Latest news with #ProjectMarvel
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Bessmer residents want answers about 4 million square foot data center coming to city
An aerial view of a proposed data center site within Bessemer's city limits. Residents who live near the property are concerned about a lack of information about the project and disruptions from the center -- which, if built to planned capacity, would be one of the largest in the United States and could become one of the largest single consumers of electricity in the state. (Lee Hedgepeth/Inside Climate News) This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, non-partisan news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for their newsletter here. BESSEMER — They all came here for peace, and so far, the land has given it to them. For Marshall Killingsworth, the peace comes from the owls whose hoots echo across the valley as he sits in his favorite spot in his garden. For David Havron, it's looking up at the stars at night as the moonlight glistens off the lake just outside his back door. For Mary Rosenboom, it's the calls of the songbirds as the sun slowly sets over the hilly terrain. For Becky Morgan, it's the view of the mountain from her recliner—through the long windows that line the sides of her home. But all these residents in this area of rural Jefferson County are afraid—fearful that their peace may soon be disturbed. 'Town is moving closer to us,' Jeff Lowe said last week. 'And we're not happy about it.' Killingsworth, Havron, Rosenboom, Morgan and Lowe are just a few of the residents whose homes are adjacent to a 700-acre, wooded plot of land that soon may be transformed, through years of construction, into a 4.5-million-square-foot data processing center located just within the city limits of Bessemer, Alabama, a city of about 25,000 southwest of Birmingham. If built to planned capacity, the data center would be one of the largest in the United States and could become one of the largest single consumers of electricity in the state. Of nearly a dozen residents interviewed by Inside Climate News, none expressed support for the project as planned. Instead, all shared fear and frustration over their inability to obtain information about the $14.5 billion proposal from politicians charged with representing the public. Efforts by Inside Climate News to speak with public officials in Bessemer about the proposal, called Project Marvel, were met with silence. The mayor, his chief of staff and the city's attorney all signed a non-disclosure agreement with the developer, staffers said, and would not be able to answer questions about the project. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Members of the Bessemer City Council, tasked with approving or rejecting the rezoning necessary for the proposed data center, have repeatedly refused to comment. 'I thought I answered your question,' said Carla Jackson, a council member who represents the area of Bessemer where the data center is planned. 'And I was so sweet about it. Right now, while it's under litigation, I'm not going to talk about it.' In the last decade, technological evolution has quickened pace, with massive data centers now in demand for more intensive computational tasks like cryptocurrency mining and processing artificial intelligence (AI) requests. That digital demand, in turn, has made its way into the physical world as tech companies search for cheap land, electricity, water and resources necessary for the development of large data processing centers like the one being proposed in Bessemer. A data center is like a city with computer servers as the buildings, requiring network cables, power sources and cooling infrastructure, like roads, power lines and sewer networks in a municipality. Data flows like traffic. Similar to the police and surveillance in a city, a data center also has security infrastructure—electric fences, anti-ram barriers, infrared cameras, alarms, lights and sometimes even guard stations and other surveillance systems to protect against attacks. As of early 2025, the United States has more than 5,000 data centers, according to industry reports, compared to around 1,000 just five years earlier. And with that increased demand comes an inevitable, increased demand for resources. The proposed data center campus in Bessemer, if realized, would consist of 18 buildings, each larger than the average Walmart Supercenter, that would house massive server farms for data storage and processing. Located on about 700 acres of wooded land currently zoned for agricultural use, the proposed physical infrastructure would require the permanent clear-cutting of at least 100 acres of forest. The company behind the project is a newly created limited liability company, Logistics Land Investments LLC, first formed in May 2023, according to records from the Delaware Secretary of State. The company's registered agent is not a person, according to business records, but the Corporation Trust Company, also based in Delaware—an entity that has been used by large tech companies like Google and Apple for corporate dealings in the past. Despite its brief history, Logistics Land Investments has already found itself in at least one legal battle. Court records show that company has been sued by the First Baptist Church of Red Oak, Texas, a place of worship that was located on land the development company was interested in buying for another project. After the sale fell through, the church sued, arguing that the company had wrongly breached their agreement. The president of Bessemer's City Council, Donna Thigpen, was the only public official interviewed who confirmed she had not yet signed an NDA. In fact, Thigpen said, she'd been largely left in the dark on the proposed data center thus far. 