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Freeman Coliseum: 113,400-SF equine center groundbreaking
(Public Facilities : San Antonio) 4/20/2009

Officials broke ground on a 113,400-sf equine center and multiuse facility on the Freeman Coliseum grounds that will upgrade the venue for the rodeo's horse show and create space for boat shows and other events.

The facility, set to open by early October, will cost $10 million, split equally between the San Antonio Livestock Exposition, the nonprofit entity that puts on the stock show and rodeo, and the Bexar County Community Arenas Board, which manages the coliseum grounds where the rodeo is held. Funding for the board's share of the construction comes from revenue from rental fees and other sources, not from taxes.

A second phase of construction adding 67,000 sf of space at a cost of $4.5 million is moving forward as well. It is located next to the new facility.

Keith Martin, the exposition's executive director, said the new facility takes the place of three barns built about 60 years ago as part of the original stock show grounds.

Excluding the AT&T Center, which opened as the SBC Center in 2002, it's the first new structure to be erected on the coliseum grounds since the late 1980s, said Derrick Howard, executive director of the arena's board.