SAN ANTONIO \u2014 Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones is intensifying her call for a “strategic pause” on the proposed new Spurs arena and downtown entertainment district, citing “significant gaps” in the financial plan.<\/p>\n
During a news conference, Mayor Jones emphasized the need for a more comprehensive analysis of the project’s economic impact.<\/p>\n
“The city manager, Erik Walsh, has agreed to get an ‘independent economic impact report’ that is more thorough,” she said.<\/p>\n
To illustrate her point, Mayor Jones distributed a report conducted for the city of Philadelphia last year regarding the 76ers’ arena. <\/p>\n
She noted that this report is more than twice as long as the one prepared for San Antonio, suggesting a need for a more detailed examination of the local proposal.<\/p>\n
Despite this, San Antonio\u2019s top tourism and hospitality organizations are rallying behind Project Marvel, calling the proposed Sports & Entertainment District a necessary investment to keep the city competitive.<\/p>\n
In a recent joint statement, Mario Bass, president & CEO of Visit San Antonio; Michelle Madson, president & CEO of the San Antonio Hotel & Lodging Association; and Bill Brendel, president & CEO of the San Antonio Visitor Alliance, said:<\/p>\n
As a city proudly rooted in hospitality and culture, San Antonio continues to thrive by investing in smart, visitor-supported development. The proposed Sports & Entertainment District represents an exciting and fiscally responsible step forward, driven by tourism income and designed to benefit our community for generations to come.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The leaders stressed that “this is not just a want, it is a clear and pressing need.” They pointed to other cities\u2014including Washington, D.C., Forsyth, GA, and Houston\u2014that are each investing more than $2 billion into similar districts, connecting major venues with pedestrian-friendly parks and attractions. Meanwhile, nearby Dallas and Austin are completely reconstructing their convention center campuses.<\/p>\n
Without bold action,” they warned, “San Antonio risks falling behind as visitors seek out more dynamic and modern destinations costing our city jobs and tax revenue.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
They also highlighted the need to expand the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, which operates at nearly 70% occupancy. Since 2019, the facility\u2019s space limitations have resulted in the loss of 465,000 attendees and $716 million in economic impact. Adding 200,000 square feet of exhibit space, they said, could attract 1.7 million additional attendees and generate nearly $1 billion in added revenue.<\/p>\n
“It is important to keep the process moving forward, which will generate more needed information and concrete facts so a final agreement may be publicly reviewed and discussed in the near future,” the statement concluded. “We strongly support this initiative as a win for tourism, a win for jobs, and above all, a win for San Antonio.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN ANTONIO \u2014 Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones is intensifying her call for a “strategic pause” on the proposed…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":110270,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5133],"tags":[5229,24577,7408,12034,13123,7202,7203,82894,358,5331,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,82895],"class_list":{"0":"post-138384","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-convention-center","10":"tag-economic-impact","11":"tag-hospitality","12":"tag-project-marvel","13":"tag-san-antonio","14":"tag-sanantonio","15":"tag-sports-entertainment-district","16":"tag-texas","17":"tag-tourism","18":"tag-tx","19":"tag-united-states","20":"tag-united-states-of-america","21":"tag-unitedstates","22":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","23":"tag-us","24":"tag-usa","25":"tag-visitor-supported-development"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115013163641441393","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138384\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}