$31M H-E-B New Store in Converse Will Need 5 Low Voltage Systems for Late-2026 Opening

$31 million H-E-B grocery store at 10137 IH-10 East in the Converse / San Antonio metro requires five low voltage systems, creating an estimated $1.26 million opportunity for contractors in the South Texas retail market.

Project Overview

Permit records filed with the City of San Antonio show a $31.3 million H-E-B grocery store under construction at 10137 Interstate 10 East in Converse, a fast-growing Bexar County suburb on San Antonio''s northeast corridor. The 125,434-square-foot store is paired with a fuel station and car wash on the same parcel, and is internally designated HEB SA53 in the chain''s San Antonio store numbering.

According to a Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation filing, vertical construction on the store itself is budgeted at $21.2 million with site work, fuel station, and car wash pushing the full city permit value to $31.3 million. Construction began September 1, 2025 with substantial completion targeted for November 30, 2026 — a 15-month build cycle typical for new H-E-B prototypes.

The design is by pb2 architecture + engineering, the firm behind the look and feel of H-E-B stores across Texas, including most recent prototypes. As reported by KSAT and The Real Deal, the Converse store is part of H-E-B''s ongoing San Antonio-metro expansion, which has accelerated since 2024 across northeast Bexar County and the broader Texas Hill Country.

Project	HEB SA53 New Store (Converse)
Location	10137 IH-10 East, Converse, TX (San Antonio metro)
Total Value	$31.3 million (city permit) / $21.2 million (store vertical, state filing)
Project Type	Retail / Grocery (with fuel station and car wash)
Size	125,434 SF
Status	Active — under construction, substantial completion Nov 30, 2026
LV Score	7/10
Source	San Antonio Open Data Permits + TDLR filing

Key Players

Unlike many spotlighted projects where ownership has to be reconstructed from research, the H-E-B Converse build has a clean chain of command: H-E-B is both owner and operator, with pb2 leading design, and standard prototype subcontractor packages bid against H-E-B''s in-house construction management.

Role	Company	Details
Owner / Operator	H-E-B	San Antonio-headquartered grocery chain. Largest private employer in Texas with 400+ stores across Texas and northern Mexico. Builds nearly all new stores to in-house prototype standards with dedicated construction management.
Architect of Record	pb2 architecture + engineering	Bentonville, Arkansas-based firm specializing in grocery prototypes. Designs the majority of new H-E-B stores including site layout, building envelope, and tenant infrastructure coordination.
Permitting Agency	City of San Antonio Development Services	Issued the building permit. Bexar County and the City of Converse coordinate inspections on the site.
State Filing	Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR)	Required public-facing project filing for commercial construction in Texas. Confirmed $21.2M vertical store value and Sept 2025 / Nov 2026 schedule.

Low Voltage Systems Breakdown

The permit data flags five core LV systems for this build, but anyone who has wired a modern H-E-B knows the real installed scope runs deeper. Grocery is one of the most LV-intensive retail formats: dozens of POS lanes, comprehensive CCTV for shrinkage management, refrigeration controls, electronic article surveillance, and increasingly self-checkout and digital signage all share the same low voltage backbone.

System	Category	Scope Description	Complexity
Structured Cabling	Data/Voice	Cat6A backbone serving 20+ POS lanes, self-checkout kiosks, pharmacy, deli/bakery production areas, back-of-house offices, and fuel station/car wash satellites. Fiber risers between MDF and store IDFs.	Medium
POS Systems	Retail Technology	Checkout lane cabling, self-checkout cabling, scale interfaces, payment terminals, and integration with H-E-B''s enterprise POS platform. Includes drops at customer service, money room, and fuel station kiosk.	High
CCTV / Video Surveillance	Security	Heavy IP camera coverage across sales floor, every checkout lane, receiving dock, parking lot, fuel canopy, and car wash. Loss-prevention specs typically require 30+ day retention with high-frame-rate at POS lanes.	High
Access Control	Security	Reader-controlled access to receiving, money room, pharmacy, back-office, mechanical rooms, and roof access. Often integrated with the CCTV platform for door-event verification.	Medium
Fire Alarm	Life Safety	Addressable system covering the full sales floor, BOH, pharmacy (with required suppression coordination), and fuel canopy. NFPA 30A coordination is required for the motor fuel dispensing facility.	High

Adjacent LV scopes commonly bid alongside the core five on H-E-B prototypes include electronic article surveillance, refrigeration monitoring and BAS controls, paging and background music, and digital signage at price displays and the fuel canopy. Contractors bidding here should price the core scope tightly and flag the adjacent scopes early — they are usually negotiated as adds rather than left to a separate bid.

