Marshalls opens at 8680 Fourwinds Drive this Thursday, October 8, and the doors are scheduled to be open from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. It joins four other everyday businesses that opened recently in Windcrest: a buffet, a bakery, a coffee shop and a 24-hour gym. Together they are doing the job one large tenant at the old Windsor Park Mall used to do, which is generating the sales tax a city of Windcrest's size depends on. The big campus at I-35 and Walzem Road still has no signed tenant. The change residents can actually drive to is happening in the smaller buildings around it.
Thursday's opening, and why the city announced it
The Windcrest Economic Development Corp. announced on June 17 that Marshalls would open beside Skechers on Fourwinds Drive. KSAT reported it as one of three new businesses expected soon. KSAT's story was not mainly about clothing racks. Its subject was a budget hole. When Rackspace left, the city's annual budget was short more than $1 million, and for four years Windcrest has recruited tenants to make up the difference.
Mario Hernandez, executive director of the Windcrest EDC, told KSAT that the city has not calculated how much of the gap has closed so far. He did say sales revenue was running about 10% ahead of the previous year.
"To lose a million dollars is very significant," Mario Hernandez told KSAT in June 2026.
This is why a discount retailer opening next to a shoe store got its own announcement. In a larger city, one Marshalls barely moves the total. Windcrest is small enough that it shows up.
What has already opened
Four businesses on the Walzem Road and Fourwinds Drive stretch opened this year or recently. Status is as of early October 2026.
| Business | Address | What the record shows |
|---|---|---|
| Treasure Buffet | 5237 Walzem Road | Opened March 11; Mayor Dan Reese visited the staff on March 13 |
| 85°C Bakery Café | Windcrest Town Center, 5253 Walzem Road, Suite 1 | Open by June 2, with soft-opening hours of 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. through June 25 |
| La Gracia Coffee and More | 8941 Willmon Way | Grand opening July 25; coffee, tea drinks and pastries |
| EōS Fitness | 8600 Fourwinds Drive | Open 24/7 according to the gym's location page |
The 85°C hours above are from the soft opening. Neither the bakery's opening coverage nor anything since lists its regular schedule, so check before you plan a late-afternoon stop. La Gracia's phone number in the Windcrest EDC business directory is 210-307-9737. Treasure Buffet is still in the same directory under its Walzem Road address.
Look at where these sit on a map. Three are within a few doors of each other on Walzem near the Town Center. EōS and Marshalls share Fourwinds Drive off I-35. All of it is a short drive from most Windcrest streets, and none of it depended on the former mall finding a buyer.
Why a coffee shop shows up in the budget
According to Focus On San Antonio's July report, the Windcrest EDC took in nearly $700,000 in sales tax revenue in fiscal year 2025. It projected about $650,000 for fiscal 2026, and its proposed fiscal 2027 budget estimates $750,000.
That is a dip followed by a forecast rebound of about $100,000 over the current year's projection. The businesses opening in 2026 are the ones expected to produce it. A full year of Treasure Buffet, 85°C, La Gracia, EōS and Marshalls will land in fiscal 2027 in a way a partial year could not. When a city's development fund runs in the hundreds of thousands, a single new storefront is a meaningful piece of the plan.
WEDC board president Jennifer Newman put it this way in July:
"Windcrest's economy is experiencing genuine momentum right now. While past development concepts evolved in different directions, the fundamentals haven't changed."
"Past development concepts" refers to a long history. Focus On San Antonio noted that Rackspace's years at the mall never produced the live, work and play district earlier leaders hoped for. It also never led to development of a vacant 23-acre tract that city officials had imagined, about two decades ago, as a town center for Windcrest.
The two addresses still unsettled
Not every project announced on Walzem Road has a firm timeline. Two deserve a clear account.
5307 Walzem Road, the former Luby's. Pizza Ranch, the Iowa-based pizza and fried chicken chain, has been linked to this building for more than a year. A state filing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation lists a "Pizza Ranch" project at the address covering about 9,942 square feet, with an estimated $1 million renovation. In January, Hoodline reported that the interior had been stripped to a shell. The property manager told MySA the building was being "whiteboxed" and that Pizza Ranch was "only one option" the owner was considering. In July, Focus On San Antonio described Pizza Ranch as redeveloping the site. As of early October, no public opening date has been announced. Until permits, signage or an announcement settle it, treat this one as possible.
7876 I-35 North, the former Builders Mark. This building sat empty for years. An April letter of intent describes a $9.9 million project to demolish it and build at least 9,250 square feet of retail space. In June, Hernandez told KSAT the developer plans two national restaurant chains that have not been publicly named, with an opening target of early 2028. That is more than a year away, and the restaurant names are the next thing to watch for.
The EDC also told local outlets this summer that a Puerto Rican restaurant was coming. No coverage so far has named it or given an opening date.
The mall is becoming a business park
The 67-acre former Windsor Park Mall at I-35 and Walzem Road is being converted into the Windcrest International Business Park, planned for warehouse, manufacturing and office uses. In March, the San Antonio Report said the $40 million renovation that began in 2024 was close to structural completion and that JLL was preparing the site for its first tenants. Rackspace downsized and moved out of the building in 2022.
As of July 1, Hernandez counted five active prospects. Those are prospects, not signed leases. Misty Baker, senior project manager at Industrial Commercial Properties, said crews are "beefing up" the existing infrastructure to draw a range of tenants. Newman said the next 18 months will be decisive for the park.
For daily life in Windcrest, this sets expectations. Whoever eventually leases the former mall is likely to bring jobs and weekday traffic. Shopping and dining are not part of the plan. Those are coming from the smaller pads on Walzem and Fourwinds, and that is the strip to watch for new openings.
On the Windcrest calendar through December
The city's own calendar has several dates that fall around the Marshalls opening:
- Tuesday, October 6, 6 to 8 p.m. National Night Out, held across the city.
- Saturday, October 24, 9 a.m. to noon. Arbor Day celebration at Brook Falls Park, 6309 Windrock Drive.
- Saturday, October 31, 6 to 8 p.m. Trunk or Treat in the City Hall parking lot, 8601 Midcrown Drive.
- Saturday, December 5, 2:30 to 6:30 p.m. Light-Up Celebration Kickoff & Market at 8601 Midcrown Drive. The city is taking vendor applications first come, first served, with fees waived.
Vendors can apply now for a spot at the December market through the City of Windcrest's announcement.
Each new storefront on Walzem Road becomes part of how buyers, appraisers and neighbors judge what a Windcrest address is close to. Melissa Boehringer has 25 years of appraisal experience and follows how changes like these show up in local values. If you'd like to understand how this year's openings bear on your home, schedule a free consultation.