The mixed-income, 283-unit Broadway Jones apartment building across from Maverick Park received final approval on its design last week from the Historic and Design Review Commission.
Construction could start in December or January, said Ryan Moody, a director of design with NRP Group, a co-developer of the site.
The $55.9 million, five-story project would fill the 2.5-acre square block enclosed by Broadway, 10th Street, Avenue B and Jones Avenue—a major piece of real estate that signals to drivers heading north on Broadway that they’re leaving downtown and entering the Pearl/Midtown area.
For this project, Cleveland-based NRP Group is partnering with the nonprofit San Antonio Housing Trust Public Facility Corporation (PFC), whose involvement means the development is exempt from paying all property taxes—city, county, schools, etc.
In exchange, half of the units will be rented to household making 80 percent or less than the area median income, which for the greater San Antonio area is $53,450 for a family of four, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. That qualifies them. The project would then limit the household’s rent to 30 percent of their actual income, with the ability to charge up to 35 percent.
“Broadway Jones is being done to try to bring a level of affordability to the Pearl area (where) there’s nothing over there you can even call affordable,” said attorney Jim Plummer of the law firm Bracewell LLP, who brings these deals together on behalf of the PFC, a city-created nonprofit whose board is composed of City Council members. This project “hits both the Pearl and downtown,” he said.
In short, each PFC deal is unique and extremely complicated. Others include The Baldwin and the Friedrich Lofts on the East Side. For a better understanding of how they work, read these two reports by Richard Webner, San Antonio Express-News real estate reporter:
» City nonprofit fights soaring housing costs, but at what price? [ Oct. 5, 2018 ]
» A housing development partners with city nonprofit, but is it affordable? [ Jan. 4, 2018 ]
In the past two weeks, I’ve started my own reporting on PFCs. Look for that story later this month.
Back to Broadway Jones …
The full tax exemption is not the only incentive it’s receiving.
The project is also due to receive incentives from the city worth $2.1 million — $1.1 million in SAWS and city fee waivers and $417,500 in a mixed-use loan, both through the old Center City Housing Incentives Policy; and $680,000 in a infrastructure cost reimbursements from the Midtown Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ).
Broadway Jones will include 16,000-square-feet of first- and second-floor retail space facing the corners of Broadway and Jones, Broadway and Tenth Street, and Broadway and Avenue B. Developer James Lifshutz, the property’s owner since 1999, will own the retail space and pay taxes on it, because the space is nonresidential. (The PFC tax benefits only apply for residential development.)
Construction is set to begin Dec. 7, according to documents submitted to the Midtown TIRZ. Tentative completion date is Jan. 31, 2021. In a TIRZ, the revenue generated from the rise in property taxes is reinvested into public improvements within the zone.
Tentative completion date is Jan. 31, 2021, according to documents submitted to the Midtown TIRZ.
Previously published
» Incentives for tax-exempt Broadway Jones apartments grow to $2.1 million
» Broadway apartment design draws scrutiny from design commission
» Co-developers of 1011 Broadway apartments seek design approval
Contact Ben Olivo: 210-421-3932 | ben@saheron.com | @rbolivo on Twitter