'We have not met with the builders yet,' she said. 'We know nothing about it.' She referred further questions to the mayor's office, though she noted he'd signed an NDA. The mayor's office did not respond to several requests for comment. The only information about the project made public so far has been in limited answers from the company's attorneys to residents' concerns voiced in planning and zoning meetings held earlier this year. Those few answers provide only small, fragmented insights into what could be one of the largest capital outlays in recent state history. But even that information is probably more than is legally required to be given to residents, according to arguments made by an attorney for Bessemer in a recent court hearing. 'There's no provision in the code of Alabama that authorizes the asking of questions, the furnishing of environmental reports or development plans or anything of that nature,' he told a Bessemer judge. 'You have a right to be heard as to whether you agree with that ordinance or not. Nothing more, nothing less.' The city had landed in court after a group of residents filed suit, claiming that property owners weren't given proper public notice ahead of a recent public hearing on the proposal. Because residents packed the meeting room, the city argued in court, there was no deficiency in public notice. Monica Agee, a Jefferson County Circuit Judge in the Birmingham division, issued a temporary restraining order on April 14 preventing the Bessemer City Council from voting on the proposed rezoning of the property from agricultural to industrial. After issuing the restraining order, Agee transferred the case to the county's Bessemer division, where the matter was scheduled for a hearing. Agee's temporary restraining order was 'wrong and illegal,' attorney Shan Paden, representing the city, told Bessemer judge David Hobdy at an April 23 hearing. Hobdy scolded the lawyer for his comments about the judge. 'I take issue with the fact that you're saying that judge knew what she was doing was wrong,' Hobdy said. 'That's a circuit judge of Jefferson County, too, so I think she had appropriate authority to act at her discretion.' Lawyers for both the residents and the city of Bessemer brought up the size of the project in making their respective arguments about how the judge should eventually rule. 'This is a $14 billion project,' Paden said. 'To give you the scope of that, the entire value of all the real estate in the city of Bessmer in 2018 was $345 million dollars,' Paden said in part. Public officials should be judging the merits of such a project, the lawyer argued, not a judge. Lawyers for the residents living near the proposed data center site, on the other hand, argued that the size of the project demands robust public notice and close adherence to relevant law. 'This is about protecting property owners' rights to protect their land from money-grabbing AI developers who have devastated many, many communities across the country,' the residents' attorney, Reginald McDaniel, said. John Parker Yates, another attorney for the residents, reminded the judge that the identity of the developer and its potential client is still not known. 'This could be a Chinese data center,' he said. 'And that's scary—that could be happening in our backyard and us not know.' In the end, Judge Hobdy chose not to dismiss the lawsuit outright as lawyers for the city of Bessemer had asked him to do. Instead, he told both parties that he planned to hold over the case long enough for city officials to begin the public notice process and rezoning process again, in accordance with Alabama law. If and when that process is complete, the judge said, he'd consider ordering a dismissal in the case. Hobdy set a status update hearing in the case for Aug. 1. Despite the delay in the necessary rezoning achieved through the residents' lawsuit, community members opposed to the project now have another, likely more difficult task ahead: to convince public officials to vote against moving the proposal forward. Marshall Killingsworth walked in his garden on a recent afternoon, his daylilies blooming in the warm Alabama sun. Killingsworth, 80, retired after working for decades in IT at major companies, including Blue Cross Blue Shield and Drummond Coal. Even in retirement, though, he's busier now than ever. He spends much of his time outside, tending to an elaborate, well kept yard overlooking a wooded valley where the data center is now proposed to be built. Soon, Ron and Becky Morgan, married nearly 28 years, came and sat with Killingsworth. Ron, an Army veteran, jumped into the conversation as soon as he arrived, talking intensely about potential noise, light pollution and the environmental impact of the necessary clear-cutting and construction. Becky placed her arm on Ron's leg. 'We just got here,' she said, laughing. 