District Planning
The district planning initiative is a long-term planning effort that supports UT San Antonio's ongoing growth and continued development in San Antonio's urban core, while also exploring space utilization at the Main Campus and Park West. District planning evaluates space needs across the university's academic campuses and presents a growth framework to address immediate priorities while identifying opportunities for long-term development, ultimately ensuring that students, faculty and staff have the academic, research and infrastructure support necessary for success. To learn more, explore the district planning report below.
District planning is an important part of UT San Antonio’s campus master planning efforts, which began in 2019. The master plan serves as a roadmap to guide the university’s strategic growth, and district planning efforts will continue this important work. By engaging the entire Roadrunner community, district planning will ensure the vision for growth is in alignment with institutional goals as we strive to fulfil our academic mission.
District planning focuses on four distinct areas, or districts. These include:
- Main Campus District Planning
- Downtown Campus District Planning
- Housing Master Plan Update
- A focused Campus Growth and Optimization Plan
Combined, these plans are essential to position our institution for future growth. At its core, district planning’s objective is to ensure that all Roadrunner students, faculty and staff, regardless of their location, have access to everything they need to succeed and grow, in turn supporting the university’s mission to do the same.
District planning will address a wide variety of needs, including:
- Academic classrooms and research facilities
- Athletic and recreational facilities
- Infrastructure and safety
- Partnership opportunities to expand programs such as Backpacks and Briefcases and Classroom to Careers
- Revenue development opportunities
- Student housing and parking
- Student Success
- Sustainability
Our goal is to bring an enhanced, comprehensive Roadrunner community experience to everyone at our institution. Through planning for long-term growth, district planning will also advance academic excellence, promote economic growth and amplify workforce development in San Antonio.
Downtown Development
Looking to the future, efforts to develop the Downtown Campus will continue to play a major role in the university’s growth and campus planning vision. Over the past five years, UT San Antonio has doubled its acreage in downtown San Antonio through a variety of milestones:
- Southwest School of Art: Integrated with the university in 2022 as the Southwest Campus, which houses academic and community programs dedicated to advancing arts education in San Antonio.
- San Pedro I: Opened in January 2023, this 167,000 square foot facility houses the School of Data Science and National Security Collaboration Center.
- One Riverwalk Place: Purchase completed in March 2025. This 18-story office building will house the School of Architecture and Planning as well as support services.
- San Pedro II: Currently under construction, this building adjacent to San Pedro I will be a hub for experiential learning and career-engagement opportunities in interdisciplinary fields including cybersecurity, computer and data sciences.
Additionally, in March 2025, UT San Antonio purchased the block of properties east of San Pedro I. This extends the San Pedro block’s footprint to South Flores Street and presents numerous opportunities for potential uses to support future campus growth.
UT San Antonio continues to make these significant investments downtown to advance the university’s mission to develop career-ready graduates aligned with regional workforce needs.
Main Campus
Equally important in the coming years will be a focus on space utilization at the Main Campus. As enrollment has increased, new infrastructure has been developed to support the needs of the Roadrunner community:
- The Science and Engineering Building
- The Roadrunner Athletics Center of Excellence
- Guadalupe Hall
- Blanco Hall (in development)
- Park West Fieldhouse
- Student Success Center
- UT Health San Antonio at Kyle Seale facility
Enrollment is anticipated to grow over the coming years alongside research expenditures, and the Real Estate and Property Management team will evaluate needs at the Main Campus and Park West to ensure there is adequate infrastructure to support demand.
Timeline
District planning will launch with three phases, beginning with a feedback period in fall 2024, review and analysis in late fall and early spring, and finalization of district plans in summer 2025.
What is the difference between the Campus Master Plan and District Planning?
UT San Antonio’s district planning initiative is a plan to guide the university’s strategic growth, building on the existing Campus Master Plan and meeting the institution’s enrollment goals. The initiative aims to expand UT San Antonio’s academic and research capacities while exploring new opportunities for growth and partnerships that foster career-engaged learning.
What are the intended outcomes of this initiative?
This initiative aims to support an engaging university culture that enhances the student, faculty and staff experience. While this plan projects long-term growth, it also impacts short-term institutional investment decisions, advances academic excellence, promotes socioeconomic vibrancy in surrounding communities and amplifies workforce development for the city of San Antonio. The assessment evaluates space needs across the university’s academic campuses and presents a growth framework that addresses immediate priorities while identifying opportunities for long-term development.
What was the engagement process and who were the stakeholder groups?
District planning engaged the full UT San Antonio community. Feedback from stakeholders — including university leadership, student groups, academic departments, support services, faculty and staff, focus groups and a campus-wide survey — was essential to the study. Led by the office of Real Estate and Property Management, the process included close partnerships and collaborative efforts to learn more about space and infrastructure needs.
How does the integration with UT Health San Antonio affect district planning?
In August 2024, the UT System Board of Regents announced plans to merge the university and UT Health San Antonio into a combined institution. UT San Antonio Health Science Center began its own official master plan update prior to the integration and plans to complete the update process. As the integration of the two institutions progresses in the coming months and years, the Real Estate and Property Management team is working with partners across UT San Antonio to identify opportunities for collaboration as a new, larger institution.
How do budget considerations impact district planning?
District planning’s purpose is to prepare us for a thriving future, and our process is guided by the same principles and focus as the university at large: exploring ways to best position our institution to make strategic investments that will both prepare us for the evolving federal landscape and support our new integrated institution.
Will support services and amenities be expanded at downtown locations?
An important goal of district planning is to create a comprehensive campus experience at our downtown locations. As part of the district planning process, a review of essential services was conducted to ensure a great experience is provided to our downtown students, faculty staff and visitors. Please review the final report above to explore proposed strategies for expanding available services and amenities, including retail and dining locations, athletic and recreational facilities, support services and more.
Will more core classes be offered downtown for students enrolled in programs mostly or fully located downtown?
The district planning team is exploring options to ensure that core curriculum courses are offered at UT San Antonio’s downtown locations. The long-term goal is to enable students to complete all degree requirements without needing to travel between the Main and Downtown campuses unless they choose to do so.
Feedback from the campus community is essential to the ongoing district planning process. UT San Antonio students, faculty and staff are encouraged to share their thoughts using the brief form below.
