Two weeks after filing a lawsuit to preserve the building from being torn down amid Project Marvel plans, the Conservation Society of SA faces an uphill battle.
SAN ANTONIO — Last week, the Conservation Society of San Antonio notched a win in its fight to preserve the Texas Pavilion when attorneys for UTSA – which manages the downtown building that sits in the site of a potential future Spurs arena – said they would temporarily stop demolishing the 57-year-old structure.
The victory didn’t last very long.
According to Conservation Society President Lewis Vetter, a Bexar County judge on Monday allowed demolition work to continue amid his organization’s recently filed lawsuit that claims not all procedures were properly followed when Texas green-lit UTSA’s demolition plans.
Vetter said the judge “agreed with the defendants (COSA and UTSA) that the court does not have the jurisdiction to hear the lawsuit to stop the demolition.”
The decision was made while the conservation society was pushing for a continuance in the legal fight. But “the judge did not grant that,” Vetter said, as the court’s focus turned to issues of jurisdiction.
The Conservation Society of San Antonio filed its lawsuit on April 1, the latest step in its efforts to rally support for the 180,000-square-foot structure built for the 1968 World’s Fair that the group says has historical and cultural significance, partly due to the fact that its architect was Mexican-American.
Until last summer, the Texas Pavilion building was home to the Institute of Texan Cultures museum. UTSA is now looking for the next place to permanently house that collection as the city, Spurs and Bexar County discuss how to fund a downtown NBA arena—a billion-dollar venue that would most likely be built where the Texas Pavilion has sat for decades.
Demolition crews were seen at the Brutalist-style, sandy-white building less than 24 hours after the Final Four left town last week. Although parts of entire walls were torn down, a UTSA spokesperson categorized the work as remediation for asbestos abatement.
“Our contractor has removed a limited number of concrete panels from one side of the pavilion to enable equipment access to the upper floor of the structure,” UTSA said in a statement last week. “The remediation work is expected to continue through mid-May.”
The society, however, decided to seek a temporary restraining order.
“The assurances that have come from UTSA, and you have to take them for that face value, is they’re not going to be doing any more panel removals,” Vetter said.
UTSA attorneys had said in court that the remediation efforts would stop until the next hearing. With that hearing come and gone, Vetter said the Conservation Society now plans to file a notice of intent to appeal—the first step in the lawsuit potentially being heard by a higher court.