SAN ANTONIO – An affordable housing community on the Northeast Side, which broke ground in 2020 and held its ribbon cutting last month, is already 99% leased, as San Antonio scrambles to bring affordably priced units online.
Lofts at Ventura, a 200-unit complex from Kansas City-based Cohen-Esrey Development Group, includes units with one-, two- and three-bedroom floor plans at prices significantly below San Antonio’s median rate of $1,220. One-bedroom units are 670 square feet and start at $766 per month. Two-bedroom units range from 940-to-985 square feet and rent for $910. Three-bedroom units are 1,049-to-1,165 square feet and rent for $1,044.
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“The demand for affordable housing in San Antonio is enormous,” explained Cohen-Esrey President and CEO Lee Harris. “We started leasing 90 days before construction was completed.” He said the Lofts already have a prospective tenant wait list, but did not offer additional details on its size or turnover rate.
He said Lofts at Ventura is accessible to tenants making around 50% of the area median income, which according to the latest available data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is about $33,200 for a two-person family in the San Antonio-New Braunfels metro.
“We’ve been doing this since 1994,” Harris said, explaining Cohen-Esrey’s involvement in affordable housing. “There’s a lot of compliance to deal with, especially when tax credits are involved, but you just have to get through it.”
A prepared statement from Cohen-Esrey said Lofts at Ventura includes an accessible playground, an amenity which the company’s late development director Jay Johnson, who passed away earlier this year, insisted on for the project. Other amenities include a pool, fitness center, lounge and dog park. Unit interiors have washers and dryers, stainless steel appliances, and private balconies or patios.
Other Cohen-Esrey projects under construction include the 212-unit Loma Vista Lofts at 363 N. General McMullen, and the 301-unit Lofts at Creekview at 3623 East Commerce St.
Editor’s note: This story was published through a partnership between KSAT and the San Antonio Business Journal.
Click here to read the FULL story in the San Antonio Business Journal.