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Construction of the new El Tequila Mexican Restaurant is underway in the Loop 1604 and Marbach area. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\nWhen El Tequila Restaurant and Bar opened at Marbach Road and Loop 1604 six years ago, there was very little in the area.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe saw a good opportunity, there was nothing around with Mexican food,\u201d said Cristian Huerta, one of the restaurant\u2019s owners and managers.<\/p>\n
There was a nearby gas station and a couple of fast food restaurants, but since then more businesses, including a QuikTrip and a Home Depot, have opened around the Far West Side intersection.<\/p>\n
Now, Target is potentially planning to build a 150,000-square-foot store at the same intersection, 800 feet from El Tequila, according to state records.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Economic activity is growing in the area and local government and business owners are working to meet demand. Restaurants are expanding, Bexar County officials are trying to improve traffic flow and data shows housing demand is strong.<\/p>\n
Target took up headlines when Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation records showed the Minnesota-based company was considering a $21 million store that would start construction in April and be completed by March 2027.<\/p>\n
Those plans are still in their early stages, said Target spokesperson Loni Monroe.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can tell you we are pursuing the opportunity to reach guests in the San Antonio Marbach area but at this time, we\u2019re not at a point where we can share any new store plans,\u201d Monroe said in an email.<\/p>\n
Growth around the Marbach Road and Loop 1604 area has been ongoing, said Art Reinhardt, Bexar County\u2019s engineer and director of public works. His work includes permitting and tracking developments in unincorporated areas of the county.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis area has been pretty built out for the past decade-plus,\u201d Reinhardt said.<\/p>\n
Local business owner Huerta of El Tequila said he has seen economic growth in the area during that time, even during the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n
The pandemic hit in 2020, but El Tequila quickly adapted, serving customers with takeout options and maintaining quality dishes. The restaurant has kept those customers and business has kept coming its way. Customers come from SeaWorld and other communities to San Antonio\u2019s west.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe changed the model to serve people,\u201d he said. \u201cA lot of customers, they like the food.\u201d<\/p>\n
Business is so good at the intersection of Marbach Road and Loop 1604 that El Tequila is expanding. Huerta said that the restaurant can seat 120 people. Some days, lines are out the door, so the owners are building a new location a half-mile down Loop 1604 to have more space and serve more customers.<\/p>\n
They plan to open in May. Huerta anticipates that a Target nearby will only add to customer demand.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis helps us, we [will] get a lot of business from that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Construction of the new El Tequila Mexican Restaurant is underway in the Loop 1604 and Marbach area. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n
Reinhardt said home construction has grown nearby. The housing market in the local zipZIP code is seeing higher demand than other parts of San Antonio.<\/p>\n
In July, homes were on the market in San Antonio for an average of seven months, according to the San Antonio Board of Realtors. Homes were snapped up in that part of the county in an average of 81 days or less than three months, and were slightly cheaper than the citywide average.<\/p>\n
Reinhardt is focused on improving traffic flow. Marbach Road stops less than a half-mile from the proposed Target site.<\/p>\n
Bexar County is hoping to partner with a local development, Champions Park, to connect Marbach Road to Grosenbacher Road and communities further west of U.S. Highway 90 and State Highway 211 going toward the city of Castroville, which is in neighboring Medina County.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s getting built out to the county line,\u201d Reinhardt said.<\/p>\n
Bexar County\u2019s Precinct 1 is the fastest growing of the county\u2019s four precincts. Alamo Ranch, nearby to the north, is the fastest growing part of the county.<\/p>\n
That kind of growth has kept the county afloat \u2014 total tax property tax revenues grew due to new development, even though property values actually fell.<\/p>\n
More and more people are moving into the county\u2019s unincorporated areas, Reinhardt said, where there are less zoning or land use restrictions than the city. It\u2019s a change from a more traditional rural-urban divide.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of growth occurring,\u201d Reinhardt said. \u201cThe challenge is managing that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When El Tequila Restaurant and Bar opened at Marbach Road and Loop 1604 six years ago, there was…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":192256,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5133],"tags":[5229,107400,7288,107401,107402,107403,107404,18475,107405,7202,7203,1401,358,7453,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,7819],"class_list":{"0":"post-192255","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-art-reinhardt","10":"tag-bexar-county","11":"tag-bexar-county-precinct-1","12":"tag-cristian-huerta","13":"tag-el-tequila-restaurant-and-bar","14":"tag-homedepot","15":"tag-loop-1604","16":"tag-marbach-road","17":"tag-san-antonio","18":"tag-sanantonio","19":"tag-target","20":"tag-texas","21":"tag-top-story","22":"tag-tx","23":"tag-united-states","24":"tag-united-states-of-america","25":"tag-unitedstates","26":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","27":"tag-us","28":"tag-usa","29":"tag-wc-500-750"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115130774896880905","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192255","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=192255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192255\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/192256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}