San Antonio fundraising for a new Asian community center to open in Stone Oak in 2027

Members of San Antonio’s Asian community are mobilizing to create an Asian community center in Stone Oak.

According to preliminary plans, the center should open on more than four acres of land in 2027, though the location has not been announced. 

The nonprofit Asian Resource Center of San Antonio — co-founded in 2023 by former District 9 councilwoman and Unintech CEO Elisa Chan, Diwali SA founder Kausi Subramaniam, and Communities Aligning Baguio and San Antonio, Texas President Melinda Rodriguez — is leading the capital fundraising campaign to build the Asian center after a decade of planning.

According to project documents, a market analysis study conducted by KW Commercial showed there is a high concentration of Asian Americans living within a short driving distance of the future project site in Stone Oak compared to other parts of San Antonio.

The study found that 10% of San Antonio’s Asian population lives within a 5-minute drive of the future site of the center.

Census data shows 3% of people living in San Antonio are Asian, which makes that concentration of Asian community members near Stone Oak significant, Chan said.

Local Asian leadership in San Antonio has made headlines in recent years, with San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg and Bexar County Judge Peter Sakai leading both the city and the county since Sakai’s election to the top county post in 2023.

Nirenberg told the San Antonio Report the Asian Resource Center will become a focal point for “a vast and growing part of the San Antonio diaspora.”

“I am determined to make it happen in partnership with the county and the board leadership, who have already contributed enormously to get project off the ground,” he said.

Bexar County and San Antonio haven’t yet committed any dollars toward the project, but Nirenberg and Sakai have promised their support.

The Asian Resource Center’s purpose will be to showcase, promote and celebrate San Antonio’s diverse Asian cultures, and to educate the general public on the cultures and heritage of China, Taiwan, India, the Philippines, Vietnam, Pakistan, Japan and Korea, to name a few.

The center’s development comes after an alarming rise in Asian-American hate crimes nationally in the post-pandemic years, and will serve as a way to foster better cultural understanding, Chan said.

“We have different languages, we have different cultural backgrounds and different traditions, but also different religions and different geopolitics,” Chan said. “But we’re all Americans. … I truly believe ignorance sometimes is the main cause for distrust, hatred and conflict.”

The planned 9,500-square-foot resource center will include a 400-person capacity banquet hall and food preparation area, multipurpose rooms for meetings, artwork and displays, according to project documents.

The cost to build and design the center is not determined yet, Chan said, mostly because costs are changing. For now, the nonprofit’s goal is to close on the parcel of land for the center by the end of May as it continues its heavy capital fundraising campaign. 

Groundbreaking for the new Asian Resource Center should take place next year, and construction will take 18 months, she said. The center is projected to be in operation by 2027.

Chan and the Asian Resource Center of San Antonio Board have big goals for the Asian center, like playing a role in supporting foreign investments, given that San Antonio has six sister cities in Asian countries; contributing to workforce development, and creating space for workshops and seminars.

The center will also host fun events like mahjong tournaments and summer camps focused on Asian culture. Chan added that 20 local Asian organizations in San Antonio have already said they’ll host at least one event at the center once it exists.

Once the center opens, it will be self-sustainable, she said, by offering space rentals, fundraising activities, fee-based services and activities and the annual Asian Festival, formerly held annually at the UTSA Institute of Texan Cultures.

A portion of funds from San Antonio and UTSA’s upcoming Asian Festival on May 11 will go toward the capital fundraising campaign for the Asian Center. 

The festival, now at La Villita downtown, is working to get its attendance back to pre-COVID-19 numbers. About 10,000 people attended the festival annually until it paused for two years, before returning in 2023. The festival will stay at La Villita in future years, Chan said, since the new Asian Center won’t have the capacity to hold thousands.