San Antonio, Spurs splurge on consulting fees as much of Project Marvel remains murky

A rendering of what the downtown sports and entertainment district might look like upon completion. Credit: Courtesy Image / City of San Antonio

Spurs Sports & Entertainment forged ahead this week with plans for a new $1.3 billion downtown arena by hiring a slew of local and national contractors for the project, officials with the NBA franchise said in a Wednesday.

SS&E’s hiring spree comes as the City of San Antonio has so far spent some $10 million in consultant contracts, despite having yet to purchase the land where the arena is set to be built.

The contracts signed by SS&E and the city also come as much of the broader Project Marvel vision – a $4 billion sports and entertainment complex at Hemisfair anchored by a new basketball arena – remains in limbo.

SS&E hired project management firm CAA ICON to oversee the construction of the arena and surrounding development. CAA ICON previously served as the City of Raleigh, North Carolina’s representative in the renovation of the Lenovo Center in 2025. However, that contract wasn’t renewed due to a staffing issue.

Pape-Dawson — the San Antonio-based civil engineering firm behind the controversial residential parking program on the St. Mary’s Strip — will lead the environmental, civil and traffic engineering and surveying work.

Architecture firm Overland International will design the new arena at Hemisfair, while Chicago-based Marquee Development will focus on creating surrounding economic development, including retail and hospitality space.

Meanwhile, the international firm Sasaki will create a master plan for the sports and entertainment district anchored by the arena.

Stafford Sports will provide advisory and strategic planning services. San Antonio-based Jorge Rodriguez Financial Consulting and law firm Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP will provide financial and legal consulting, while Goldman Sachs will act as the project’s financial advisor.

“We are bringing together the right partners to deliver something San Antonio can be proud of,” SS&E Chief Executive RC Buford said in a statement.

SS&E didn’t disclose the value of the contracts.

City contracts

Word of the vendors hired by SS&E comes days after the San Antonio City Council agreed to dish out $6.3 million in consulting fees to Accenture Infrastructure and Capital Projects and Municap for the project.

Municap’s $350,000 project will go towards a cost-of-service study for the district.

Geoffrey Proheter, a professor of public finance at the University of Colorado-Denver, told TheTXLoop last week that hiring a consultant to analyze the cost of services incurred by the city should have been done prior to council approving a term sheet with SS&E in August.

“These are the sort of questions you ask before you make a decision, because now in hindsight, the fact that you’re asking afterward just kind of seems like you’re trying to play catch-up with this whole transparency, accountability business, and that is a foregone conclusion beforehand, even if that was the worst-kept secret,” Proheter said.

Meanwhile, Accenture’s $6 million contract means it will coordinate and manage the development of the district, acting as an “executive program manager.”

Details still sketchy

Despite the uptick in consultant contracts being signed this week, much of Project Marvel remains in limbo.

The city is “assessing” the costs and requirements needed to support operations at the Alamodome for the next decade and is working on a feasibility study to determine next steps for the proposed expansion of the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, according to city spokesperson Brian Chasnoff.

Staff is expected to present City Council with an update on those studies in September, Chasnoff added.

Although contracts are being signed left and right for the arena, San Antonio has yet to acquire the land from the University of Texas system, where the arena is expected to be built.

Chasnoff said the city expects to finalize that land sale no later than Dec. 31 of this year.

Questions also swirl around the land bridge long considered part of the project.

City Manager Erik Walsh told reporters last October that portion of the Project Marvel had been scrapped due to a lack of funding. Even so, the city awarded a $3.7 million contract to Dallas-based Aecom Technical Services in March to explore pedestrian crossing options across Interstate 37.

And city officials as recently as last week said a land bridge remains on the table despite Walsh’s remarks.

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