$22M San Antonio Multifamily Project Gears Up

SAN ANTONIO-Southwest Housing will begin work in January on its first affordable housing apartment project in San Antonio. The Dallas-based company is joining with the San Antonio Development Agency to build and run the 250-unit project in the city’s south submarket.

“It’s part of the redevelopment of the south side and we’re excited to be a part of it,” Brian Potashnik, Southwest Housing’s president, tells GlobeSt.com. He says a spurt of business growth on the south side is driving demand for affordable housing. “They need the rooftops,” he says.

The complex of two-, three- and four-bedroom apartments is positioned along Palo Alto Drive in the northeast corner of the intersection of Loop 410 and US Highway 16. The complex’s 18 acres are across Palo Alto Drive from Palo Alto College, a campus of the Alamo Community College District.

Bonds for the $22-million project were issued by the Bexar County Housing Finance Corp. New York City-based Related Capital Co. and its affiliate, Charter Municipal Acceptance Co., known as CharterMac, arranged the financing.

The apartment complex will feature a 5,000-sf community center. Activities and services for tenants include job training, after-school classes and computer labs. The apartments are for families who earn 60% of San Antonio’s annual median income.

Potashnik says the apartments should be ready for tenants by the end of 2003. With three projects underway in Austin and now one in San Antonio, Southwest Housing is working its way south of its Dallas home. “This is our first in San Antonio,” he says. “And we hope to do quite a few more.