International Bank of Commerce (IBC) Bank plans to turn one of its downtown office buildings into a hotel, according to an application filed with the City of San Antonio.
IBC Bank is one of the latest property owners in downtown San Antonio scrambling to find new uses for vacant space.
IBC Bank applied to turn one of its buildings at 175 E. Houston St. into a 300 key hotel. The Laredo-based bank owns two buildings at IBC Centre, an office complex built in 1984 between the River Walk and Houston, St. Mary’s and Travis streets.
AT&T had used the buildings as its headquarters before the company moved to Dallas. The taller building on Houston and St. Mary’s Street could soon become a hotel.
As of Tuesday, city records show that a review of the application was approved Monday and the city is waiting on fees to move forward. IBC Bank requested to meet with city officials on Oct. 2.
The bank did not comment on the project, but city records describe it as the renovation of an office high-rise to create a hotel, as well as a new parking garage with four levels of amenities. The project would cost an estimated $140 million.
IBC Bank isn’t the only downtown company to shift gears with its office space. Danny Khalil tracks the commercial and residential real estate market for CoStar, which owns Homes.com. He’s seen an increase in office conversion in San Antonio.
“There is more conversation, planning, and serious proposals for converting these buildings than there was a couple of years ago,” Khalil said in an email. “With announcements like IBC’s, as well as planned conversions such as the Nix, Highpoint Towers, and the Tower Life Building, it’s clear that there is some serious discussion about this.”
The Nix, Highpoint Towers and Tower Life Building are all in various stages of being converted into apartments.
Khalil added that buildings like the IBC Centre might be more difficult to convert into hotel or living spaces due to their design. Buildings from the 1980s tend to have large floorplans, brutalist architecture and less natural light.
“Many in the development world expressed skepticism about the idea of turning 80s-vintage office buildings into apartment complexes or hotels,” he said.
It can even be difficult to convert spaces like the Tower Life Building, he added, even though they’re older and have more natural lighting and better design features for residential uses.
“While the conversation has definitely progressed from ideation to planning for many of these 80s builds, there are still very few examples of late-20th-century office high-rises being successfully converted into hotels or apartments,” Khalil said.
Slow years for hotels
IBC Bank would not begin construction until April, according to its permit application, but the downtown hospitality market has been slow for hotels in 2024 and 2025.
“The hotel industry is very soft at the moment,” said Robert Thrailkill. “It’s been a rough year overall.”
Thrailkill worked as a hotel general manager and executive for more than four decades. For the past 15 years, that’s been in San Antonio. He said 2026 could be a difficult year, as well.
At least one downtown hotel has closed this year, though hotel management did not comment on the reasons for that closure.
Hotel Havana, a 27-room boutique hotel located on Navarro Street and the River Walk, announced that it would close on Oct. 20.
Shane Hamilton, the hotel’s general manager, did not comment on the hotel’s closure, but discussed the wider downtown hotel industry. “2025 in general has probably been the slowest year since markets reopened,” Hamilton said. “But there’s still business, there’s still traction.”
Hotels on the western side of downtown are further away from the convention center, Thrailkill added, making it harder to attract those customers. They could be closer to a planned baseball stadium for the San Antonio Missions, though.
Thrailkill said any future economic activity in the area could change the hotel industry.
