed to get information out there to voters sooner rather than later. But that in and of itself has been a little controversial – the timeline for the city and how it’s moving forward with its portion of the funding.
But I think the takeaway here is we’re really getting to a point where decisions are being made about how to fund a new arena for the Spurs and where that money is coming from.
