City Council backs UTSA land deal
Expansion expected to create hub for tech and national security
By Krista Torralva STAFF WRITER
City Council member Greg Brockhouse, left, raises objections to his exclusion from city-university talks on the sale of land to the University of Texas San Antonio, but he voted to approve the sale of land to UTSA to expand its downtown campus on Thursday.
UTSA President Taylor Eighmy embraces Assistant City Manager Lori Houston after City Council voted unanimously to approve the sale of land to the university on Thursday.
City Council unanimously approved selling more than 3 acres to the University of Texas at San Antonio to be used for its new National Security Collaboration Center and school of data science.
The land — bounded by South Santa Rosa, Dolorosa, South Flores and West Nueva streets — will be sold to UTSA for $7.3 million.
The expansion is expected to attract Fortune 500 companies to San Antonio and to establish the city as a hub for technology and national security, officials said.
Council members heaped praise on UTSA President Taylor Eighmy for prioritizing the expansion of the downtown campus and securing millions of dollars to fund the capital project.
“You have come in and really take the reins and just been so focused and visionary,” Councilwoman Rebecca Viagran told Eighmy, who has been the UTSA president just over a year. “This is going to be a game changer for the entire city of San Antonio and the region.”
UTSA has already secured $70 million from the state’s Permanent University Fund as well as a $15 million gift from businessman Graham Weston for the project.
Three council members — Greg Brockhouse, John Courage and Clayton Perry — expressed frustration they were not included in city-university talks earlier in the process, but conceded the plan is good for San Antonio.
“It’s a wonderful vision, Dr. Eighmy, I am not disputing that,” Brockhouse said before addressing city staffers. “But I also have a vision where every member of this body is included in discussion at the earliest possible time. ... I call on the mayor to please include everybody in every decision regardless of their beliefs or opposition or political means.”
The university also is planning to build a business school downtown. County Judge Nelson Wolff has publicly pledged his commitment to get the county to transfer 2.6 acres to the university for that project. The county land is in the same area as the land UTSA is buying from the city, a few blocks east of the university’s core downtown campus.
The next hurdle to clear for that project will be securing $126 million in tuition revenue bonds during the upcoming legislative session. krista.torralva@express-news.net