SA Sports Complex Opens; UT System Regents Approve New Dental Center

By Camelia Bulea, Associate Editor

The new Wheatley Heights Sports Complex is now open. The new sports complex (illustrated at right), located on San Antonio’s East Side, includes a football stadium, a nine-lane all-weather track, four AAU/UIL soccer fields and a cross-country track, according to the San Antonio Business Journal.

The $10 million project was funded by Bexar County and the city of San Antonio. The new complex was built on a 66-acre site that was once occupied by 200 homes. Their destruction in the floods of 1998 prompted a federal buyout of properties in the area, according to KSAT.com.

The complex is one of 13 sports facilities being funded by Bexar County. Altogether, they are worth approximately $80 million.

In other development news, the University of Texas System Regents approved the construction of a $95 million oral healthcare center next to the Medical Arts & Research Center (MARC) on the San Antonio campus.

The center is expected to improve education and training in the dental school, William L. Henrich, president of Health Science Center, told the San Antonio Business Journal.

The new center will consist of 172,000 gross square feet of space spread across four levels and will include a 450-car parking garage. The entire project should be completed by the end of 2014, according to a UT Health Science Center San Antonio press release. The building will be constructed using cost-effective methods, similar to the MARC and other medical structures.

The existing dental school building was dedicated in July 1975. Faculty members have provided state-of-the-art care in multiple specialties to thousands since that time. The existing building will be repurposed for non-healthcare activities in the future, alleviating the Health Science Center’s research and educational space deficit, according to the news release.

Photo credits: Wheatley Heights Sports Complex Facebook Page