Opponents of San Juan Hotel plans disappointed in city’s ‘Open House’

SAN JUAN — A meeting intended to share ideas about the revitalization of the San Juan downtown area grew tense when many in attendance were informed that the San Juan Hotel would not be discussed.

The city of San Juan and the San Juan Economic Development Corporation hosted a Downtown Development Plan Open House Wednesday. The meeting was led by Brian Godinez, principal and Chief Executive Officer of ERO Architects.

The advisory on the city’s website, however, gives no indication that Godinez would lead the meeting and says: “The Commission and Staff want your input!”

Godinez is also spearheading the proposal to turn the San Juan Hotel into a downtown conference center.

Members of the community were vocally despondent when they were asked to sign up for the opportunity to speak for an allotted two minutes, as opposed to the open discussion many had anticipated.

There was also visible frustration amongst those in attendance after they were informed by Godinez that the San Juan Hotel would not be an item of discussion. Godinez made this known after looking at the sign-up sheets and realizing that nearly every public comment pertained to the San Juan Hotel.

“The charge initiative of this commercial development plan has nothing to do with the downtown conference center, or the San Juan Hotel, or any specific buildings,” Godinez said. “We are just merely putting a vision out there for areas in the city’s downtown area of what’s possible to have built either by the city or private investors or a combination of both.”

However, City Manager Benjamin Arjona, said in January that the San Juan Hotel project is part of the downtown revitalization plan — contradicting comments made at Wednesday’s meeting.

Commissioners Adina “Dina” Santillan and Ernesto “Neto” Guajardo, as well as Arjona, looked on as plans for the downtown revitalization plan were laid out.

“It was really informative to give them what our vision is for the revitalization for the downtown area, what we’re wanting to do, why we’re wanting to do it and the ideas that we have,” Santillan explained. “We want their ideas as well to be given back from the community, whether they’re residents or their business owners. So that’s really what the purpose of the meeting was for, to get their input.”

The Downtown Revitalization Plan is focused on the area of Nebraska Avenue. The city and the EDC want to give the area a facelift which they hope will bring more business and visitors to the area.

“It’s not only just for the shopping, but also as it grows to have a healthy walkway so they can have the exercises,” Santillan said. “We want to make it more inviting for people to come to the downtown area, increase some of the shopping and invite more vendors into our downtown area so that they can prosper as well as the business.”

Despite the changes being presented during the meeting, the focus remained on the pending future of the San Juan Hotel as many in attendance expressed their disapproval with any potential plans to demolish the historic building.

While the hotel sits on Business 83 near Nebraska Avenue, it is not necessarily part of the Downtown Revitalization Plan, which is focused on developing the area along Nebraska Avenue, according to Santillan.

After the meeting, Santillan addressed those in attendance and told them that she and her fellow commissioners are aware of their concerns.

“Please know that we are hearing you. We are listening to you. Don’t think that we’re not,” Santillan said. “Please don’t think that we’re not because we are not responding, we are not being receptive, we’re not listening and taking this back to the work because we are listening to you.”

Santillan’s comments were met with applause from the community members, but there was still apprehension from some in attendance regarding the hotel’s future.

Dr. Stephanie Alvarez, who has led efforts to try to save the hotel, said that she remains uncertain about its future following Wednesday’s meeting.

“I’m not very satisfied with the way the meeting went,” Alvarez said. “I came thinking it was an open house, which usually means engaging in conversations. … When we came and we were presented with the option of only speaking for two minutes, it was very upsetting. Those rules being put into place, I think, upset a lot of people and caused a lot of tension.”

Despite that, she said she was glad to have been provided an opportunity to have a more relaxed and longer conversation. She also said that she was happy with Santillan’s comments.

“That was wonderful to hear because up until now, today, all we have seen is a vote to demolish and a rendering of a conference center to take the place of the San Juan Hotel,” Alvarez said. “That’s the only thing official that’s happened. So to hear that they’re at least listening is great. I just hope that we can really have a conversation about it, and that the Commission can actually do something to stop the destruction of the hotel.”

The city manager said that he felt that the meeting was productive and that he considers all the comments made whether positive or negative.

“I think the meeting, like always, went extremely well,” Arjona said. “This is what we wanted. We want public input from the community to see what their thoughts are on this downtown revitalization plan that we’ve been working on for the last two or three years.”

Arjona said that he plans to address community members about their concerns regarding the San Juan Hotel once the city commission is presented with renderings and recommendations. When asked about a rendering that has been circulating online, he said that it was a “preliminary render.”

“We don’t have the full details yet until we actually get before the commission,” Arjona said. “It’s not necessarily the official render. It’s just an idea as to what the render may look like.”

When asked for a copy of the rendering, Arjona told The Monitor to file a Texas Public Information Act request.