This fall marks two years since the San Antonio Spurs organization pushed shovels into the limestone-strewn soil at La Cantera, a backdrop of backhoes at the ready, to kick off the construction of the team’s new training center.
The first phase of The Rock, as it’s known, is now nearing completion and grand opening plans are in the works, said a Spurs spokeswoman.
The facility comes online just as the team is preparing for a new season with the NBA’s No. 1 overall draft pick, Victor Wembanyama, and will provide a state-of-the-art training space for the Spurs that focuses on holistic player development.
The $72 million project also includes Frost Plaza, the Spurs Club, biomedical research space and a 22-acre tree-shaded park and trail system. The park opened to the public and their canine pets in April.
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The Rock is one of several major developments in active construction mode this year in the San Antonio area.
Here’s a look at what’s been built, when the welcome mat will be put out and what is still on the horizon.
Jefferson Bank relocated 265 people from offices throughout the city in March into its new 13-story headquarters building. Bank employees occupy floors 7-10 in the building at 1900 Broadway St. near the Pearl.
The banking center on the first floor is also open for business. A restaurant tenant, Nineteen Hyaku, will open this year and two other food and beverage operators are planned: the American bistro chain Bellagreen and a bar, Still Golden.
The law firm Jackson Walker plans to move into the building’s 11th and 12th floors in August, said a spokeswoman for the bank.
The new year had barely begun when University of Texas at San Antonio cut the ribbon on San Pedro I, its new $91.8 million National Security Collaboration Center and School of Data Science at 506 Dolorosa St.
This fall, the university expects to serve 65 course sections in the building with class sizes ranging from 25 to 60 students.
Construction on San Pedro II, another UTSA building that will provide space to connect private business and technology entrepreneurs in the downtown area, also will start in the fall.
The $130 million building is intended to support programs that develop marketable job skills and support the UTSA Classroom to Career initiative, preparing students for careers in business, technology and small business development. It is expected to be completed in fall 2025.
Both projects are part of UTSA’s growing presence in downtown San Antonio, which started with the opening of a campus in Cattleman Square in 1997.
Rosario’s, a Southtown staple serving modern Tex-Mex fare, also opened in January after relocating to a newly constructed building at 722 S. St. Mary’s St.
The $4 million, two-story restaurant now stands where the former El Mirador restaurant was located in the historic district for more than six decades before it was mostly demolished in 2021.
Water is flowing at the springs and green grass will soon be planted in the newest section of Hemisfair set to open Sept. 29.
The 5-acre northwestern section of Hemisfair where Skanska began work in January 2022 to develop the first phase of Civic Park is nearly complete.
Hemisfair officials are now working with developers on designs for phase two, which will include a plaza that adjoins the park space and the residential and retail buildings planned for the parcels along Market Street.
In Tobin Hill, adjacent to U.S. Highway 281, Embrey began work on the Tin Top Flats at the Creamery apartments in 2020.
Built on the site of a former Borden Dairy plant, the 338-unit multifamily project will be ready for leasing in August. Rental rates posted on the Tin Top website range from $1,570 to $4,700.
An adjacent river trail is set to be completed in October.
University Health is making plans to open its 12-story Women’s and Children’s Hospital to the public on July 22. The new hospital will offer services dedicated to women, children and babies in the region and opens to patients in August.
The Floodgate, an ultra-modern hexagonal residential tower designed by the architecture firm Rhode Partners, is expected to be complete in December, said developer Keller Henderson. The building is at 143. E. Commerce St. near the floodgates of the San Antonio River Walk and the Canopy by Hilton Hotel.
Leasing for the 63 units, which includes one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments and three penthouses, will open in September. Every unit has a different floor plan due to the shape of the building. The developer has not determined the rental rates.
Features of the building include floor-to-ceiling windows with views from every apartment, a fourth-floor amenity level with lounge, pool and fitness center and a two-level robotic parking system — the first of its kind in the state, Henderson said.
Construction on the Merchants Ice & Cold Storage building at the Texas Research and Technology Foundation’s Merchants Ice Campus will wrap up in early 2024, said a spokesman for the foundation.
The four-story building on the East Side will provide space for researchers looking to commercialize their inventions in the bioscience industry and is already 85% leased, he said.
The offices of the foundation itself, which has so far invested $300 million in the campus, will be moved into the building while the VelocityTX Innovation Center will remain the hub for the foundation’s startup incubator spaces.
Two more phases of the $300 million project to build out the San Pedro Creek Culture Park are scheduled to open in September.
With phases two and four open, in addition to the first phase that fully opened in October, visitors will be able to walk along the linear park from César E. Chávez Boulevard to South Alamo Street.
The third phase, which starts at South Alamo and extends south to the confluence of Apache Creek Trail, will be completed in early 2024 and includes rebuilding a Union Pacific railroad bridge and the trails beneath.
Also coming in spring 2024, yet another multifamily development, under construction since 2021, will open for lease in Tobin Hill.
Located at 120 W. Josephine St., the apartment building known as The Josephine is being built by local developer Lynd Living in an area near the Pearl that has seen exponential growth in recent years.
Mid-2024 is when Westover Hills Baptist Hospital, a new 100-bed medical facility with six operating rooms and an emergency department, is set to be completed. Construction is underway on a 72-acre parcel at Loop 1604 and Wiseman Boulevard in far northwest San Antonio.