Estimated Low Voltage Value

Using South Texas retail benchmarks, the LV opportunity for the Converse H-E-B comes in at approximately $1.26 million — toward the high end of the retail range because of the fuel-station satellite scope, NFPA 30A coordination, and the dense POS / surveillance package every new H-E-B carries.

Total Project Value	$31,305,892
Estimated LV Percentage	3.5% (retail with fuel/auto satellites)
System Count Multiplier	1.15x (5 systems)
Estimated LV Contract Value	~$1.26 million

Rough internal split: structured cabling and POS together absorb roughly 45-55% of the LV budget, CCTV another 20-25%, with fire alarm, access control, and adjacent scopes (EAS, BAS, paging, signage) sharing the balance. This is the kind of scope a mid-sized San Antonio integrator can self-perform end-to-end, or a regional grocery specialist can pick up as part of a broader H-E-B-prototype portfolio.

Skills and Certifications Required

Grocery prototypes reward integrators who have seen the same details a dozen times. H-E-B in particular runs strict prototype standards — the LV package is repeatable across stores once a contractor learns the spec.

System	Key Certifications	Critical Skills
Structured Cabling	BICSI INSTC, BICSI INSTF, RCDD (design)	Cat6A termination, Fluke DSX certification, fiber backbone splicing, MDF/IDF buildout, raceway through refrigerated and wet areas
POS Systems	Manufacturer (NCR, Toshiba, Diebold-Nixdorf), BICSI	Lane wiring, scale integration, EFT/payment terminal cabling, self-checkout kiosk install, coordination with enterprise POS rollout team
CCTV	Manufacturer (Axis, Avigilon, Hanwha, Genetec)	IP networking, PoE+ budgeting, VMS configuration, retention/storage calculation, parking-lot and fuel-canopy mounting, loss-prevention spec compliance
Access Control	Manufacturer (Lenel, Genetec, HID, S2), TX low voltage license	Reader install, controller wiring, IP integration, credential management, integration with CCTV for door-event correlation
Fire Alarm	NICET Fire Alarm Level II+, TX fire alarm license	NFPA 72, NFPA 30A (motor fuel dispensing), addressable device install, AHJ coordination with City of San Antonio and Converse

Entry-level technicians with BICSI Installer 1 or NICET Level I can contribute to cable pulling, device mounting, and lane rough-in. Mid-level techs with BICSI INSTC or NICET Level II will handle terminations, testing, POS lane wiring, and IP camera installation. A senior tech or PM with H-E-B prototype experience is the differentiator on bid day — contractors who have wired multiple prior H-E-B stores can price more aggressively because the prototype is predictable. Contractors should verify that Texas low voltage and fire alarm licenses are current before bidding.

Market Signal

The Converse H-E-B is the leading edge of a sustained South Texas retail buildout that should be on every Texas LV contractor''s radar. H-E-B is the dominant grocery brand in Texas by a wide margin, and the chain has accelerated new-store openings since 2024 across northeast Bexar County, Hill Country, North Texas (Dallas-Fort Worth), and the I-35 corridor. Each new prototype carries a roughly $1-1.5 million LV scope on top of fuel-station and car-wash add-ons.

For San Antonio-area integrators, the strategic value is portfolio repeatability. Winning the Converse build well — on schedule, with the prototype spec executed cleanly — is the leading indicator for the next H-E-B award. The chain rewards proven prototype performers with follow-on stores; bidding aggressively on a first H-E-B without prototype experience is rarely the right move because the spec rewards repeat installers.

Beyond H-E-B, Converse and northeast Bexar County are seeing broader commercial follow-through: industrial along the IH-10 East corridor, residential rooftops north and south of the IH-10 / Loop 1604 / FM 78 triangle, and supporting retail. Contractors who plant a flag at Converse for the H-E-B build will be well-positioned for the second wave of strip and pad-site retail that always follows a flagship grocery anchor.

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