It’s been nearly three months since a settlement agreement was announced between the authorities carrying out Alamo Plaza’s ongoing redevelopment and a bar owner whose property was to be converted into a part of a new museum.
Now we know how much Texas paid Moses Rose’s Hideout owner Vince Cantu: $6.75 million.
That’s nearly $1.5 million more than the city’s latest public offer of $5.3 million. Cantu’s most recent public counterproposal was a $10 million package.
“We are happy with the deal,” Cantu said in an email. “The way it was made was unfortunate. We could have made this same deal over a steak dinner at Bohanan’s, and spared any embarrassment to the ‘Spirit of the Alamo,’ and what that means to true Texans everywhere. I am happy that it is over, and I pray for the successful completion of the Alamo Museum.”
In May, the City of San Antonio filed a lawsuit in probate court to seize Vince Cantu’s property on behalf of the Alamo Trust, the nonprofit that oversees the Alamo, which sought to acquire the bar’s property to build a loading dock and access for the planned Alamo Visitor Center and Museum, a key part of the now nearly $511 million Alamo Plaza redevelopment plan.
The agreement announced in August ended the eminent domain proceedings.
A spokesperson for the Alamo Trust reached Wednesday did not give a statement, referring instead to the Trust’s August press release regarding the settlement.
On Tuesday, the Texas Attorney General’s office released un-redacted copies of the agreement to an individual and media outlets that had filed open records requests earlier this year, including the San Antonio Report.
The office did not receive “comments from any third party explaining why [the settlement agreement] should not be released,” Assistant Attorney General Kelly McWethy wrote in a letter explaining the ruling to release the settlement amount.
Cantu will be paid $5.35 million through an escrow account, according to the agreement. A $1.5 million settlement deposit will be held by the Probate Court and he will be allowed to withdraw up to $500,000 at a time from that account starting on Jan. 1 next year.
The city’s lawsuit followed years of contentious negotiations over a sales price for the property. Earlier this year, both sides consented to an independent business valuation appraisal, which found the value of the bar business to be just over $1.2 million. In April, the Alamo Trust announced that the City had made a “best and final” offer of $5.26 million to purchase the bar.
Cantu rejected the offer and, at the time, called it a “bait-and-switch” attempt to minimize the value of his business.
If Cantu or his wife violates the non-disparagement clause of the settlement agreement before August 2025, they “shall not be entitled to receive all and any portion of the Settlement Deposit remaining in the Court’s registry … and such funds shall be returned to the State upon motion by [the City of San Antonio].”
The non-disparagement clause restricts the bar owners, the city, General Land Office, and the Alamo Trust from communicating “any defamatory, derogatory, disparaging or otherwise injurious statement concerning the other Parties as it relates to the Dispute or this Agreement.”
Reporter Shari Biediger contributed to this article.
