The group hoping to preserve the 57-year-old Brutalist structure has appealed a judge’s ruling allowing demolition to continue.
SAN ANTONIO — It’s been a busy two weeks for the Conservation Society of San Antonio and its efforts to halt demolition work at the Texas Pavilion, which up until last year housed the Institute of Texan Cultures museum.
The organization filed a lawsuit on April 1 to prevent the 180,000-square-foot structure that sits along East Cesar Chavez Boulevard from being torn down, alleging that the City of San Antonio and UTSA didn’t follow proper procedures when they asked for permission to demolish the building.
The state granted that permission in December. UTSA manages the Texas Pavilion, while the city has the exclusive option to purchase or lease the 13.59-acre parcel of land it sits on; it’s being eyed as the location where the Spurs’ next arena will be built as the NBA team looks to return downtown.
The April 1 lawsuit kicked off a legal back-and-forth that escalated when crews started tearing down entire sections of the building’s walls on April 8, the morning after the Final Four concluded.
According to Conservation Society President Lewis Vetter, UTSA attorneys assured the organization that the demolition work would stop until the next hearing. That stoppage lasted until Monday, when a Bexar County judge said they didn’t have the jurisdiction to hear the society’s lawsuit and gave UTSA the go-ahead to continue demolition.
Now Vetter and his team are taking action again. They say they filed a notice of appeal Wednesday for the judge’s decision “as we continue to try to make our voice heard.”
“We are asking the 15th Court of Appeals to allow us to show evidence demonstrating that UTSA and COSA did not follow the law regarding this demolition,” Vetter said in a statement.
It’s unknown at this point when a hearing on that appeal might be held.
In the meantime, the City Attorney’s Office indicated it’s staying on the sidelines of the legal battle.
“We were hoping that the judge’s ruling would put an end to the matter,” a statement from the office reads. “We remain perplexed as to why we were sued since we do not own the building or the property, nor did we obtain the permit.”
Ever since crews were first seen removing wall panels from the outside of the Texas Pavilion, which was built for the 1968 World’s Fair, UTSA has categorized it as remediation for asbestos abatement.
Asked about the latest timelines for demolition and/or the university’s plans for the land, a spokesperson said Thursday that “at this point, we do not have anything additional to share.”