'Other people want to talk too.' In Alabama, almost all the new electric demand that the state's largest energy company, Alabama Power, has projected is for data centers, said Daniel Tait, executive director of Energy Alabama, a nonprofit organization that advocates for clean energy in the state. Many data centers use alternative energy sources, including solar, wind, nuclear and hydrogen, to reduce carbon emissions and reduce their reliance on the electric grid, although investors in the Bessemer project have not outlined any such plans. Lawyers representing Logistics Land Investments did not respond to requests for comment. As demand for digital content grows, an 'arms race' has escalated between tech giants to build digital warehouses and bring their services to market first. Data centers were initially smaller and demanded 50 to 200 megawatts of power to run. Driven by the development of AI, a new, second round of data centers uses five times more energy, averaging 2 to 3 gigawatts to sustain operations. They are considered 'high capacity' because once the center is running, it doesn't stop. 'You can't turn it off like the AC,' Tait said. If built to full capacity, the Bessemer data center campus is projected to consume around 1,200 megawatts of energy and could feasibly consume around 10.5 million megawatt hours per year. That's more than 90 times the amount of energy used by all residences in Bessemer and more than 10 times the amount of energy used by all residences in Birmingham annually. Increased demand for energy, or at least the potential for it, is already driving Alabama Power's desire to double down on fossil fuel investments. The company, an effective monopoly, has asked the state's Public Service Commission to approve its purchase of a gas-powered power plant in recent days, potentially exacerbating the state's reliance on dirty energy that contributes to climate change. When a technology company proposes to a municipality to build a new digital storehouse, however, sometimes 'elevated demand load is overstated because every party is financially invested in overstating the need,' Tait said. Even as the city moves forward with its plans, for example, there is no guarantee the data center will have customers once built. Jefferson Traywick serves as Jefferson County's first ever economic development advisor. In an interview, he said that there are multiple potential customers engaging with investors about potential end use. Traywick said he'd signed an NDA as well, so he couldn't say who those possible customers might be. 'I really don't even know,' he said. Ideally, data center companies should pay for their own infrastructure, but in practice, this often doesn't happen, Tait said. The vast majority of these infrastructure projects benefit only the data center, not the broader customer base. Tait believes building these operations 'should not be on the backs of regular people to benefit the wealthiest corporations in America.' These corporations, he said, 'should pay their fair share. If anything, they should pay more than their fair share.' Brenda Small and her daughter, Brianna, live in a small trailer park just outside the boundaries of the proposed development. Last month, they were quick to express their opposition to the project. Small said her power bills are already approaching $500 some months. 'That's ridiculous for one month,' she said. Small worries her bills will soar even higher because of increased energy demand from the data center. In Georgia, tech companies and consumer advocates have negotiated and agreed that the data center operators cover their own infrastructure costs rather than passing those expenses entirely to consumers. Georgia has also been more forward-thinking about clean energy, Tait said. But Mississippi's approach to cost allocation is a 'free for all.' Last year, Mississippi passed a state law that declares anything Amazon needs to build is automatically in the public interest, with no Public Service Commission review. This approach is 'the most egregious example we see in terms of a cost allocation problem,' Tait said. Alabama law contains tax carve outs for capital projects, including a specific, 30-year tax abatement meant to attract large data centers. If approved by Bessemer officials, a tax abatement under the economic development law could amount to a tax cut of more than $500 million. So-called 'hyperscale' data centers like those used by Google, Meta and other large tech companies can consume hundreds of gallons of water daily and millions annually. Smaller centers use less water but can still consume a significant amount of a town's water supply if not properly managed. To cool the heat generated by thousands of servers in one data center, a chilled water system is typical for a hyperscale data center. The central chiller cools the water, circulates it through heat-absorbing coils, and dissipates the heat into the air through a cooling tower. The water then recirculates. In smaller centers, water can be piped to nearby wastewater facilities. Lawyers for Logistic Land Investments have said in documents that the proposed Bessemer facility's end user may choose to rely on a so-called 'closed loop' cooling system meant to reduce water usage and waste, but it's unclear exactly how that system will work—what the water demand will be and where wastewater would be discharged. Despite the rapid construction of new data centers driven by the demand for AI, cryptocurrency mining and cloud computing, Alabama lacks a comprehensive water plan. Under state law, if you own land next to a river or stream in Alabama, you can use the water without a permit. Businesses using more than 100,000 gallons of water daily are required to file a certificate and declare the water usage as beneficial, but the reporting is largely self-regulated without meaningful oversight, and penalties are nonexistent for non-compliance, according to Cindy Lowry, executive director of Alabama Rivers Alliance. Most states in the east have a regulated water withdrawal system, she said. Alabama does not. 