The Historic Market Square Farmer’s Market will close for months for HVAC upgrades, displacing many businesses.
SAN ANTONIO — The Farmer’s Market at the Historic Market Square will close one year from now.
The city will replace the building’s HVAC system over four to five months.
The city’s plan will get 48 tenants and visitors out of the heat, but that means businesses will be displaced for at least five months come this time next year.
“Being a clothing store, people don’t want to try on anything,” store manager Margie Cornelio told KENS 5.
A solution for store managers like Margie Cornelio was finally approved in an August 21st council meeting. Over five million dollars will go toward replacing the HVAC system.
But there’s a problem.
“Whether we’re going to be able to come back after the closure, five months is a long time,” Cornelio said.
Come September of 2026, tenants will have to temporarily move out.
“The time is uncertain, I’m thinking about what my next step is,” she added.
Farmer’s market president Yvette Ramirez said she’s heard of no plans from the city to help tenants during the transition.
“We’re scrambling to figure out what we’re going to do – we’re going to lose over 100 employees, just in employees alone, we were told we would not pay rent for those five months,” Ramirez said.
The city responded to Kens 5:
City Council approved the contract with the General Contractor on August 21, 2025. Prior to Council award, CCDO engaged the Farmers Market tenants and provided them the opportunity to share when the least impactful time is to complete the five-month project following manufacture of the equipment, and the tenants circulated a petition that resulted in a clear majority of tenants preferring September 2026 – January 2027.
The renovation affects tenants in the Farmers Market Building, where the HVAC units will be replaced.
There is a temporary closure of the building to accommodate construction. The City is working with tenants on opportunities to vend elsewhere on site, should tenants be interested in doing so. There is no expected long-term displacement of tenants resulting from the project.
The City is working with the tenants on potential exterior vending opportunities. Opportunities will be developed prior to construction initiating in September 2026. In addition, we are working on opportunities to temporarily warehouse tenant merchandise.
Yes. The City will abate all rent during the closure period, and the City will provide ongoing communication, scheduling updates, and coordination with tenants to ensure impacts are minimized. Staff will also provide marketing support to all tenants who take advantage of temporary vending opportunities to be developed in partnership with the tenants.
When asked for copies of communication between the city and tenants, a city public relations manager responded with this:
CCDO leadership briefed the tenants on these construction impacts at the earliest opportunity. At that briefing, staff committed to developing temporary exterior vending opportunities in collaboration with the tenant association. Since then, a survey has been conducted to determine which tenants are potentially interested in participating in this effort, and we are working on initial options before meeting with the tenant association to finalize the program. This will be developed well in advance of the construction start, that initiates in twelve months. The tenant association has been briefed that this item will be coordinated with them in the coming months.
“This is a long-awaited system; this is not something that just happened last year,” Ramirez said.
Ramirez wants to ensure her tenants are cared for as other city projects receive recognition throughout this year.
“And we’re asking councilmembers to support this issue to understand what the businesses are actually going through,” Ramirez said.
“We don’t want to leave this place…but the uncertainty is really scary,” Cornelio said.
Renovations are expected to wrap up in time for Fiesta 2027.