San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
AFFORDABLE LOCALE
Skyline: Nonprofit developer wrapping up work on Museum Reach Lofts.
Anonprofit developer is putting the final touches on Museum Reach Lofts, one of the few projects in the downtown area with lowerpriced apartments.
Alamo Community Group is building the 94-unit apartment complex at the intersection of North St. Mary’s Street and West Jones Avenue near the San Antonio Museum of Art and the Pearl complex.
Nine of the units are for residents earning up to 30 percent of the metro area’s median income, with rents from $290 for an efficiency to $365 for a two-bedroom.
Thirty-five apartments are for families making 50 percent of the median income, with rents from $513 to $651, and 42 apartments for residents making 60 percent of the median income, with rents from $624 to $794.
The remaining eight units are priced at market rate, $774 to $1,008.
Those are the maximum rents before the cost of utilities, according to the developer. Adding in the average cost of utilities, rent for the units for residents earning 30 percent of the area median income would start at about $330, said Michael Shackelford, director of policy and resource.
The building includes a learning center with free Wi-Fi and computers for residents to use. There are also laundry facilities and a rooftop terrace with an outdoor kitchen.
Thirty-four percent of the apartments have been pre-leased and people can apply though the developer’s website, Shackelford said. Construction is expected to be finished by the end of December.
The $21.8 million project relies on tax credits and was approved for city incentives, including a $564,000 loan, a 10-year tax rebate worth $461,954, and $323,419 worth of SAWS and city fee waivers, according to a city database. It was also awarded a $2.8 million grant from the Midtown Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone for land acquisition costs.
Museum Reach Lofts is Alamo Community Group’s 10th project and third ground-up construction development, Shackelford said.
The developer is planning to start work early next year on a 140-unit complex at 811 W. Houston St., near VIA Metropolitan Transit’s Centro Plaza hub.
It is working with the San Antonio Housing Trust Public Facility Corp., or PFC, a city nonprofit led by five City Council members. In its deals, the PFC buys the land, exempting it from property taxes under state law.
The developer also doesn’t have to pay sales taxes on purchases for a project’s construction. In return, it must rent at least half the units to tenants making at or below 80 percent of the area’s median household income.
At Cattleman Square Lofts, two apartments will be priced at market rates, with the rest for residents earning 30 to 80 percent of the area median income.
Alamo Community Group plans to use tax credits, and another arm of the housing trust is set to issue up to $15 million in tax-exempt bonds for the project. The developer is also seeking a $1.2 million grant from the city and a $500,000 grant from the Westside Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone.
Weston Urban park opens
The roughly 1.2-acre site across from the Frost Tower includes a swath of grass shielded by berms and ringed by a pathway and trees.
Tables and chairs are set around the park, with some under a vine-draped pergola. A building that will house Pinkerton’s Barbecue, a Houston-based joint, is nearly finished.
“We see this as being the front yard of this whole area,” said David Robinson Jr., Weston Urban’s director of parks and recreation.
The plan is to eventually host events at the park, such as movie screenings and sporting events. There’s also space for six food trucks. Pinkerton’s is slated to open early next year.
Weston Urban acquired the land as part of a deal between the developer, the city and Frost Bank. The city agreed to buy and renovate the bank’s old headquarters and consolidate city employees there. In return, Weston Urban committed to building the office tower for the bank and other tenants, and at least 265 housing units on property it purchased from the city and the bank.
That acquisition included the Municipal Plaza building on West Commerce Street, the San Fernando Gym on West Travis
Street, parking lots and the site of the Frost Tower, which Weston Urban finished last year.
The developer also owns a number of other properties on the western edge of downtown: buildings along Houston Street that house co-working space Geekdom, “venture equity” firm Scaleworks and retail businesses; the Milam building on Travis Street, which the firm plans to rehabilitate; and a parking lot at 305 Soledad St., where it is planning a 32-story apartment tower.
This summer, City Council approved the sale of the former Continental Hotel building and a parking lot at 322 W. Commerce St. to Weston Urban.