Henry Cisneros’ plans for an arboretum in San Antonio’s South Side are taking shape

From Texas Public Radio:

A city like San Antonio certainly prizes its green spaces. On San Antonio’s South Side, a transformation is underway to turn a former golf course into an arboretum.

During one of San Antonio’s recent cool autumn mornings, TPR took a golf cart tour of the grounds of what may soon be one of the city’s major attributes.  The former San Antonio mayor and HUD secretary, Henry Cisneros, has big plans to remake this sprawling property into one of the city’s best attributes.

“We’re known for the River Walk. We’re known for The Alamo, we’re known for the Missions,” he said. “And I hope that we’re known for the largest and the best arboretum in Texas.”

He’s talking about Arboretum San Antonio, which is quickly becoming a hard-and-fast reality. Tom Corser is the interim CEO.

“We’re at the southeast part of San Antonio, just about a mile east of Brooks Development Authority. It’s the former Republic Golf Club,” Corser said.

That former 18-hole golf course closed four years ago, and the fairways are looking rough. The greens not tightly clipped. But Corser said what makes it not the highly regimented course it once was, is what contributes to its uniqueness. First off, its size is just about right.

“Right now, we’re at 188 acres. The former golf course has a number of great amenities—about four miles of cart paths. It has many heritage trees,” he said and added that recycled water can also be used on the property. “The Howard peak Greenway Trail through the property— that will build out eventually,” he said.

Salado Creek runs roughly through the middle of the property, one that’s about three times longer than it is wide. There is other contiguous land for sale that would extend the arboretum upwards of 200 acres, making it the largest in Texas. Corser said this whole idea began with Cisneros in September of 2021.

“He wrote an op ed in the Express News, expressing his desire, his vision, his passion for trees and how they can embody a city,” Corser said.

Cisneros noted that arboretums aren’t just for cities like New York.

“About 50 cities across America—San Antonio’s size, smaller, larger—have a place where the central focus of a green space, of an open space is trees, literally to reflect on the majesty, and I use that word advisedly, the majesty of these living things that are 150, 200 years old,” he said.

Out of that notion grew a nonprofit, a board, consultants, fundraising and the purchase of the old golf course. A 7.3-million-dollar investment by Bexar County is the largest investment thus far, but they’re looking for much more.

“Many of the largest corporations in town understand and have been out here, USAA, H-E-B, philanthropy like the Nancy Heard Smith Foundation and Kronkowski Foundation and others,” Cisneros said.

He’s hoping a 2027 bond will include monies to finish out the arboretum.

They then took us to one of their favorite spots: a place between two live oaks that are several hundred years old and look down a long fairway.

“I predict this will be a spot where there’ll be many a wedding, many a proposal, many a family event, people sitting out here in some white chairs, maybe watching a member of their family make their vows of marriage. Quinceañeras. It’s just about perfect,” Cisneros said with a smile.

Corser noted another ongoing effort includes gathering input from interested parties and working to form a cohesive plan.

“We’ve hired Sasaki, a firm out of Denver and Boston, that’s world renowned in their architecture definition planning of botanical gardens and arboretums,” Corser said.

Cisneros said they have developed three possible concepts for the San Antonio arboretum, each with a different focus.

“Those three concepts are essentially the following: One, should it be primarily a community facility for community activities, more like a traditional park?” he said. “Secondly, do we leave it wild, and it becomes basically hiking paths and trails? Thirdly, is it a research and educational facility with research buildings on it for serious horticultural research? At least for me, the answer is a bit of all three.”

The initial master-planning will finish next spring.

“That will conclude in the April, May timeframe of 2025. Then we’ve got to go out for funding for to build out design and build phase one of that master plan,” Corser said. “Three or four years from now, we will be cutting ribbons on various parts of that phase 1, opening it up for people, where it will be a true arboretum.”

While the 77-year-old Cisneros appears effusive about the project, his elder statesman perspective gives him the long view.

“We live amidst creatures that have been here for 150 years before us and are likely to be here for hundreds of years after us,” he said. “And I like that concept that we fit into a larger plan, a larger panoply of life. That’s what an arboretum is.”

If you want to give input on Arboretum San Antonio, their web site is interactive at arboretumsa.org.

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