San Pedro I, new home for School of Data Science, reaches completion

AUGUST 4, 2022 — Construction of San Pedro I is now complete and preparations are underway to outfit the building for use by January 2023.

The $91.8 million, 167,000-square-foot, six-story structure on 506 Dolorosa St. sits along San Pedro Creek east of UTSA’s Downtown Campus, anchoring UTSA to San Antonio’s downtown core. The building is the first of several planned for UTSA’s downtown expansion, serving as a catalyst for economic and community investment in the San Pedro Creek area.

The building will house the new School of Data Science with programs in artificial intelligence, computer science, data analytics and statistics, as well as at least 16 UTSA research centers, institutes and college-level labs, including the MATRIX AI Consortium for Human Well-being and the Open Cloud Institute. Other labs will enable research and teaching in bioinformatics, cyber-informed engineering, data engineering, IoT, robotics, smart transportation and more.

“Together, we have created a space that will bring new connections and innovation to the San Antonio tech corridor.”

San Pedro I is a 167,000-square-foot, six-story structure on 506 Dolorosa St., which sits along San Pedro Creek east of UTSA’s Downtown Campus.

The entire data science community will also benefit by working closely with the National Security Collaboration Center, which will anchor the top two floors with its embedded ecosystem of government contractors and federal partners.

“The completion of construction at San Pedro I is a critical milestone as it affirms UTSA’s commitment to expand its downtown footprint, while connecting students from the new School of Data Science and the National Security Collaboration Center with industry partners to grow our workforce and develop solutions for society’s grand challenges,” UTSA President Taylor Eighmy said. “I continue to be immensely grateful for the generous support from Graham Weston and our Board of Regents as well as our partners at Bexar County and the City of San Antonio as they help us build a university of the future in the city of the future.”

San Pedro I has 84,500 square feet of classroom, laboratory and research space for the more than 400 data science students who are projected to take classes there starting in spring 2023. UTSA’s 30 core faculty members in science, engineering, technology, business, math, health, social sciences, and humanities will be located there, enabling more frequent collaborations with government, industry and community partners in the heart of San Antonio.

Overseeing the design and construction was the team consisting of firms Whiting-Turner, Jacobs and Overland Partners—which participated in a comprehensive, competitive process to secure the contract.

“Every step of the design and construction process was an intentional collaboration between construction partners in actualizing the UTSA vision,” said UTSA Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President for Business Affairs Veronica Salazar. “Together, we have created a space that will bring new connections and innovation to the San Antonio tech corridor by allowing for expanded industry partnerships co-located among UTSA’s talented students, faculty and staff.”

Although building construction is complete, work continues to add state of the art features that will set this building apart, including a data center and a high security research center on the sixth floor. This fall, construction will begin on the ground-floor café, furniture will be moved in and landscaping will be completed in anticipation of the building opening for the spring 2023 semester.

San Pedro I, which will be accessible to the community, will also feature a large, multipurpose, public event space for workshops and conferences. An amphitheater staircase will serve as a gathering point to encourage community and collaboration. Additionally, a dedicated, ground-floor space will offer opportunities to showcase research and provide curated community partnerships and engagement.

— Brandie Yale