Gabrielle Vasquez had a few minutes before her shift started at Bubba’s 33, one of the many restaurant chains to open an outpost at Brooks in the last several months, so she popped next door to 7 Brew, also a new arrival, for a caramel macchiato.
Bubba’s 33 and 7 Brew are part of one of the latest developments at Brooks, a “retail and entertainment district” that straddles the two southern corners on either side of South New Braunfels Avenue along Southeast Military Drive.
Vasquez grew up on the South Side, graduating from Highlands High School. She now lives at one of the many new apartment complexes in the area — just a two-minute drive from the development, dubbed La Picosa.
Like a lot of people who grew up on the South Side, she remembers when “there was nothing over here.” Fast forward to today, and the array of dining choices has exploded, she said: “There’s so many options. It’s crazy, but I love it.”
La Picosa, named after former Texas Gov. John Connolly’s ranch, includes more recent additions to the Southeast Side’s growing restaurant universe, including Dave’s Hot Chicken, Pluckers Wing Bar, Jersey Mike’s Subs, Outback Steak House, Salad and Go, BJ’s Brewhouse and, opening any day now, another outpost of Dutch Bros. Coffee.
Adam Love of Colegas Ventures, which purchased the property from Brooks and developed it, said the entire property was leased out within 60 days. “They flocked to the site,” he said of the national chains and franchises that moved in.
That tracks with what Connie Gonzalez, chief strategy office at Brooks Development Authority, which owns and manages Brooks, said they heard from the surrounding community. She said the organization regularly hosts town halls and tenant meetings and circulates community surveys.
“For years, we’ve been hearing that we needed more options to eat and drink and entertain the community,” Gonzalez said. “And while it took a little longer to get those options here that have long been available on the North Side, it’s clear we’ve satisfied that need. Now people are basically saying, ‘OK, well, now what’s next?'”
Leo Gomez, president and CEO of the Brooks Development Authority, said some people “expressed doubts as to our timing in developing all those restaurants at the same time.”
He said he didn’t have any doubts, and after driving through the restaurant parking lots on a recent Friday afternoon, Gomez said he felt further vindication.
“Data is data, but there’s nothing like riding around and seeing for yourself,” he said. He was pleased to find parking lot after parking lot jam-packed. Even the Embassy Suites’ lot was full, he said. “The ballroom had an event going on.”
But Gomez has the data, too.
The 2,500-acre Brooks Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone, which includes the 1,300 acres that made up the shuttered Brooks Air Force Base, plus the surrounding acreage, is now worth $976 million — that’s up from just under $37 million in 2004.
Almost 6,500 jobs have been created in the area since 2004, with more than 3,200 of them on the Brooks campus, thanks to more than 50 businesses and tenants.
“People on the South Side always believed in the South Side,” Gomez said. “Now we’ve got investors and developers that have begun to believe in what’s possible here, and they can do it at a lower cost of entrance because the real estate is not as expensive.”
But maybe not for too much longer. The South Side is growing at a rapid clip.
Love, who moved to San Antonio from Austin six years ago, said he couldn’t believe two major corner parcels hadn’t been developed yet when he was down there in 2019, “snooping around” for opportunities.
“I’d heard what was going on at Brooks,” he said. “I met Leo and we hit it off, and they sold it to us.” Love said if La Picosa had more space to lease, he could easily fill it with more sit-down or fast-casual restaurants.
Gonzalez said that Brooks has heard some concerns that there aren’t more locally owned restaurant options, like Johnny Hernandez’s La Gloria, which opened at Brooks in 2022.
Speaking from the South Texas Business Partnership’s annual golf tournament Friday, Gonzalez noted that many franchises are locally owned and are already contributing to the community. She named-checked Dave’s Hot Fried Chicken, which sponsored Brooks’ golf cart this year.
Jersey Mike’s Subs, which opened in January, is also locally owned, said general manager Emma Landen, who, along with owner Austen Harvey, moved to San Antonio to open more Jersey Mike’s.
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Landen said the company is very focused on how it can support the communities in which it’s located. In San Antonio, that’s meant a fundraiser for Morgan’s Wonderland and donating free food to several nearby schools last week as part of teacher appreciation week.
Brooks is working to add more local businesses, Gonzalez said, as part of its Town Center development. That development will be built on 35 acres just south of La Picosa, surrounding historic Hangar 9 and across from the VIA Brooks Transit Center.
She described the future Town Center as “truly the heart of the campus,” a dense and walkable neighborhood “where you can eat, drink and be entertained throughout the day.”
Disclosure: Leo Gomez is a member of the San Antonio Report’s board of directors.
