Downtown San Antonio has been a sore talking point for residents and officials alike for years. While the controversial push for a baseball stadium and a basketball arena has sparked hope – and dollar signs – in the eyes of many, those quick to criticize the San Antonio skyline want to know: Why doesn't San Antonio have more skyscrapers? Turns out, the answer is as complicated as you'd expect.
While perusing public opinion, many are quick to blame the lack of a massive tech presence in the Alamo City (though whether or not that's true is just as complicated). But there are Fortune 100 companies in San Antonio with a significant tech presence. Both USAA and Valero favored sprawling campuses on the Northwest Side rather than cloud-grazing downtown towers.
In fact, there are examples of tech or software companies that have reshaped skylines in other Texas metros, but these examples are unreliable. AT&T, which also occupied a 15-story building in San Antonio, has decided to ditch its high-rise digs in Dallas, and Meta backed out of its massive lease agreement in downtown Austin.
While the promise of a tech boom doesn't necessarily translate into a bustling downtown full of towers, that vision isn't entirely gone for those fostering the industrious backbone of San Antonio.
"I think we are going to look toward the past, and we're going to judge ourselves by that … Until we have a skyscraper that's standing up with some big logo that we can point to that's a Fortune 50, and we're super excited about that, that will be when we know we've made it," Geekdom CEO Charles Woodin told MySA.
But he acknowledges that the growing majority of Fortune 100 companies aren't putting all their eggs in one municipal basket anymore. Companies are spreading their headquarters across cities of relevance – not necessarily building out the parks or towers or commissioning massive public art works like AT&T did in Dallas.
But there are other competing factors. The Alamo is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and it's the lone "viewshed" site formally passed in San Antonio. Located in the heart of downtown, this historic ordinance, passed in 2003, significantly limits the heights of new development within two to three blocks of The Alamo.
Beyond all the hurdles, a more philosophical question lingers in the background: Is that even San Antonio's vibe? The core of the city is rich with buildings that have weathered decades, if not centuries, before steel and concrete scraping the skies became commonplace in metropolises. And historical preservation is deeply rooted in San Antonio's history.
Ultimately, there are logical reasons why the San Antonio skyline looks the way it does. But would any real San Antonio natives want to see it look all that different?
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This article originally published at San Antonio has Fortune 100 companies. So where are the skyscrapers?.