"Sidewalks were closed for multiple years," Blush Restaurant and Bakery owner Efren Moreno told the San Antonio Current in April. "Any traffic from hotels and conventions was never really able to get to us because it was an absolute obstacle course." He said his hope was that, "with everything wide open and the street looking the way it does," people would be "more enticed to come down."
This fall is the first season that hope gets tested. The street itself was finished in the spring. The clearest signs of a comeback are showing up now, at the exact addresses construction hit hardest: a historic house at Hemisfair that lost its tenant to the work zone, and a Southtown brunch spot that held on without grant money and is now adding nights.
What the finished street actually covers
The city's project covered a 0.3-mile stretch of South Alamo between Market Street and East César E. Chávez Boulevard, rebuilding sidewalks, drainage, and utility lines. It was supposed to take two years. Construction started on December 5, 2022, and city officials announced substantial completion and reopening on April 15, 2026, while warning that some minor corrective work could follow Fiesta.
The Current reported that the project finished 18 months behind schedule and $10 million over budget. That overrun includes nearly $1 million the city spent temporarily paving the road for the 2025 NCAA Men's Final Four, only to tear the pavement up again afterward. Most of the delay came from century-old water and sewer mains, which the city and SAWS deadlocked over in 2024 about who would pay to replace them.
Here's what was built in that time:
- Numerous new pedestrian crosswalks around Hemisfair
- An oversized bike lane
- 167 trees, new traffic signals, and pedestrian and roadway lighting
That's the baseline. What happens along the curb is the next chapter.
The Pereida House gets a second tenant
The construction cost the street at least one well-known business. Künstler Brewing closed its Hemisfair satellite last fall, and the Current attributed the closure to construction snarls. That tap house was in the Pereida House, a historic home at 510 S. Alamo St. near Yanaguana Garden. In June, Hemisfair CEO Melissa Robinson said the house was being renovated for a new tenant she couldn't name yet.
The tenant turned out to be chef Rene Fernandez, who has run Azuca Nuevo Latino in Southtown since 2003 and opened Hola! across the street from Hemisfair in 2022. According to the Express-News, his Park @ 510 Deli and Market is scheduled to open Wednesday, October 7. The menu leans on his mix of seafood and Tex-Mex:
- Hot and cold panini, including a Southwest Cheesesteak and a Chicken Quesadilla panini
- Bowls ranging from a Tuna Poke Bowl to a San Antonio Chicken Bowl
- Ceviche, shrimp cocktail, guacamole, and small or large charcuterie boards
- Fresh juice, smoothies, and a frutería selling cups of seasonal fruit
The restaurant's own description pitches it as "a place for a quick bite between park visits or a long, easy lunch."
How Hemisfair leases these houses helps explain why the building found a new tenant so soon. Tenants pay the park a percentage of their sales instead of a typical downtown rent. Park @ 510 joins Dough Pizzeria Napoletana in the former OK Bar, Commonwealth Bakery and Coffeehouse in the Koehler House, Lick Honest Ice Creams in the Sam Smith House, and Bombay Bicycle Club in the Espinosa House. "Just imagine a row of homes that all have food and beverage or cultural offerings with a beautiful park space that's completed," Robinson said in June.
Blush stretches into the evening at 713 S. Alamo
A few blocks south, Blush Restaurant & Bakery shows the other way a business got through the construction. Moreno and his wife and co-owner, Tanya Benavides, opened the brunch spot in March 2023. Work on the street had already started the year before. When they got notice that crews were coming, the projected disruption around the restaurant was six to eight weeks. Benavides manages construction projects in her other job and guessed three to six months. In the end it lasted almost three years.
Some neighboring businesses got through on grants, but Blush didn't qualify because it opened after the renovation began. Instead, the owners started a wholesale bakery line, delivering croissants, éclairs, muffins, and seasonal pastries to coffee shops around the city.
Now that the street is open, Blush is adding hours. The San Antonio Report said in September that dinner service would start by the end of October, with dishes like roast chicken, beef cheek lasagna, lobster and chorizo, grilled Spanish octopus, and trout zarandeado. The bakery will still serve coffee and pastries in the morning and become a cocktail bar with live music after dark. Dinner will be served in the brunch room and the courtyard. The building dates to 1914 and has been a paint shop, a creamery, and a comedy club.
