The most ambitious and longest planned renovation project ever in downtown San Antonio, the $300 to $400 million reimagining of the Alamo and Alamo Plaza, will be formally unveiled tonight, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
The main points of the renovation will include not only the closure, but the removal, of Alamo Street between Commerce and Houston Streets, as well as Crockett Street on Alamo Plaza.
The buildings across Alamo Plaza from the Alamo, including the Crockett Block, the Palace, and the Woolworth Building, will be converted into a world class visitor center and museum, to house the Phil Collins collection of priceless Alamo artifacts. A rooftop garden will be built on the roof, for dining and other activities overlooking the Alamo.
The Cenotaph, which was built by the Daughters of the Republic of Texas in 1936 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Battle of the Alamo, will be moved to the area along the San Antonio River south of Commerce Street, not far from where the bodies of the Alamo defenders are Said to have been burned.
There will also be a clear line demarcating the grounds of the Alamo Mission, which Becky Dinnin of the Alamo Endowment says will help visitors get their bearings on the site.
"Rather than it being more confusing with busses and traffic and sirens, no more of that," she said. "Now, when you are standing in the middle of the Plaza, you will know where you are standing."
There will also be protections for what is called the 'Viewshed,' which is the view visitors get when they look at the Alamo. Protections will be imposed to make sure no large buildings loom over the Alamo.
Dinnin says the entire redevelopment is geared toward clearing away the kitchy 'touristy' invasion of Alamo Plaza, and restore the 'gravitas' of a site which is known the world over as the place where people died fighting for liberty and freedom.
"This is very significant," she said. "This is not unlike in the early 20th Century, when the DRT said, 'we have to save this'," she said
.The cost, as much as $400 million, will be borne largely by private donors. The City of San Antonio and the state are also kicking in tens of millions of dollars.
Dinnin says the renovated Alamo Plaza will not just tell the story of the 1836 battle, but the full sweep of 10,000 years of human history, from the settlement of the Native Americans along the river, to the coming of the Spanish, the development of the mission system, and the arrival of the U.S. Army when texas became a state in 1845.
"Its a military story, its a political story, it's a religious story, but it is really the story of San Antonio."
Planning in one form or another has been underway for decades. Major steps were taken when the General Land Office took over management of the Alamo from the DRT in 2012, and efforts to make these major renovations kicked into high gear.
"Its such a great story that we have to do this, and no other time will come besides now," she said.
The plan is for the work to be completed by 2023. The Alamo will remain open to visitors throughout the renovation.