West Side complex makes 2020 endangered sites list
Designation draws attention to Alazan-apache Courts updates
The 80-year-old AlazanApache Courts on San Antonio’swest Side, including a large section scheduled to be demolished, has landed on a national preservation group’s list of the nation’s most threatened historic sites.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation announced Thursday the public housing complex was among America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places for 2020. Since 1988, the preservation group has raised awareness about threatened sites through its annual list.
The designation doesn’t bar the San Antonio Housing Authority, which owns the complex, from proceeding with demolition plans.
In a statement, the Nationaltrust said the AlazanApache Courts “demonstrate that historic preservation
can provide solutions for the challenge of affordable housing, while also supporting community history and identity.”
“Particularly during this time of economic crisis, the
preservation of historic buildings that provide affordable housing — and the communities that call those places home — should be a priority not only for San Antonio, but all cities nationwide,”
said Katherine Malone-france, chief preservation officer at the National Trust.
The issue pits preservation against what many
view as progress.
A spokesman for SAHA said, “abject poverty is not a historic designation worth protecting,” even as the West Side is “on the brink of a revitalization it desperately needs.” New developmentsset toopenin thenext few years, including SAHA’S Artisan at Ruiz and Tampico Apartments, are expected to increase affordable and subsidized housing options.
“The Alazan-apache community is located in the poorest ZIP code in the poorest big city in America. It is not acceptable that Alazan residentsmust continue to live under these poor and outdated conditions,” said Michael Reyes, SAHA director of communications and public affairs and former Alazan resident.
One of the crucial elements of economic success, for thewest Side and its residents, “is to have a safe homeina thriving neighborhood.”
“Alazan residents deserve this future. The status quo is no longer acceptable,” Reyes said.
The Westside Preservation Alliance and Esperanza Peace and Justice Center nominated Alazan-apache for the designation. According to the alliance, the complex also known as “Los Courts” is the oldest and largest intact public housing community in San Antonio.
“Located in the city’s predominately Mexican American West Side, and conceived at a time when housing, schools and public facilities were legally segregated, Los Courts have provided affordable housing for San Antonio’s working poor, in an area where historically families have struggled with poverty, lack of municipal services, severe flood conditions and high death rates,” the alliance said.
The local alliance and National Trust are calling on the city and SAHATO consider use of historic tax credits, as was done at the Liberty
Village and Liberty Square public housing communities in theeasttexas townof Groesbeck, to rehabilitate Alazan-apache as an alternative to demolition and replacement.
The complex introduced needed housing on thewest
Side in the 1940s, and provided a “critical safety net for thousands of working people who have contributed to the growth of the city,” the alliance said.
First lady Eleanor Roosevelt helped advocate for San Antonio’s first housing project, which initially had about 5,000 residents. The newhousing, state of the art for its time with new appliances, replaced dilapidated shacks that had communal water pumps and no sewer service.
The placement on the endangered sites list comes as San Antonio struggles to provide affordable housing, its advocates say.
The Alazancourts, which are in worse condition than the Apache Courts and make up a majority of the units, are targetedfordemolition as early as 2022, the nomination states.
Gloria G. Rodriguez, founder of AVANCE, which provides free parenting and early childhood education to low-income families, spent part of her childhood in Los Courts and later returned there as an adult to establish the nonprofit.
“We have many fond memories of this community. There was a playground, theater, bakery and the school that was in walking distance,” Rodriguez said. “Alazan is a significant historical landmark that was one of the first federal housing projects in the nation for low-income people.”
The housing authority plans to raze at least 500 units in phases, although the timeline is uncertain, based on available funding.
Kayla Miranda, AlazanApache resident and community advocate, isworried about the potential displacement of some 1,200 people.
“We shouldbepreserving housing stock, not destroying it,” Miranda said. “In a truly affordable housing crisis, what possible excuse could the housing authority have to reduce available public housing units?”
Reyes said more than 80 percent of Alazan-apache residents surveyed said they preferred the buildings be “rebuilt rather than remodeled.”
“While thecementcinder blocks from the 1930s were sufficient for the pre-world War II era, they are not fit for modern times and amenities. It is not feasible to rehab a distressedcommunity built with cement cinder blocks,” he said.
SAHA officials have said they’re providing replacement housing in phases over about five years, in the form of apartments, townhouses andwalk-ups for tenants of all income levels, so families and individuals displaced by the demolition can move into new units, minimizing disruption to the neighborhood.
But the preservation alliance said the planned demolition would erase an architecturally significant community, resulting in the loss of a “deeply embedded community” and fueling gentrification. Miranda said residents are worried they may not be able to afford rent in the replacement units.
In 2000, the housing authority began razing Victoria Courts, a 1940s downtown complex that was replaced with amix of marketrate and subsidized apartments.
SAHA later redeveloped the San Juan Homes, originally built from 1951 to 1967, and renamed it the Gardens at San Juan Square. In 2014, it tore down Wheatley Courts, a 1940s East Side complex that was replaced with a mixed-income residential development.
The preservation alliance has advocated protection through city landmark designation of shotgun houses, bungalows, storefronts and other West Side structures. It has raised concerns that new three- and four-story housing structures planned for the area don’t fit the character of the neighborhood.
“Rehabilitation of thealazan-apache Courts would preserve important architectural history, cultural historyandaffordablehousing. It is also the most environmentally friendly choice,” the alliance said.
Reyes countered that Sahaalready knewthe Alazan community is historic, “and so that iswhy it is important to invest in its future.
“Recognizing the historical significance of the community is of great importance to the housing authority, as is providing modern living conditions for the residents who have to live in these units every day,” he said. “(SAHA) has provided Alazan residents subsidized housing for generations, and the agency will continue to do so for generations to come.”