The late-October start was a plan as of mid-September, so check Blush's own channels before you go for dinner.
A wine bar farther down, next to Friendly Spot
Past the rebuilt stretch, in the King William district, Highland House is set to open this fall at 935 S. Alamo St., beside Friendly Spot Ice House. Sarah and Brice Garrett own it. They also own Serrano Wines, which they started in California's Paso Robles region before opening a tasting room in Fredericksburg.
San Antonio Magazine reports that the list will feature Serrano bottles alongside wines from around the world, with extra attention to Champagne, Cava, Crémant, and Prosecco. There's no commercial kitchen, so food will be small bites and charcuterie. Every room will also have a muted TV for game nights. As of early October, Serrano's website still said the bar wasn't open to the public and listed only a September/October window.
With Park @ 510, Blush's dinner service, and Highland House, the corridor from Hemisfair to Friendly Spot adds a lunch counter, a dinner room, a cocktail bar, and a wine bar over roughly two months, all in buildings that already stood on the street.
What's on the Hemisfair end through November
The park's fall calendar fills in the weekends between those openings.
| Date | Event | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Sat., Oct. 17 | San Antonio Beer Festival | Hemisfair |
| Oct. 23–25 | Muertos Fest, 14th year | Hemisfair |
| Fri., Nov. 6, 6 p.m. | First Friday Art Walk | Blue Star, then down South Alamo into King William |
| Sat., Nov. 7, 4:30 p.m. to midnight | DiwaliSA | Hemisfair |
| Sat., Nov. 14, noon to 6 p.m. | SA Veterans Day, free and family-focused | Hemisfair |
| Sun., Nov. 15, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. | Sunday Brunch Market with Box Street All Day and The Texas Market | 434 S. Alamo St. |
| Tue., Nov. 24, 10 a.m. | San Antonio Public Library Story Time | Yanaguana Garden |
| Fri., Nov. 27 | Ford Holiday River Parade and River Walk lights kickoff | River Walk |
Muertos Fest is free. KSAT reports that this year's program includes two processions, more than 50 performances, and a tribute to Augie Meyers by Max Baca y Los Texmaniacs. The River Walk's official holiday page lists the parade for November 27. One restaurant listing gives November 26, so check the official page before you claim a spot along the river. Hemisfair has also postponed its October 3 Super Fun Saturday and basketball workshop and hasn't announced a new date.
The buildings still waiting their turn
The Pereida House is the first vacancy to fill, but it isn't the last. Other projects in and around Hemisfair are still in progress:
- Tynan-Sweeney House, East Nueva Street. Hemisfair named Mural Ride Bike Tours as the tenant in March, planning a gallery, local retail, and e-mobility space. Owner Brian Benavidez mentioned a possible August opening. As of early October, the company's website still listed 503 Chestnut St. as its tour meeting point.
- 550 Market Street. The first phase won historic-design approval for two floors of food, beverage, and retail space above about 300 underground parking spaces. The approval announcement didn't name tenants or give an opening date.
- Southtown Food Hall, 1725 S. Alamo. In January it was aiming for early 2026 with Burgerteca, Frutería, and Southtown Coffee. That window has now passed.
- Tower Park and the East Nueva houses. Hemisfair is asking for $37.8 million in the 2027 bond to finish Tower Park and East Nueva Street and to restore nine more protected structures, including the Mayer-Halff House and the Kodak Pavilion.
Whether those houses get the Pereida House treatment depends largely on that bond. Robinson put the cost of bringing one historic building up to a basic shell at $500,000 to $5 million, and tenants then pay for their own finish-out.
If you live in Southtown or King William, or you're thinking about a home within walking distance of Hemisfair and South Alamo, these openings and the projects still in line will shape the blocks around you over the next few years. Agents at JBGoodwin REALTORS® follow these San Antonio neighborhoods closely and are glad to talk through what's happening on your street. Contact Us.
