The family behind Terry Black’s BBQ is working to become more than just pitmasters as it shapes plans for a mixed-use project near San Antonio’s Pearl District.
The family, widely regarded as Texas barbecue royalty, has cleared a hurdle in its quest to build a hotel, courtyard, parking garage and restaurants on a mostly vacant site at 2100 Broadway Street, the San Antonio Express-News reported.
The project received preliminary approval Wednesday from the Historic and Design Review Commission, excluding the hotel portion, which was not part of the family’s request.
One of the restaurants will be a Terry Black’s, and the other will have “nothing to do with barbecue,” said Mark Black, who runs the business with his twin brother, Michael, sister Christina and parents Terry and Patti. Exact details of the hotel have not been revealed, although it was previously reported that it would have a private club, and hotel rooms would range from 350 to 600 square feet.
The family bought the 1.5-acre site in 2021, with plans to create something that would blend in with the neighborhood.
The proposed project is part of a broader development boom in the area around the Pearl, a popular tourist attraction with breweries, restaurants, hotels and entertainment. Oxbow Development Group, for example, plans to expand the Pearl with a mixed-use project slated for 682 apartments, a 166-key hotel, parking garages, and about 70,000 square feet of restaurants, bars and office space to the district.
Terry Black’s Barbecue, which has locations in Lockhart, Austin and Dallas, is also expanding to Waco and Fort Worth. The Broadway location will mark its first venture into San Antonio. Despite sharing a familial lineage with the Original Black’s Barbecue, founded in 1932, the two chains are separate entities and competitors.
Terry Black’s has another mixed-use development up its sleeve in South Austin. In November, it bought the former Elks Lodge, at 700 Dawson Road, with plans to turn the 3.7-acre site into a membership-based club that would feature a restaurant, pool and boutique hotel.
—Quinn Donoghue