'We have virtually nothing,' said Lowry. If different sources pull from one river, like the Black Warrior River, and everyone is filling out a certificate, 'There's nobody looking to say: 'How much can the system handle? How many straws are in the system?'' Lowry said. By consuming large amounts of water, a data center, like the one proposed in western Jefferson County, has the potential to become the largest water consumer in the state. Already, 80 percent of water withdrawals in the state are for cooling coal, gas and nuclear plants, Lowry added. Often, utilities may not have initially planned for such massive water demands. With their high water consumption for cooling systems, data centers pose several significant water challenges for Alabama. A data center can strain local water utilities capacity, increase water bills for existing customers, disrupt the natural flow of rivers, reduce the water available for downstream users and potentially destroy local ecosystems. Dynamics like these worry Ron and Becky Morgan. The couple is among the few residents in the area on well water, Becky explained, putting them at risk of becoming victims of groundwater contamination—water used to cool data centers is mixed with chemical coolants—or more general water scarcity. 'We're on the front lines when it comes to water,' she said. Jeff Lowe, a retired firefighter, said he worries about the impact the facility will have on the ability of first responders to adequately address fires in the area. 'They say Warrior River is going to supply it,' Lowe said of the local water utility. 'But I don't know if they can. They can't even keep the fire hydrants around here going.' Lowe said he also wonders about the additional fire risk posed by the data center itself, potentially replete with electronic equipment and lithium batteries, in a community with limited resources to respond to large, industrial fires. 'I just don't know if they have the resources to deal with something like that before it gets out of hand,' he said. On the whole, residents fear perpetual daylight will replace starlight and the 24-hour mechanical whir of machinery will be their surround sound, drowning out the birdsong. They foresee the banks of Little Blue Creek and other wetlands being deforested, the lakes flooded with potentially toxic runoff laced with coolants and wildlife driven from their habitat. David Havron, president of the Rock Mountain Lakes Landowners Association, is one of the residents who filed suit against the city, resulting in the restraining order that delayed the city council's vote to move the project forward. He worries that the nighttime view from his dock, just a stone's throw from his back door, will soon be ruined in favor of a project that he believes will provide little benefit to his neighborhood or those living in it. 'It's going to look like a sunset,' he said of the light pollution. 'A constant haze in the sky.' With less vegetation to absorb rainwater because of the clear-cutting necessary to complete the project, Havron said residents are worried flooding could become worse in the area, with runoff potentially filling the lakes around which many of the residents have built their homes and lives. Then, there's the risk to wildlife. 'It'll all be gone,' Havron said. 'It'll run off. There's a set of bald eagles. There's deer and coyotes, racoons and turkeys and everything else here. It'll all be gone … It's going to have to be cut.' Not long after Ron and Becky Morgan had arrived at Marshall Killingsworth's garden gathering, Mary Rosenboom came and sat down among the daylilies, completing the circle of neighbors brought together by the fight to save their community from an unwanted development. A sales professional, Rosenboom said she'd never delved into political or environmental issues until the data center came knocking at the community's door. Once she began to look into the potential impacts, she quickly realized this was a fight she was willing to join and, if necessary, help lead. Now, she's become an accidental activist. 'It was absolutely an accident, but here I am,' she said. Sitting in front of her was a brightly colored binder, filled with research on data centers, city governance and what the impact could be in her community. It's a hard fight to win, Rosenboom said, when there's so little information being provided about the specifics of the project. The non-disclosure agreements, the residents said, was one of their top concerns. 'When you're dealing with public funds and public ordinances, there should be no NDA,' Ron Morgan said. Even if public officials are unwilling to talk about the possible impacts of the project, the residents around the site say they're ready for a war. Securing the restraining order and delaying the process was a battle won, they said, but the fight is still well underway. Becky Morgan, also a plaintiff in the suit against the city, said that previous public hearings have been largely a formality, with officials doing little to meaningfully engage with citizens' concerns. 'It's just a farce,' she said. And when it came time for officials to ask questions of the developer, there was little desire on the part of public officials to push the data center representatives for more substantive information. 'They already had their marching orders,' her husband, Ron, said. 