Eric Groat

Division Manager

Robins & Morton

Stability is something to be appreciated by San Antonio’s AEC community, Groat says, noting that the market “has been extremely busy for years, and we’re still seeing that across the board.”

Groat admits that his engineering and design peers report a slight slowdown of activity, the result of clients taking a “wait-and-see” approach to uncertainties surrounding tariffs and other new Trump administration policies. Still, he says, “ongoing or approved projects are proceeding as planned, and labor resources remain stretched across the metro area.”

Revitalizing San Antonio’s downtown area is a big part of that focus, particularly with adaptive reuse projects such as converting the 1890s-era Continental Hotel and Arana Building built in 1926 into residential and retail space. The upgraded properties bookend a new 290-unit residential tower with a five-level parking garage and 22,000 sq ft of commercial space. The nearby century-old 31-story Tower Life building will become a 244-unit residential tower, with restaurant spaces at street level and along the city’s famed River Walk.

Goin’ Downtown

Another key downtown project, the new $185-million Alamo Visitor Center and Museum, got underway last fall. Scheduled to open in late 2027, the 100,000-sq-ft facility will include eight galleries and a 4D theater. Groat says proposed sports and entertainment-projects are also a big part of the local construction conversation—including a new baseball stadium, a possible basketball arena, a potential $1-billion renovation to the multipurpose Alamodome indoor stadium and proposed additions to Gonzales Convention Center.

Mixed-use projects such as Lone Star Brewery and Essex Modern City “are also popping up across downtown” with more focus on revitalization and linked residential, retail, office and public spaces in walkable areas, Groat says. The city is improving downtown living via new and enhanced green spaces, pedestrian and transit paths and walkable amenities such as Hemisfair Park and San Pedro Creek Culture Park, he adds.

Education is among the more active sectors across metro San Antonio, Groat says, the result of a statewide push to expand workforce development and technical training programs. Multiple colleges nearby are working to earn approval, or have already earned it, to add new program or training spaces, he adds.

San Antonio is also bustling with health care projects, says Groat, with “ongoing new construction on everything from new freestanding emergency departments and greenfield hospitals” to existing campus renovations and expansions. Robins & Morton recently finished the Westover Hills Baptist Hospital campus that has a 255,000-sq-ft acute care hospital and 89,000-sq-ft medical office building.

The firm now is building Baptist Neighborhood Hospital–Rigsby and an 11,000-sq-ft emergency department as well as renovating Methodist Specialty and Transplant Hospital, which includes adding 14 ICU beds. A vertical expansion of Methodist Hospital Stone Oak is scheduled to begin this fall. Groat sees state and private entities continuing to build new behavioral health facilities in Texas and improving those for assisted living.

Got Infrastructure?

State transportation projects underway are led by San Antonio International Airport’s new $1.4-billion Terminal C. Part of a 20-year, $2.5-billion development program, the 832,000-sq-ft, 17-gate facility will nearly double the size of the airport’s two existing terminals. The Texas Dept. of Transportation has about $5.6 billion in projects under construction in the San Antonio region as well, led by the $1.63-billion I-35 Northeast Expansion.

The city also is implementing a $30-million solar project, which includes rooftop and parking lot canopy solar photovoltaic systems at 42 facilities. This project is part of the city’s goal to achieve zero net energy for all municipal buildings by 2040. CPS Energy, San Antonio’s municipal energy utility, has 13 solar farms generating 497 MW of renewable power and is partnering with developer Avangrid to build new wind power projects.

Looming macro-level economic and political uncertainties could undercut San Antonio’s current construction momentum, but contractors face more immediate labor and subcontracting supply challenges while the city’s market stays active, says Groat.

To overcome those issues, “we focus on running clean, organized and efficient jobsites so trade contractors want to be part of our projects,” he says. “We hope they see our projects as enjoyable places to work, where they can be successful and profitable.”