One of downtown San Antonio's vacant buildings is finally changing

According to a filing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Registration, the Cadillac showroom building at 801 Broadway is headed for a $2.4 million revamp into office and retail space by Spring 2027. 

The building, recognizable for its large Cadillac sign above a row of windows, has been vacant since the dealership moved out in 2013. Prior to that, it had a 70-year presence at the address beginning in 1939 when Cavender Oldsmobile became one of several dealerships along that stretch of showrooms. When the Oldsmobile dealership relocated in 1997, Cavender moved its Cadillac dealership to 801 Broadway from its location at 317 Lexington Avenue, now home to the Cadillac Lofts apartments.

The Cadillac showroom building is owned by CBMB Office Properties, LLC, which the City of San Antonio lists as the owner of two more nearby vacant buildings — 701 Broadway (the building with the iconic flower mural) and 806 Broadway just across the street. CBMB Office Properties is associated with Hixon Properties, a local real estate group that owns several buildings surrounding the old Cadillac showroom, and you may have heard of a few. One is Make Ready Market, the popular food hall that opened in 2023; others include The Soto, an office building between Make Ready and the Cadillac showroom, and River House apartments. Hixon Properties previously owned The Westin Riverwalk, Hotel Contessa, the South Bank building (housing Hard Rock Café, Paesano’s and The County Line) and others.

The project soon to be underway at the Cavender Showroom is just one of several reshaping the River North neighborhood, including rumblings of a Broadway East development adjacent to the Pearl. A spokesperson for Hixon Properties told MySA there isn’t any information to share just yet, but more details could come this summer.