A multiyear master plan for the San Antonio Zoo could infuse up to $200 million into expanding and transforming the 55-acre site. But it will need to raise money from philanthropic and corporate supporters, according to the San Antonio Business Journal.
The newspaper quotes Haynes and Boone, LLP Partner Frank Ruttenberg, who serves on the zoo’s executive committee.
The expansion plans reflect a trend in which competition among city zoos is pushing bigger investments and visions. Here are excerpts from the article:
Frank Ruttenberg, a partner in the law firm Haynes and Boone, LLP and a member of the San Antonio Zoo’s executive committee, said the zoo has continued to move from old-school animal exhibition to more progressive conservation, preservation and education projects, which is a compelling pitch to donors.
“As the community has started to understand and appreciate just how important our institution is, we are able to reach deeper into other areas we’ve not really reached into before for fundraising,” he said.
Deciding how best to “reassemble the zoo” will be a challenge in itself, Ruttenberg said.
“We’ve got a lot of things we think we can do well," he said. "But we have a limited amount of land and need to make certain we use it in exactly the right way. Probably our biggest challenge is how to take an urban environment and achieve all these goals.”
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