bought the building in a public bidding process<\/a> sparked by downtown developer Weston Urban\u2019s offer to purchase it.\u00a0<\/p>\nRELEE had to notify the state of Texas, which provided tax credits for the building, of Weston Urban\u2019s offer and give tenants, nonprofits and other groups an opportunity to submit offers within 90 days of the state posting the building for sale. The housing trust and an affiliate of Chicago-based developer Celadon Partners submitted offers.<\/p>\n
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Residents were concerned that if Weston Urban bought the 10-story building, the firm could convert it to market-rate housing they could not afford.<\/p>\n
The trust is seeking to use tax credits, conventional loans\u00a0and the city\u2019s funds to renovate the circa-1923 building, which is in poor shape and not fully occupied. The city\u2019s loan forgiveness is contingent on the trust lining up financing, which it\u2019s looking to do by the end of the year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It plans to upgrade apartments and reduce the number to 63 from 72 to make space for a new elevator, replace electrical and plumbing systems and add amenities. Thirteen of the apartments will be set aside for residents earning up to 30% of the median income in the area, with the rest for people making up to 60% of that threshold.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Construction could take 12 months to 18 months. Tenants will have the option to move back when the work is completed. The trust is helping them find alternative housing in the meantime.<\/p>\n
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Representatives for RELEE didn\u2019t respond to an inquiry this week about why the partnership didn\u2019t repay the loan, and city staff didn\u2019t answer a question about whether they had tried to collect payment.<\/p>\n
City staff said they recommended council members forgive the loan because it will help preserve affordable housing at risk of being lost.<\/p>\n
The city created the trust in 1988. Its affiliated entities partner with developers on mixed-income housing, issue bonds and build projects.<\/p>\n
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The trust is governed by a 13-member board that includes five council members as well as city staff, businesspeople and school, labor and nonprofit leaders.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The San Antonio Housing Trust plans to renovate the Robert E. Lee Apartments, an aging building downtown. Kin…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":252928,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[82,84,83],"class_list":{"0":"post-252927","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio","8":"tag-san-antonio","9":"tag-san-antonio-headlines","10":"tag-san-antonio-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252927\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/252928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}