CITY OF SAN SAN MARCOS
City Hall could be moving downtown with plans underway.
The San Marcos City Council unanimously approved a $767,970 Conceptual Planning Agreement with Upward Communities for the Hopkins Redevelopment Project, which would create a new City Hall, public event space and parking garage in downtown, according to the agenda.
Hayden Migl, San Marcos Administrative Services Director, said that the current agenda item would only be approving the conceptual planning phase, with a predevelopment phase plan to come back to council at a later date.
Migl said the project was necessary due to age and maintenance issues within the current 50year old City Hall as well as the rest of the campus, which has the various departments spread across it. The new project would consolidate city staff to one area as well as provide additional space for council items that “generate a lot of public support.”
The location is the portion of land where Bank of America, Wells Fargo and a vacant lot are currently located with East Hopkins Street to the North, the railroad track to the south, and South LBJ Drive and CM Allen Parkway on either side, according to city documents. Keely Hennig, Upward Communities project lead, said letters of intent to purchase have been sent to Bank of America and Wells Fargo along with asking if those businesses would be interested in having space in the new development.
The project also has the goal of providing multimodal transportation within the area, public spaces and roadways, environmental protection of the river and to spark new development in the area that meets community needs, the agenda states. Migl said there is the added benefit of the ability for the city to “monetize the site” in order to “reduce the financial burden on the taxpayers.” Hennig discussed the possibility of a downtown hotel in that complex as well, which would generate Hotel Occupancy Tax for the city.
Migl said that the financing for the project would not affect the current budget as funding was set aside in previous cycles.