'And now we have ours.' The next stage of the fight is already underway. The last week of April, more than 100 residents gathered inside Rock Mountain Baptist Church to hear from lawyers McDaniel and Yates about what may come next. The pair characterized securing a delay in the rezoning process as a win but warned residents that a protracted legal fight could drag on for years and cost the community upwards of six figures. Outside the legal realm, the lawyers said, residents should do all they can to press local political leaders to oppose the project and provide as much information about the proposal as possible before and during newly scheduled planning and zoning commission and city council meetings in the coming weeks. No matter what, the lawyers told the crowd, fighting a municipality with practically unlimited resources over a multi-billion dollar project will be an uphill battle. It was a reality many of the residents were already coming to terms with. They were ready for the fight. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Axios
18-04-2025
- Business
- Axios
San Antonio mayoral candidates on a new Spurs arena
San Antonio's May 3 mayoral election is the first in 16 years without an incumbent on the ballot. Why it matters: The city will have a new mayor during a critical time, when officials are looking to gain public support for a new downtown Spurs arena that could be surrounded by a sports and entertainment district. State of play: San Antonio's next mayor will serve a four-year term after voters approved increasing term length from two years. How it works: There are 27 candidates on the ballot. Axios San Antonio chose 10 candidates for a questionnaire based on the people leading in fundraising or name recognition. The responses have been lightly edited to adhere to Axios style. Candidate Tim Westley did not respond to Axios' questionnaire. Here are the questions: Voters face a crowded ballot for this election. What sets you apart from the other candidates for mayor? The city's plans to move the Spurs downtown and create a surrounding sports and entertainment district will be a key focus for a new mayor. Do you support Project Marvel, and why or why not? Tell us about your favorite place in San Antonio and what makes you love this city. Here is how the candidates answered: Rolando Pablos I believe my experience in the highest levels of business and government make me the best candidate to create a stronger future for San Antonio. I've run three large government organizations, more than anyone in the race, and I have extensive economic development experience in government and the private sector. I'll use this experience to create greater efficiencies and accountability in our local government, lead aggressive economic development efforts to attract companies and good-paying jobs to San Antonio, and ensure our public safety agencies have the resources needed to ensure the safety of our citizens and their homes and businesses. San Antonio needs to compete as a top-tier sports and entertainment destination, but it's important to remember this involves two projects: One is the entertainment district. In addition to a quality-of-life improvement for San Antonio, it would be an important draw for big companies considering relocation here. We must attract private investment to fully fund it. The other is the Spurs arena. The Spurs are a civic, cultural and economic asset that drives tourism, business and city pride. If we make any level of investment, it must be public-private, so the Spurs have skin in the game. Market Square is my favorite place in our beautiful city! It is alive with our culture and the energy of locals and visitors from across the world who also represent a blend of cultures. I love San Antonio because of our wonderful culture, history and identity, and the way we celebrate it. In fact, our cultural excellence would be a key part of "San Antonio Next," a global marketing campaign I would launch as mayor to help enhance San Antonio's reputation as a world-class destination, and I will commit to restoring our cultural gems like the River Walk. Robert T. Melvin What sets me apart is my proven track record of building — homes, businesses and opportunities — for over two decades. Project Marvel potentially (will be) economic growth, job creation and enhanced cultural experiences for our community. My favorite place in San Antonio is Pearl — so many memories created there with my family. Manny Pelaez I bring the required expertise, experience and vision to make San Antonio the safest and strongest city in America. Yes, but the Spurs need to build their own stadium without tax dollars. Taqueria Datapoint — a gathering spot where families come together to celebrate authenticity, great food and community. Adriana Rocha Garcia Rocha Garcia is serving her sixth year on City Council. She serves as Chair of (the) Municipal Utilities Committee and Planning and Development Committee. Adriana is the (board) president of the San Antonio Housing Trust, which has created over 7,000 units under her leadership. As the creator of the Small Business Advisory Commission and a public health advocate, Adriana believes in the responsible growth of San Antonio where no one is left behind. I love the Spurs and believe they unite our city. However, it is essential that residents benefit from Project Marvel. This means ensuring access to affordable housing, health care and better job opportunities for our community. Additionally, we