SAN ANTONIO – Plans for a second convention center hotel proposed as part of Project Marvel will either need to be adjusted or scrapped.
The San Antonio Water System said a consultant it hired to examine the feasibility of relocating its Commerce Street chilled water plant, on the site where the city had proposed a 1,000-room hotel as part of a sports and entertainment district, has said moving its facility would cost more than $300 million — roughly triple initial estimates.
Jaime Castillo, SAWS chief of staff and senior vice president of operations support and innovation, confirmed the idea to move the plant is “dead” and that the city had agreed not to pursue putting a hotel on the site.
“On our site, correct,” he told KSAT Tuesday morning. “I don’t know — you’d have to ask them (the city) what are their plans for a hotel. But putting it on our site, everyone seems to have agreed that that’s not a good option."
KSAT requested an interview with the city Tuesday morning but has not yet received a response.
The hotel was included as part of the city’s initial unveiling of the vision for Project Marvel and was shown as being combined with a UT San Antonio School of Hospitality.
The project has been put on the back burner, though, with the uncertainty surrounding the chilled water plant and the city’s focus on nearer-term projects like a new Spurs arena and a potential expansion of the Henry B. González Convention Center.
The plant on Commerce Street is one of two in the downtown “district cooling system,” which chill water down to a slush, which is then used to cool 22 downtown sites, including the convention center, the Alamodome, various hotels and La Villita. The utility has a second district cooling system at Port San Antonio.
Castillo said SAWS has asked its consultant to look into other options, including improving the current site and adding a satellite plant, to handle additional growth in the area related to Project Marvel, such as the arena and surrounding, mixed-use development.
“We’re thinking it’s probably both, but the study will confirm that,” Castillo said.
He also said the utility plans to meet with the “project managers” hired by the city and Spurs.
The City Council approved a contract last month with Accenture Infrastructure and Capital Projects to be the “executive program manager” for Project Marvel, and Spurs Sports & Entertainment announced several partners for the district and arena the following week.
“The consultant needs to know how big of a satellite plant, and we can only know that by engaging with the Spurs and the city,” he said.
SAWS expects the cost of beefing up the downtown cooling district will be borne by those specific customers, not regular ratepayers.
The utility’s request for a rate increase is separate from the plans tied to the chilled water plants. The City Council is expected to vote on that this month.
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