Developers Move Forward with St. Mary’s Stadium, Kennedy Station

By Camelia Bulea, Associate Editor

Two large development projects are taking place in San Antonio and surrounding area: St. Mary University’s outdoor sports complex and Kennedy Station, a residential and commercial development meant to offer housing to oil-field workers in the Eagle Ford shale.

The sports complex was first announced by St. Mary University in 2010. Construction work has just begun, with completion expected in 2012. The project is financed in partnership with Bexar County, which has contributed $6 million. The new complex is being developed with the goal of attracting student athletes and more NCAA Division II championships and tournaments, according to the San Antonio Business Journal.

In Kennedy, a San Antonio-area developer purchased 166 acres to construct a residential and commercial development. To be called Kennedy Station, it will include 260 homes and 240 apartment units. This is the first project in Karnes County for developer Abrego Development Co., according to San Antonio Express-News.

The project will be built in multiple phases. The first phase will include 17 homes, with prices starting at around $125,000. The apartments will be built in tenplexes, with four two-bedroom units and six one-bedroom units in each.

Future plans also include retail, warehouse and motel space and a day care center.  The San Antonio Express–News wrote that the community desperately needs permanent housing, as hotels and rental homes have been full for years. This trend is due to the large number of workers that entered the area when oil services companies practically inundated small towns in South Texas.

With the need for more quality hotels and housing, the developer believes that more investors will follow due to the oil boom.