When the San Antonio Spurs announced plans to leave their home on the East Side for newer digs, Bexar County leaders worried the early 2000s-era Frost Bank Center could soon be sitting empty like the Houston Astrodome.
Instead, a plan from the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo to convert the space for year-round western themed events was overwhelmingly embraced by the community — so much so that it outpaced plans for the new downtown Spurs arena on the Nov. 4 ballot.
“I’m obviously ecstatic. I’m really proud of how large the turnout was. We’ve waited for a long, long time to be able to expand like this … to finally be able to be turned loose to grow to the size that our city and the East Side deserves,” San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo CEO Cody Davenport said at an election watch party Tuesday night.
Proposition A provides $191.8 million in county venue tax dollars to repair and repurpose the Frost Bank Center and Freeman Coliseum grounds, replacing some of the concrete parking lots with new expo halls and fair grounds to host bull riding, barrel racing, horse shows, 4-H events and livestock auctions, among other events.
After votes were counted, it ended the night with 55.9% of the vote in favor. That’s compared to 52.1% support for Prop B’s downtown Spurs arena funding.
Upbeat country music came to a halt at the Frontier Club as the final results came in, and people their raised drinks, hands and cowboy hats. Davenport addressed the excited attendees, telling the crowd, “We just made history.”
Such rodeo districts in Calgary and Las Vegas have been highly profitable, Davenport told voters over the past six months, and they’ve been popular with local youth who get to participate in equine and livestock activities they wouldn’t otherwise be exposed to.
“I see my neighbors embracing this identity. I see their kids growing up with us,” he said at a San Antonio Report CityFest panel in October.
That was welcome news to county leaders, who have repeatedly stressed the need for a new anchor tenant on the East Side after the Spurs leave.
Currently the Spurs pay for maintenance on the Frost Bank Arena as part of a lease that runs through 2032. But team leaders deemed the venue incompatible with the modern sports franchise, and expensive repairs and upgrades will be needed in the near future when they leave.
“When the Spurs said they were leaving, the rodeo stepped forward and said, ‘We will stay and protect these grounds,’” Davenport said.
Thanks to the rodeo’s vision, county leaders are now also becoming optimistic about a bigger redevelopment project in an industrial part of town.
Renderings for what the rodeo district could soon like were presented at Commissioners Court for the first time in late May — pleasing even some of the biggest critics of the new Spurs arena who said they want to see the East Side thrive.
Meanwhile, the Freeman’s Coliseum Advisory Board is in the process of selecting a “master planner” to craft a bigger vision for amenities like a hotel, mixed-use development and restaurants.
An 18-page request for qualifications says the objective is “revitalizing the Eastside into a more vibrant urban destination, integrating residential, commercial, entertainment, and public facilities.”
Maps in that document show the eventual plans could incorporate the city-owned Willow Springs Golf Course, plus the area around the Coca-Cola plant off Commerce Street.
It comes as the city of San Antonio is working to proactively change some of that land from heavily industrial zoning to commercially mixed and residential zoning.
Other county investments in the area could also help connect it to the rest of the city: An Advanced Rapid Transit route that’s eventually expected to run from North Gen. McMullen Drive on the West Side to the Frost Bank Center, plus a trail system between the Texas Capitol in Austin and the Alamo that’s expected to include stops at the Hays Street Bridge.
To some East Side residents, it’s all still too early to get excited about.
Such promises have been made to them many times, they say, including when the Frost Bank Center was opened there in 2002, and leaders suggested the eventual surrounding development could look like Southlake Town Square or Highland Park Village in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
“There are real concerns in our community about ‘here we go again,’” James Nortey of San Antonio for Growth on the East Side said the CityFest panel.
But rodeo and western competitions bring traveling visitors who come and stay for several nights, Davenport said, versus basketball fans who leave immediately after the game.
At Tuesday’s election night party, he remained optimistic about the rodeo delivering change that residents have long wanted.
“We’re about to do everything we promised those voters,” he said. “We promised to take care of the East Side. We promised we were going to take care of the neighbors and the youth in this immediate area. And we will not back down. We honor what we say we’re going to do.”
Josh Archote contributed to this report.
