Port San Antonio CEO unveils next-gen expansion plan to include DeLorean HQ tower
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By W. Scott Bailey – Senior Reporter, San Antonio Business Journal
Jun 14, 2022
The office structure could be one of the tallest south of downtown and would anchor a reimagined central campus
Port San Antonio is making a futuristic pivot that will reshape the look and feel of the former military base, and one of the planned anchors is a ground-up office tower that will house DeLorean Motor Co.’s new corporate headquarters.
The new tower could span as much as 300,000 square feet and would rise above the center of the campus near the port’s entrance. While it would house a DeLorean workforce that could reach 450 employees, it could accommodate other companies as well.
“We want it to be tall so that people can see it see it from the highway, see it from downtown. We want it to be something that really attracts people,” Port San Antonio President and CEO Jim Perschbach said.
The strategy could reshape the city’s economic development landscape and draw more new investment south of downtown. Port officials are not wasting any time putting the planning in place for the DeLorean tower. Perschbach said construction on that building needs to begin before the end of the year.
The new office tower would anchor a reimagined central campus at Port San Antonio.
“We need that building up and operational by the first quarter of 2025,” he said, noting that the intent is to involve as many local companies as possible in the design and construction of the tower.
Despite the impact the pandemic has had on the office market, Port San Antonio officials insist there is a heightened demand for space on its campus. That’s led to bidding wars and disappointment among prospective tenants who’ve come up short. Perschbach expects the port could fill up a 300,000-square-foot building pretty quickly.
“It will hopefully give us a little bit of a cushion so that we're not out of space even before we finish the building,” he said.
At the planned size, the tower could be one of the tallest office buildings south of downtown.
“We were designed to be hard to get to,” Perschbach said. “We want people to recognize that we're here.”
It’s a monumental pivot for a campus still filled with military-era buildings that have done little to promote the kind of new-era change Port San Antonio is pursuing. The tower is the centerpiece of a broader plan that includes more new structures, greater connectivity among organizations and employees, and a mobility strategy that embraces new technology.
“What we want is for architects to help us design something that becomes iconic, a symbol of this campus,” Perschbach said, adding that the implementation of that strategy could ultimately include a new name for the Southwest Side campus.
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