SPECIAL REPORT: San Jacinto Plaza holdup on canopy almost complete

San Jacinto Plaza has been El Paso’s iconic downtown square for a century, but it’s been inaccessible for the past couple years. So what’s the holdup, and what are El Pasoans actually getting in their new plaza?

As ABC-7 has reported, it’s undergoing a massive transformation from below ground on up, revamping every aspect from landscaping to wiring to plumbing and utilities. It’s all intended to take the center of downtown from from a fairly pleasant square to walk through to a more modern architectural space, with more amenities. It’s been a difficult process, but we could finally be seeing the results sooner rather than later.

“(The construction) is in it’s final stage,” said Monica Lombrana, the city’s capital improvements department director. She said the project is still within the budget, but a final tally will come after a reckoning with the contractor once major work is complete.

“We’re getting ready to lift up the canopy,” Lombrana said, “something that we’ve all been waiting for.”

The construction of San Jacinto Plaza has been a definite hassle for around the downtown area, but now ABC-7 is learning that the holdup for this last phase of construction is with what’s going to be held up – the massive 40-ton canopy that will dominate the center of the square

“Once the canopy is in place and up, then everything else that’s remaining in the park that we were waiting, holding off until the canopy was in place (will be done),” Lombrana said. “There was a lot we didn’t want to install until obviously the canopy’s in place because we didn’t want to get it damaged, such as the brick pavers, the reflecting pool, the art piece itself, all of that will then, then come in.”

The canopy will be a central feature of the square, and safety is a major focus. It’s designed to handle what our region’s weather can throw at it – sunshine, rain, snow, and of course wind.

“The design is for over 100 miles per hour design, so it should be able to withstand any wind that we have,” said Gilbert Guerrero, project manager and engineer for the city.

The 50-foot-wide and 12-foot-tall canopy will be suspended more than 20 feet above the center of the square, with specially designed cables bolted in the middle of the frame, running from support pylons anchored 70 feet into the ground. There were delays in making sure the pylons could support the weight, but they have now passed inspection to be able to hold the tensioned cables and the weight. Making sure all the cables were ready to go at once was another hold up, but they are now in El Paso and ready to go.”

“It was the type of strength that was specified for the cables that could only be manufactured in Germany,” Guerrero said.

“I expect it to be an awesome community park for the city, because if it’s taken this long, it should be well worth the wait,” said entrepreneur Alejando Borunda.

Borunda is basically betting that the plaza will be a draw to downtown. He’s been working to open a business, International bar & kitchen on right next to and overlooking the south side of the plaza across West Mills Avenue.

“Well, I mean, if everything goes well, I think we will be open before the plaza opens,” Borunda said. “People are used to the park being under construction, and making it seem like it’s a construction site, so people (are) not here, people aren’t coming downtown because of that per se, you know?”

Borunda has tracked the progress of the plaza as his business was building up at the same time.

“I just do hope that it is – that the wait is worth it,” Borunda said. “More than anything.”

“I believe that people will say it’s been worth the process,” Lombrana said.

If everything goes as planned from this point, hopefully people will be able to make that judgement for themselves sooner rather than later. The city plans to begin lifting the canopy on Monday.

The city said the project is still within the budget, but a final tally will come after discussions with the contractor once major work is complete.