The San Marcos CISD School Board voted to postpone the vote on the possible sale of property that shares a lot with a historic Hispanic culture center at the Aug. 18 meeting. Centro Cultural Hispano De San Marcos is a community center that focuses on the preservation, development, promotion and celebration of the Hispanic arts, culture, heritage and values through educational programming.
During a recent Hays County Commissioners Court the court directed its legal team to negotiate a contract with the city of San Marcos to purchase the land, stating the county would contribute $500,000 if the contract is approved. As of the Aug. 18 school board meeting no bids have been received from the county or city.
During public comment, President and Founder of Simplecity Design Matt Lewis spoke on behalf of his company and Aponte Development requesting the board to accept their bid for the sale of the property next to Centro.
Lewis has roots in San Marcos. He was the Planning & Development Services Director for the city of San Marcos from 2009 to 2014 and his current business is based in town.
“Centro is the cultural soul of San Marcos arts and it’s an icon of the neighborhood. We put a proposal before you all this evening to preserve and enhance that cultural icon by bringing the spirit of Centro to a community- centered destination where art, heritage and the people of San Marcos can create, linger and celebrate in a lovely and inspiring place,” Lewis said.
“What we’re proposing is a plaza-centered design rooted in town forms that we use to build cities. San Marcos doesn’t have 1000-year-old cathedral plazas that we walk around around and celebrate in, but we need spaces like that.”
Lewis explained that the housing complex design would include movable furniture, shaded landscaping and small mercados [markets] where local artists and makers can create.
“San Marcos deserves a cultural legacy site that inspires, educates and celebrates its past while we create a place for the next generation to really linger and become part of this community,” Lewis said. “It activates a destination that enters right into our downtown. Imagine coming around LBJ and seeing this beautiful terminal vista with beacons and plazas and mercados with people gathered.”
Lewis explained the community would offer a community-first development model with proposed partnerships with SMCISD, the city of San Marcos and Hays County.
“We’re committed to working transparently with all stakeholders and community members through public forums and charettes,” Lewis said.
Two San Marcos citizens spoke in opposition to the sale of the land behind Centro. Tommy Perez asked the school board to consider preserving the land.
“This property’s cultural and historic value is priceless, it cannot be replaced. Preserving this property will align with the district’s mission to educate our children,” Perez said.
“This is one of the few remaining undeveloped parcels in the East Guadalupe Street neighborhood, a community established in 1889. Preserving this property honors the history of the Mexican American and Indigenous Heritage and Culture District designated by the city of San Marcos in 2021.”
Ana Juarez, Ph.D, is a retired TXST Anthropology professor who spoke during public comment urging the school board to consider working with the city and county to preserve the land for historic and educational use.
“We are not asking the ISD to gift the property. We are asking the city and county to buy it and asking the ISD to recognize the continued educational and historical value as one factor in the sale,” Juarez said. She mentioned the online petition urging for preservation has almost 1350 signatures.
During the meeting the board made a motion to discuss the bid offered in closed session.
Board member Margie Villalpando abstained from the vote due to the conflict of her being one of the founders of Centro.
The board voted to postpone the item until the September 2 meeting.
“The board appreciates the offer that we’ve received and further instructs the superintendent or his designee to communicate with the offer regarding the offer and any following steps,” SMCSID Board President Anne Halsey.
Board Member Miguel Arredondo stated he felt grateful to serve with colleagues who approved a 25-year lease to preserve Centro and ultimately donated the property to the organization that now runs Centro.
“I think we have gone above and beyond what I would argue the city and county and others have done to preserve that site and the work that’s being done there,” Arredondo said. “I support this postponement to, quite frankly, see what we can get from any of the people who are interested in this block and this proposal; I hope that [with] this one-month postponement we can have those conversations publicly and we can try and meet somewhere in the middle.”
