SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio is just hours away from laying eyes on plans for a new downtown Spurs arena and wider sports and entertainment district the city has been secretively working on for more than a year and a half.

City Manager Erik Walsh and Assistant City Manager Lori Houston are scheduled to present the conceptual plans for a new sports and entertainment district centered around Hemisfair in downtown San Antonio.

This appears to be the same multi-billion dollar “Project Marvel” the city has been developing since at least April 2023.

According to the agenda, the proposed district includes:

• “Potentially a new arena for the San Antonio Spurs.”

• Henry B. Gonzales Convention Center expansion

• Alamodome improvements

• New event venue

• Convention center hotel

HOW WE GOT HERE

In January 2023, Spurs Sports and Entertainment General Counsel Bobby Perez and Walsh traded congratulatory text messages following a game at the Alamodome for the franchise’s 50th anniversary in San Antonio.

“Thanks for the assist in making NBA history!!!!” Perez texted Walsh.

“A great event, Bobby! We need more games downtown” Walsh replied, with a smiley face emoji.

Five days later, Perez texted Walsh again, “Let’s discuss next steps re: downtown.”

READ MORE: City emails, texts show conversations and meetings surrounding potential ‘downtown’ arena for Spurs

Open records requests revealed an Apr. 11, 2023 meeting involving Walsh and Spurs brass, including Spurs Sports and Entertainment CEO R.C. Buford, at the AT&T Center. The records did not indicate what was discussed.

By then, records show the city had already begun collecting non-disclosure agreements for “Project Marvel,” starting with UTSA President Taylor Eighmy on Apr. 6, 2023.

In July 2023, a source first confirmed to KSAT that the Spurs were considering a downtown move. The team’s lease with Bexar County for the Frost Bank Center lasts into 2032.

In February 2024, the University of Texas System Board of Regents conditionally granted the city the exclusive right to lease or buy 13.6 acres of land at Hemisfair, which appears to be the Institute of Texan Cultures building.

UTSA says the Brutalist-style building, which made its debut as the Texas Pavilion in the 1968 World’s Fair, has $74 million worth of deferred maintenance and upcoming failing systems.

The university has already moved the ITC out of the building and hopes to find a new, permanent home for the museum closer to the Alamo.

Though supporters of the ITC building successfully got it designated as a State Antiquities Landmark, that is not guaranteed to protect it from demolition, which UTSA has said is necessary “to accomplish the highest use of the land.”