need to improve our streets, sidewalks and reliable internet access. I also want to ensure that the Frost Bank Center is transformed into a space where residents can access education, health care and housing opportunities. To fund this project, we need to collaborate with the county, and the Spurs ownership should contribute as well. We must explore all financing options. (The) San Antonio Zoo is my favorite place. I love Timothy the Hippo and his creative writing skills. He lives with his grandma Uma, reminding me of all the grandparents raising grandkids in San Antonio. Brayden, the giraffe, is San Antonio's most eligible bachelor, and Twig, the tiny owl, is the cutest bird you'll ever meet. The zoo keeps family fun affordable. For kids like me, it was a treat my parents could afford, and I'll always have great memories of Lucy the elephant and her friends, lovingly dubbed the Golden Girls. The zoo has been a happy place for me. Gina Ortiz Jones San Antonio needs a mayor with proven leadership and a commitment to public service. As undersecretary of the Air Force, I managed a $173 billion budget, led 600,000 personnel and implemented reforms that improved the lives of service members and their families. My experience in government has been about solving problems, removing barriers and making smart investments — skills I will bring to City Hall. Project Marvel has the potential to transform downtown and our city. However, at this point, we don't have enough information to assess the true cost and potential benefits for our community. Voters remember too well previous promises around publicly financed venues: an NFL team with the Alamodome, 20% of Spurs' profits annually and East Side revitalization with the AT&T Center. None of that was realized. We must think of this potential generational investment as a way to address the generational inequities in our city. As mayor, I'll ensure that public investments are transparent, fiscally responsible and serve our entire city. My favorite place in San Antonio is the Duck Pond in Heritage. I grew up walking past it to and from school, and it's always been a calming place for me: running around it at dawn, seeing neighbors and classmates that I haven't seen in a while, feeding the ducks and turtles at dusk. I love my city, because I feel at home in every part of it. Our people set us apart from other cities, and I look forward to being a mayor who serves with everyone in mind. Clayton Perry Experience and commonsense leadership! Retired lieutenant colonel in the United States Air Force; retired vice president; three terms as councilmember (in) District 10. I will not support additional debt using public tax dollars. We already have the largest debt per capita in Texas (of the 10 largest city governments). The Alamo being the Cradle of Liberty in Texas. I love the people and multicultures in S.A. that make it friendly and unique. John Courage I have been the District 9 councilmember for eight years. I have the knowledge and experience (and) courage to lead our city. I support expanding and improving the convention center, the Alamodome and Hemisfair. I (am) considering supporting the arena. Brackenridge Park with its trails, the zoo, the train, the Witte Museum, the Sunken Garden (Theater), etc. It is a gem for all to enjoy. Beto Altamirano My unique mix of public and private sector experiences, including my role as CEO of a small business, sets me apart. I support Project Marvel and will support the new Spurs arena if no general funds are used in its construction. My favorite place is walking along the River Walk and I love this city because anyone can shape its future. Melissa Cabello Havrda I am a fighter. I have real leadership (experience) and real results. I'm not running on promises — I've proven I can deliver for San Antonians. I've secured millions for public safety, mental health, foster youth and infrastructure. As chair of the Public Safety Committee, I led efforts to reduce crime and expand mental health services. At the Alamo Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, I fought for the transportation funding shaping our city's future. What prepares me is my deep connection with San Antonio. I've earned trust through accountability and a clear vision. I bring a fighter's resilience and I don't back down. I support a downtown stadium only under three conditions: no taxpayer dollars, a strong displacement plan and real economic investment. San Antonians should never fund private development without guaranteed benefits. I will not support using public dollars — those should fund core services, not subsidize private interests. There must be an enforceable plan to prevent displacement and invest in East Side communities. Any deal must deliver long-term economic benefits, including workforce development and infrastructure. I fought to ensure East Side leadership had a voice. If Project Marvel meets these conditions, it can move forward. But public trust demands guarantees, not promises. My favorite place in San Antonio is my grandmother's house on the South Side. It's where I learned what love, resilience and community really mean. My grandparents have always been my inspiration — and their example led me to a life of service. I am a daughter of this city. I love its people, its culture, its food and its art. San Antonio raised me, and it's been the honor of my life to serve as a councilmember. Now, I'm ready to serve as your mayor — with heart, with purpose and with deep roots in this community.
