Explosive growth

Austin-San Antonio is the ‘next great U.S. metroplex,’ says Mayor Adler in final address

Mayor Steve Adler delivered his final State of the City address on August 25.

Nicholas McComber/Getty Images

Look out, Dallas-Fort Worth. Austin Mayor Steve Adler wants Austin-San Antonio to become the “next great U.S. metroplex.” Experts believe we’re already well on our way toward that status.

In his last State of the City address as Austin’s mayor on August 25, Adler touched on the burgeoning notion that the Austin-San Antonio corridor — encompassing 13 counties across both metro areas — is evolving as a mega-region like DFW.

In alignment with that vision, Texas billionaire Elon Musk, CEO of Austin-based automaker Tesla, recently floated the idea of building a transportation tunnel between Austin and San Antonio. On Twitter, Musk noted that this futuristic tunnel would be the “fastest way” to travel “between one downtown and another with known physics.” The distance along I-35 between downtown Austin and downtown San Antonio is about 80 miles.

In the past, transportation advocates have pushed for a commuter rail line between the Austin and San Antonio areas, but the concept has never gained enough traction.

Calls for stepped-up transportation and cooperation between Austin and San Antonio come as the two adjacent regions become more neighborly.

Today, the Austin-San Antonio corridor is home to roughly 5 million people. As of the 2020 Census, 2.3 million people lived in the Austin metro area and almost 2.6 million people lived in the San Antonio area. The corridor’s population is expected to reach 6 million to 7 million by 2030.

From 2010 to 2020, two of the country’s fastest-growing counties were the adjoining counties of Hays and Comal. At 53.4 percent, Hays County (part of the five-county Austin metro area and anchored by San Marcos) led growth among all U.S. counties during that period. Comal County, situated in the eight-county San Antonio metro area and anchored by New Braunfels, ranked third on that list with a growth rate of 48.9 percent.

This population growth is occurring as home prices continue to climb in the Austin and San Antonio areas. However, the San Antonio area remains a much more affordable place than the Austin area. In fact, San Antonio ranks among the top spots where both buyers and renters are seeking a refuge from skyrocketing prices for housing in Austin.

In July, the median home price in the San Antonio area was $341,600, compared with $515,000 in the Austin area. That’s a gap of $173,400.

“Austin is in the middle of a housing supply and housing affordability crisis. This is an existential challenge,” Adler said. “We are losing neighbors who can longer afford to live here. With their loss, we lose the diversity that is our biggest asset — our people.”

In November, Austin voters will decide on a $350 million bond program that would add affordable housing for low-income families and homeless people.

“We have quadrupled our investment in affordable housing units in the city since just 2014. And we have invested more in the last six years than in the city’s history up to that point,” Adler said. “And it’s still not enough.”

The Austin Board of Realtors has repeatedly sounded the alarm about the escalating cost and ongoing shortage of housing in the area.

“Although we’ve seen an uptick in inventory recently, we must focus on creating more supply to meet the increasingly high and sustained demand for housing. We must put housing first and use all the tools we have in the toolbox to address this issue,” says Cord Shiflet, president of the Austin Board of Realtors.

The same sentiment likely could be applied to the San Antonio area, especially if the population of the corridor exceeds 9 million by 2050, as former San Antonio Mayor Henry Cisneros has indicated will happen.

In 2020, Cisneros wrote that nowhere else in the U.S. are two connected metro areas expanding so rapidly. As the two areas move closer to the mega-metro level, Cisneros believes Austin and San Antonio can “provide a 21st-century example” of regional collaboration, including the possibility that a single NFL, NHL, or Major League Baseball team could serve sports fans up and down the corridor.

“We can avoid the worst consequences of lack of planning and of erratic growth in the Austin-San Antonio region,” Cisneros wrote in a newspaper op-ed. “We can make wise investments, pursue inclusive growth, and assure environmental responsibility.”

hill-country

Be Free

Free Week is ready to rock again with new City of Austin funding

Photo courtesy of Red River Cultural District / Renee Dominguez

Chancla Fight Club performs at Valhalla during a previous Free Week Festival.

