Hemisfair Park Redevelopment Starts This Fall

The long-awaited redevelopment of Hemisfair Park in San Antonio is set to kick off this fall.

First, San Antonio-based Zachry Hospitality will embark on a hotel project, and a mixed-use building from Post Lake Capital Partners will ensue, the San Antonio Business Journal reported.

The first two projects, on the site of the 1968 World’s Fair, will set the stage for AREA Real Estate’s 17-story, 200-unit apartment building, which is scheduled to break ground in 2025 and carries an estimated cost of $75 million to $100 million. AREA, a local firm headed by David Adelman, also developed The ’68, a nearby apartment building with 151 units.

“I love projects that have a story. Hemisfair already has a story, and we tried to tell a story through the ’68 in all of the artwork we did, in keeping it local,” Adelman told the outlet. “Maybe something comes out of that, but it’s another year of design and two years of construction, so we have a lot of time before we have to put a brand out.”

The apartments will have ground-floor retail and a public parking garage. It will contain market-rate and affordable units. Adelman expects the project to take 28-30 months to complete.

Hemisfair is next to the San Antonio River Walk and borders Civic Park.

Post Lake and other firms behind the large-scale redevelopment have been forced to downsize their plans amid pushback from local residents. San Antonio officials and residents said the developers’ previous plans were out of touch with the historical significance of the area

—Quinn Donoghue