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Spurs arena megadevelopment moves forward with judge's ruling
Momentum is building for one of downtown San Antonio's boldest redevelopment efforts, even if it means leaving part of the city's past behind. A state district judge has dismissed a lawsuit seeking to protect the former Institute of Texan Cultures building in downtown San Antonio, removing a key legal obstacle for a city-backed redevelopment plan that could include a new Spurs arena, the San Antonio Business Journal reported. Judge Tina Torres of the 407th District Court effectively threw out the Conservation Society of San Antonio's effort to halt demolition of the 1968 World's Fair pavilion. The nonprofit sued late last month, seeking to preserve the mid-century structure at 801 East César E. Chávez Boulevard. 'Our intent at this point is to appeal,' said Conservation Society President Lewis Vetter, who expressed concern that the structure may not survive long enough for the legal process to play out. 'My expectation is that we'll end up with a parking lot for a number of years,' he told the outlet. The former museum sits on a key piece of land targeted by Project Marvel, the city's sweeping sports and entertainment district proposal long-rumored but only recently beginning to materialize. Earlier this month, the City of San Antonio, Bexar County and the San Antonio Spurs signed an initial, non-binding agreement to officially relocate the San Antonio Spurs to a downtown arena and repurpose the Frost Bank Center. Project Marvel calls for redevelopment of the Hemisfair and Alamodome area into a sports and entertainment district. It includes proposals for a new Spurs arena on the former Institute of Texan Cultures site, a Convention Center expansion, a 1,000-room hotel, a land bridge over Interstate 37 connecting to the East Side, a 5,000-seat live entertainment venue in the John Woods Courthouse and roughly 50 acres of mixed-use development. The city still has not named a development partner, or finalized costs, but internal estimates suggest a total price tag between $3 billion and $4 billion, depending on the scope and financing structure, Texas Public Radio reported. A mix of private equity, tax credits, venue taxes and public-private partnerships is expected to fund the district's various components. UTSA, which controls the site, has already begun remediation work, removing concrete panels and preparing the pavilion for access and partial deconstruction. In December, the Texas Historical Commission issued a demolition permit for the property. University officials say the remediation is compliant with state law and will continue through mid-May. The legal challenge is now paused, pending appeal. The city appears one step closer to activating the high-profile Hemisfair site for redevelopment. But preservationists warn the decision could set a precedent for the future of other historically significant, if underutilized, public buildings. — Judah Duke Hush-hush plans for Spurs arena, entertainment district see daylight Missions ballpark bond plan to spur $1B entertainment district Trump's DOGE lists San Antonio building targeted for Spurs Arena plans This article originally appeared on The Real Deal. Click here to read the full story.
Axios
24-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Axios
Alamodome-area bar Atlee's Rally opening just in time for Final Four weekend
Atlee's Rally, a new sports bar, is stepping onto the court in St. Paul Square. Why it matters: It's located just steps from the Alamodome's entrance — the perfect spot for Final Four action that's only weeks away from descending on San Antonio. The latest: Atlee's Rally will be soft-opening during the Final Four. Owners Andy Palacios and James Santos knew they'd be close to the action when they planned the bar — but they didn't realize they'd be just 10 yards from the entrance. "We're in a great place to make sure that people coming in know what San Antonio is, how we've changed, how we're growing and what people love about the city," says Palacios, who also owns Tony's Siesta, a popular bar across Interstate 37. "We want to show them how it's a big family down here and how that makes us unique and authentic." The vibe: The light-filled space neighboring The Espee has basketball-orange seating and barstools wrapped in leather reminiscent of baseball gloves. A painted basketball court stretches across the ceiling, featuring the warm orange, teal and brown hues of the Spurs' City Edition jerseys. True to its sports bar DNA, the space boasts massive TVs (including one spanning the bar) and plenty of billiards and other games. Dig in: The cocktail menu, curated by Santos, reflects the welcoming feel of the space, and includes martinis, house margaritas and mocktails. He says it'll be playful but efficient. "This isn't the kind of place where you're trying to stump the bartender," Santos says. "We want to focus on getting drinks out in a timely manner." The intrigue: The bar's name pays tribute to Atlee B. Ayres, who played a role in designing St. Paul Square and is celebrated for shaping the city's landscape with landmarks like the Freeman Coliseum and the Smith-Young Tower (now the Tower Life Building). What's next: The grand opening is slated for later in the spring. The bar will eventually expand with a patio, opening up opportunities for food trucks and pop-up events. The team is also eyeing the potential of Project Marvel, which, if approved, could bring even more foot traffic and energy to the space.
