San Antonio Spurs Players Back $1.3 Billion Arena Contractor Hiring Spree
San Antonio Spurs players are now tied to a fast-moving downtown arena push after Spurs Sports & Entertainment hired multiple contractors on Wednesday for the $1.3 billion project. The hires cover construction oversight, design, engineering, planning, and financial and legal consulting while the city’s larger Project Marvel plan still sits in limbo.
Buford Names the Partners
RC Buford said the company is assembling the group it needs for the arena and the district around it. “We are bringing together the right partners to deliver something San Antonio can be proud of,” he said in a statement.
The list is broad. CAA ICON will oversee construction of the arena and surrounding development. Pape-Dawson will handle environmental, civil and traffic engineering and surveying. Overland International will design the new arena at Hemisfair, while Marquee Development will focus on surrounding economic development, including retail and hospitality space.
Hemisfair Work Takes Shape
SS&E also hired Sasaki to create a master plan for the sports and entertainment district anchored by the arena. Stafford Sports will provide advisory and strategic planning services. Jorge Rodriguez Financial Consulting and Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP will handle financial and legal consulting, and Goldman Sachs will act as the project’s financial advisor.
The company did not disclose what those contracts are worth. That leaves the public with the structure of the build-out but not the price of the private-side advisory work supporting it.
City Spending Climbs
The city has already moved money into the process. This week, the San Antonio City Council agreed to spend $6.3 million in consulting fees for the project, including $6 million for Accenture Infrastructure and Capital Projects to coordinate and manage the district as an executive program manager and $350,000 for Municap to conduct a cost-of-service study.
So far, the City of San Antonio has spent about $10 million on consultant contracts. Much of Project Marvel remains unresolved, even though the city approved a term sheet with SS&E in August and still has not bought the land where the arena is set to be built.
That mix of new hires, consultant spending, and unfinished groundwork is where the project stands now. The arena plan is advancing on paper, but the land, the broader district, and the final shape of Project Marvel are still being worked through while the spending keeps climbing.
