An area of San Antonio that has suffered from economic invisibility and infrastructural neglect for decades is now primed for a historic takeoff.
One of the engines propelling that ascent is a university that South Side leaders argued would, before it was built, ignite dramatic change in an area long underserved.
In 2009, Texas A&M University-San Antonio was established as a standalone institution, earmarked for a nearly 700-acre site south of Loop 410. Two years later, its first building was completed.
Now, TAMUSA’s enrollment has surpassed 8,000 students and university leadership is bracing for expansion needed to keep pace with demand.
“We have to try to make sure that we stay ahead of that growth,” Texas A&M-San Antonio President Salvador Hector Ochoa said.
South Side’s Set Up
The area around A&M-San Antonio has several pillars of growth expanding at the same time.
Building a destination campus
San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg’s push for economic equity across the city spiked in the wake of the pandemic. He urged leaders to address the needs, especially in areas that have historically been left out of economic opportunities.
He believes TAMUSA is fueling unprecedented change to the south.
“Not only has it created a pathway through essential education and training to 21st-century careers for future generations of San Antonians, it has provided a sustaining lift to the South Side’s steady march toward becoming a new center of gravity in the Texas economy,” Nirenberg said.
TAMUSA has undergone a significant expansion since opening its standalone campus in 2011. Plans for more extensive development are already in motion, according to Ochoa, who expects that the Alamo City university will ultimately become Texas A&M’s second-largest campus.
While the majority of the university’s enrollment initially came from Bexar County, its geographic reach is expanding, with a student population now representing several states and countries.
“We’re going to become more of a destination campus,” Ochoa said. “We’re already seeing that.”
Texas A&M University-San Antonio President Hector Ochoa says the school and the area around it are undergoing landmark change.
Forging a game plan
Well before TAMUSA was established, some leaders pushed for the university to be developed on Brooks, a former military base that has since been transformed into a mixed-use development. Former South San Antonio Chamber of Commerce President Cindy Taylor warned such a plan could limit the university’s geographic impact.
“One plus one at Brooks equals one,” Taylor said years ago. “We want one plus one to equal two.”
So far, TAMUSA has only developed about 100 of its 700 acres. It has the luxury of space and plans to use more of it — sooner than later.
Los Arcos at Vida Apartments, located across from TAMUSA in the VIDA San Antonio community.
Last fall, the university opened a second residence hall that is already nearly full. Leadership has reached out to the Texas A&M Board of Regents about a third residence building that could accommodate another 300 or more students. The $80 million project will include attached dining facilities.
TAMUSA hopes to have that structure open by 2028.
“At our rate of growth, I’m more than sure once it opens, it will be filled,” Ochoa said.
In early April, TAMUSA broke ground on a $20 million Educare facility slated to open in 2026. The center will provide care for children and serve as a lab for early childhood teachers.
The university also plans to develop a $55 million public health and education building set to open in 2026. The nearly 36,000-square-foot structure will include administrative, instructional, lab and research spaces supporting TAMUSA’s College of Education and Human Development.
The university is plotting a development strategy through the build-out of separate zones, including one earmarked for academic needs and others dedicated to housing, recreational and other infrastructure.
South Texas Business Partnership President and CEO Rebecca Viagran says the impact TAMUSA has had on the area already is monumental.
“They’ve just proven what was always needed,” Viagran said.
Leveraging the assets
Others are investing around TAMUSA.
University Health has begun construction on a nearly $500 million hospital campus next to the university. The project will also include a medical office building.
“The South Side deserves this state-of-the-art health care facility,” Bexar County Precinct 1 Commissioner Rebeca Clay-Flores said.
University Health President and CEO Ed Banos says there is heightened demand for the services the hospital will provide. Officials took that into account when planning capacity.
“There’s such a huge population already there that needs medical attention,” Banos said.
That population is expected to continue to grow as the area gains more new housing and complementary development.
Not far away, Toyota Texas has begun construction on a more than $530 million expansion of its San Antonio manufacturing campus. The automaker is adding a new 500,000-square-foot plant that will produce rear axles for Tundra and Sequoia vehicles. The project will bring 400-plus new jobs to the area.
UK manufacturer JCB has begun work on a $500 million manufacturing facility south of TAMUSA and in early April said it planned to double the size of the 500,000-square-foot structure.
The increased activity has energized local leaders’ push for a new South Side parkway that would connect Interstates 37 and 35 south of Loop 410, providing needed roadway relief. That project could stimulate additional investment and development across San Antonio’s southern sector.
“In no uncertain terms, this is a big deal,” Viagran said.
Cashing in on a new wave
That new wave of activity and investment has created an opportunity, Ochoa said, for South San Antonio stakeholders to work in unison.
“When you know what your neighbors are doing, you plan in concert with them,” he said.
With that in mind, TAMUSA is developing a new strategic plan that will help guide its future growth.
“We can focus not only on the physical facilities but where we want to go,” Ochoa said.
Meanwhile, TAMUSA has released a new report indicating that the university’s economic impact on Bexar County for fiscal year 2022-23 alone eclipsed $292 million.
It’s just the beginning of a landmark shift to the south, Viagran predicts.
“The economic opportunity and the transformation that is going to continue to happen in this region, we’re just scratching the surface in this area right now,” she said. “This is an area that is ready to go.”
There is plenty at stake and every reason to seize the moment and leverage the momentum the Alamo City university and other major stakeholders have ignited, according to Nirenberg.
“The continued growth of TAMUSA’s footprint and mission on the South Side of San Antonio is changing the economic landscape of our region and state,” he said.
It’s a hefty lift long overdue, according to leaders who had the vision years ago.
Just as the University of Texas at San Antonio is a catalyst for the development of a thriving community to the northwest of downtown, stakeholders are optimistic that big change is brewing on the opposite end of the city.
“We’re building a very unique city on the South Side,” Ochoa said.