The already ambitious Project Marvel just got much bigger this week, adding plans for major renovations to the Frost Bank Center and Freeman Coliseum, as well as a possible effort to turn a nearby golf course into a residential development, according to the most recent documents shared among city and county leaders.
The latest additions were intended to bring Bexar County on board with an overall plan to move the San Antonio Spurs basketball team downtown — and out of the county-owned Frost Bank Center, where they have a lease to play their games until 2032.
But the now larger scope of work being proposed will soon put city and county leaders’ relationships to the test, and push the limits of public funding needed to cover the additional priorities.
Among the changes now being discussed: Significant upgrades to the county’s East Side venues could be paid for by the county’s roughly $400 million venue tax — which is also considered a key funding source for the roughly $1.5 billion Spurs arena.
It’s unclear how much of that money is being factored into the arena’s cost projection, which would also lean on private funding.
“We’ve been very clear that we [the county] have a maximum amount that we can give, but we’re going to take care of our county investment,” said Bexar County Judge Peter Sakai, who got permission from the Commissioners Court to enter negotiations under the new terms on Tuesday.
City Council members will review the memo of understanding and decide whether to give City Manager Erik Walsh negotiation authority on their behalf at Wednesday’s council meeting.
So far the plan to build the Spurs a new arena has largely been in city leaders’ hands, with a public unveiling in November that laid out a much larger vision — deemed “Project Marvel” — that would create an entire downtown entertainment district complete with a land bridge, a renovated convention center, a new live entertainment venue and a new hotel.
While also ambitious, an eight-page memo of understanding circulated ahead of Wednesday’s council meeting suggested some of those projects would lean on private funding. Some projects could also help pay for themselves through state taxes recaptured by a project finance zone.
Relationships put to the test
Since Project Marvel’s unveiling, city and county leaders have been squabbling behind the scenes about to what degree county leaders were included in the early discussions.
City leaders say the county was thoroughly involved, while Sakai has suggested he wasn’t.
On Tuesday Commissioner Grant Moody (Pct. 3), who cast the lone vote against giving Sakai permission to negotiate, was the first to sound the alarm on plans to formally commingle the city and county’s projects.
“As much as I’ve been assured that it’s clear that the county doesn’t have a role in Project Marvel, Project Marvel and all of the projects within Project Marvel are included within the MOU,” Moody said. “I think that that’s something that we need to ultimately strip out as we go forward.”
Next, City Council will also have decide whether they can agree to a shared vision with the county.
The proposed MOU suggests the full list of city and county projects should be hashed out in time for the county to hold an election asking voters to designate the venue tax for them later this year.
“The parties intend to work collaboratively and in coordination on a strategy for developing the projects,” the MOU reads. “These work efforts will proceed based upon a timeline which contemplates allowing the required work and due diligence to be completed for an election on the venue tax to be held in November 2025.”
The agreement is expected to be signed by Sakai, Walsh and Peter J. Holt, managing partner for San Antonio Spurs Holdings, LLC, as well as the top lawyers for the city, county and team.
A time crunch
At Tuesday’s Commissioners Court meeting, county officials were in the early stages of formulating a plan for the Frost Bank Center and Freeman Coliseum, which has been deemed critical to the county’s overall participation in the Spurs relocation.
A consultant’s presentation laid out major expenses needed to keep each facility in use, including a new roof for the Frost Bank Center.
But a “master plan” for how they’ll be used in the future will take about six months to develop, the experts said.
That timeline drew concern from some commissioners, who pointed out that the county will need to lay out its plans for the venue tax to the state well before the November election.
After the meeting Sakai reiterated that he wouldn’t enter an agreement with the city until the East Side’s “Master Plan” has been finalized.
“I want to assure the public that there is no deal. There’s no agreement,” Sakai said after the meeting. “This will start the negotiations in regards to the city, the county and the Spurs, in regards to the projects that we have listed.”
