The San Antonio Spurs may be moving back downtown, but community leaders are working to keep attention and investment on the East Side.
A group of community organizations is calling for infrastructure and accessibility improvements on local streets, establishing a formal Eastside District and funding to start the effort.
“We want the community to attain the benefits, not the burdens, of Project Marvel,” said James Nortey, executive director for San Antonio for Growth on the Eastside, known as SAGE.
City officials are focused on development downtown and in the Hemisfair area, added Rene Dominguez, CEO of VelocityTX, an Eastside research campus.
“Why aren’t we trying to drive that economic influx to the East Side?” he asked.
VelocityTX, SAGE and Local Initiatives Support Corporation San Antonio (LISC), a local nonprofit, have partnered to push for their goals: more businesses and higher paying jobs for Eastside residents without gentrification or displacement. These groups have introduced an early plan that outlines their goals.
This is a key moment as San Antonio residents think about more investment downtown and the proposed east to west VIA Rapid Silver Line.
Part of the proposed deal for the Spurs’ new arena includes $75 million over 30 years for a community benefits agreement. VelocityTX, SAGE and LISC are hoping to see resources like that flow east.
Drone shot of the Frost Bank Center in August 2025. Credit: Cooper Mock for the San Antonio Report
On the public front, that coalition is hoping for investment in infrastructure, including more complete streets with trees, lighting and better sidewalks so local residents can more easily walk around and downtown consumers can smoothly transition to Eastside businesses.
Those are small things, Nortey said, but they can make a community more accessible and welcoming.
They want to get there by engaging the public and creating a formal Eastside District led by a coordinating group of community members.
Nearby neighborhoods are already showing support. Aubry Lewis, president of the Denver Heights Neighborhood Association, submitted a letter to the city endorsing the opportunity to bring investment to the community.
“The proposed Eastside District Plan creates that opportunity. And ensures that Denver Heights residents benefit — not just bear witness — to the growth occurring around us,” Lewis wrote.
Once that local leadership is established, the goal would be to transform space around VelocityTX’s campus and the land around Houston, Commerce and Cherry streets into more than 2 million square feet of office and retail space.
Dominguez said VelocityTX has been pushing for that kind of development and would like to see a mix of jobs and businesses. That includes high paying jobs requiring advanced degrees, more accessible entry level positions and locally owned small businesses.
All three organizations emphasized that local accountability is important, which is why they are pushing for a community-led coordinating group to maintain transparency and ensure local benefits.
To get the project off the ground, LISC, SAGE and VelocityTX are asking for $2.1 million in seed funding over three years, roughly $700,000 a year.
There are still details to sort out, like the exact parameters of what could become am Eastside district, but they said their goals for better infrastructure and economic growth for residents aren’t new.
VelocityTX is already trying to attract economic activity to the Merchant’s Ice industrial complex, where it’s building a business campus. SAGE has accelerator programs for small businesses and LISC has tackled housing and homeownership issues.
Construction workers finish landscaping projects at VelocityTX ahead of a May 2024 ribbon cutting ceremony. Credit: Scott Ball / San Antonio Report
“This is stuff we’re already doing that we’ve been looking to scale up and expand,” said Leilah Powell, LISC’s executive director.
Powell, Nortey and Dominguez emphasized the need to act. Plans have been laid out for the East Side before, whether Project Marvel and the new Spurs arena move forward or not, these organizations want to see action.
“The community is so tired of being asked ‘what do you want to see?’ and not having their opinions respected or acted upon,” Nortey said.
Dominguez said growth would take time, but if it works, there could be lessons that are applied to other neighborhoods in San Antonio.
This isn’t the only effort to bring development to the East Side as the Spurs move downtown.
Bexar County has organized an Eastside Economic Development Advisory Council, a group of community members looking at development around the Frost Bank Center, Freeman Coliseum and Willow Springs Golf Course.
Agenda materials for the advisory council show it discussing new public greenways and private development if Bexar County can acquire Willow Springs from the city, but council members have also touched on needs for affordable housing and business development along Houston and Commerce streets and around St. Paul Square.