The transparent white balls hung in the air for a moment before falling into San Pedro Creek and floating down the waterway as UTSA leaders and local officials broke ground on the city’s newest building.
A Wednesday afternoon event at the San Pedro Creek Cultural Park signaled the start of construction on San Pedro II, the Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Career Building at 622 Dolorosa St.
Construction on the 182,000-square-foot building is expected to be completed in October 2025 and open to students in January 2026.
The building represents a strong bond between UTSA’s academic community and San Antonio’s business community, said UTSA President Taylor Eeighmy.
Speaking tonight on behalf of the entire UTSA leadership, we want to drive San Antonio’s economic development through internships, career-focused education, all of which contribute to the career advancement of our students, their families and the city as a whole.
The new building is located across the creek from San Pedro I, which opened in January, and houses the School of Data Science and the Center for National Security Collaboration.
The new $130 million facility will provide interdisciplinary programs in business, engineering and science, UTSA officials say, and will expand academic programming and research collaborations between programs in both buildings.
The second building will strengthen what we started in this building and also expand it, as the new building houses many of our cybersecurity programs and many of our innovation and entrepreneurship programs, said David Mongeau, founder and director of the School of Data Science.
Addressing the crowd gathered at the creek for the groundbreaking, Eeighmy said it was fitting that the event took place during San Antonio Startup Week, a dynamic showcase for innovation, collaboration and growth. It couldn’t be more appropriate for the collaborative ecosystem we’re building here.
Among the residents of Śródmieście, entrepreneurs and city and district authorities present at the event were four members of the University Student Government.
We’re just trying to get out there and find another student to connect with, said Karli Robertson, an environmental science major who attended the event with Paul Gonzalez, Daniel Rounds and Ryan Faidley.
“I am very impressed with UTSA’s integration into the San Antonio community,” said Faidley, deputy speaker of the Senate. We have so many leaders here coming together to support this university.
No other campus I have been to has this much engagement and connection with the local community. I really like this university for what it does.
Mayor Ron Nirenberg said San Pedro II will help expand San Antonio’s presence in certain industries.
Thanks to this, our city will become a bright spot on the map when it comes to innovation and entrepreneurship, new technologies, cybersecurity – everything we want to be a leader in this world – he said.
Bexar County Judge Peter Sakai praised the efforts of his predecessor, Nelson Wolff, who was also at the event, for his work in transforming the drainage ditch into a scenic linear park where UTSA is putting down roots.
San Pedro II will be built on a vacant lot behind the Bexar County Annex building, which will also be renovated to make room for the new facility.
Eeighmy suggested that the university might not stop at the two buildings on Dolorosa.
“You know, we own the property on the other side of where San Pedro II is going, which I like to call San Pedro III, and now we’re imagining what might end up there,” he said. So be ready.
As officials prepared to release floating balls into the river for a symbolic groundbreaking, each named an innovator who had inspired them.
Veronica Salazar, director of enterprise development at UTSA, said her globe is dedicated to Nina Vaca, a Latina entrepreneur who founded the global technology company Pinnacle Group.
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Image Source : sanantonioreport.org