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San Antonians have watched as the Pearl development took a former beer brewery, and turned it into a place where people dined, came for music, shopped and even lived.
Twenty years ago, the property was undeveloped, and high, barbed wire fence surrounded it.
More recently, Stable Hall itself has gone through some considerable remodeling.
“Stable Hall, originally built in 1894— it actually was the horse stables for the beer brewery that was over here, that would drag the carts out all over town and deliver the beer to the various businesses in town. But now it is a concert venue,” said Pearl manager, Garrett Zimmerman.
More recently, a massive remodeling for the venue has positioned it well among others as a medium-sized performance space. It also allows Stable Hall to get creative in marketing that the big venues can’t. One such innovation is ordering drinks from your chair.
“We've got custom QR codes on each armrest. Actually, people can order drinks and have them delivered to their chair when they're seated up there in the mezzanine,” he said.
Stable Hall is oval-shaped. It's an ornate stone and brick building in the center of Pearl. Its elegance doesn’t hint at its original function as a stable to Pearl’s mighty delivery fleet of horses pulling wagons with keg-loads.
“Now it is a concert venue. If you haven't been in here before, since it's been remodeled back in 2024 and reopened, the stage is now moved from the left side of the building when you come in, so that it's now dead center, straight back once you walk in the doors you come in here,” Zimmerman said. “And then in the center there's a six-foot by eight-foot painting of a big Clydesdale horse. We affectionately know him as Big Ed.”
It used to be only a special events facility, but now its primary focus will be on live music. It's also a rental space.
"We are trying to focus on it being a concert hall. It's still very much available for private event rentals," said Zimmerman.