The Red River Cultural District (RRCD)'s Free Week music festival is back, and perhaps better than ever after some newly secured funding from the City of Austin.

On January 3 and 4, this admission-free winter music festival will bring Austinites back-to-back performances from dozens of local musicians, spanning over 20 venues, restaurants, bars, and food trucks in the Red River area.

Free Week, which began in Austin over 20 years ago, was nearly canceled earlier in 2024 due to lack of funding. But thanks to a decision made on November 7 — after a long and hard-fought battle between RRCD and City Council — Free Week and RRCD's other popular festival Hot Summer Nights are saved for the foreseeable future.

Here's what happened, according to RRCD interim Executive Director Nicole Klepadlo.

Back in 2023, RRCD — a few blocks featuring a high concentration of popular music venues and other nightlife destinations — started pleading its case for funding with the City of Austin. At the time organizers were hoping for a cultural funding grant to help support their donation-based summer festival, Hot Summer Nights. Unfortunately it was declined and still, today, Klepadlo is not really sure why.

"We were just kind of perplexed," she says.

So, they needed to pivot. In January of 2024, they presented their case to the City of Austin's Boards and Commissions, essentially requesting funding for the district as a whole, which would ultimately support their festivals. After some back-and-forth negotiating and even rejections early in the year, finally, on November 7, the RRCD's advocacy paid off.

"We received $150,000 annually for up to four years for cultural district funding," says Klepadlo. "It will largely go to supporting Free Week and Hot Summer Nights. But it will also go to an economic analysis. One of the things people kept saying is 'What is the economic impact of your district?' So this will help leverage us for other future funding opportunities through brands or donors."

It's not just about urgent needs, now. RRCD is also planning to start work on a new "cultural history project" showcasing the area's lasting value to locals.

"We want to start diving into the musical heritage of the Red River Cultural District and start telling the stories," says Klepadlo. "Many of these venues were different venues than they are today; we've had a lot of musicians who got their start here back in the 70s."

Some of the venues and businesses involved in the RRCD include the Waterloo Amphitheater, Mohawk, Cheer Up Charlies, Stubbs, Valhalla, The 13th Floor, Elysium, Empire Control Room and Garage, Creek and Cave, Chess Club, Swan Dive, Barbarella, Flamingo Cantina, various food trucks, restaurants, and groups like the German Texas Heritage Society, the First Baptist Church, and the Austin Symphony. All told, there are about 40 businesses that are engaged on a regular basis.

Of course, it wasn't always like this. After a wave of venue closures back in 2015, a group of music venue representatives, small businesses, and members of cultural institutions all got together for one of Klepadlo's "favorite meetings" at The Mohawk.

"Back then there were over 12 independent live music venues, so there was a lot of competition," she says. "But we were all sitting around this table at Mohawk realizing, 'We've got to band together.' And that has morphed into forging this unified voice and collective, that has really ended up identifying the needs for this particular place. Not just for locals, but for jobs and tourism."

A meeting at Mohawk back in 2015 helped form what the RRCD is today.Photo from redriverculturaldistrict.org.

Another of the RRCD's hopes is that it can keep the vibe of the area intact going forward, even through the fast development is sweeping across the east side of downtown. Organizers want to collaborate with the city to make sure the district stays there (and stays cool) for years to come.

When asked if there might be something the RRCD could do to prevent venues from getting bulldozed and replaced by condos or something, Klepadlo replies, "We wish."

Right now RRCD hasn't gotten the traction or support it'd like in order to ensure that future development in the area honors what the district is all about. But Klepadlo is hopeful.

"This funding gives me hope that as we start to think about what happens to the eastern part of downtown, there will be a Red River Cultural District that looks like it does today; only more vibrant," she says. "I'm really excited to see where things go from here."

Aside from this new funding from the City of Austin, this year's Free Week is also supported by sponsors and partners like Airbnb, Austin Chronicle, KUTX 98.9 FM, Downtown Austin Alliance, The Moody Center’s Red River Rising, and many more.

The music lineup for Free Week will be revealed soon, as well as a new lineup of food and drink promotions. CultureMap will share updates as they're available.

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