SAN ANTONIO – The San Antonio Independent School District is trying to run up the score in a land deal with the San Antonio Missions and its partners for a 2.3-acre parking lot.
But you’re unlikely to hear any Soap Factory residents cheering.
SAISD trustees voted 7-0 Monday night on a hefty set of terms for handing over the district’s property, which sits in the middle of the proposed site for a new downtown minor league baseball stadium. The terms include:
- Funding for a $45 million building for the Advanced Learning Academy
- Guarantee at least 1,250 affordable housing units built within the district
- Construction of a new parking garage at the Northern corner of the proposed stadium site
- $400,000 per year to make up for not opening up the property to a competitive sale
- Spots on the Houston Street Tax Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ) Board
It’s a far cry from what one trustee said was the opening offer from the team and its partners of a 250-space parking garage of which the district would only have limited use.
“We would like to move this matter along quickly so that we can stay focused on our board goals and guardrails, which focuses on our students and their academic achievement,” SAISD Board President Christina Martinez told reporters after the vote.
OFFER AWAY
The board’s unanimous vote authorizes Superintendent Jaime Aquino to send the new terms to Designated Bidders — the ownership group of the San Diego Padres’ AA-affiliate — as well as to Weston Urban, the City of San Antonio and Bexar County.
The board also set a Dec. 9 deadline for the parties to send back a response, which SAISD trustees hope to consider at their Dec. 16 meeting.
Weston Urban is the Missions’ partner in the project and the surrounding private development. The development group’s co-founders, Randy Smith and Graham Weston, are also part of Designated Bidders.
As part of the deal, the county would take control of the SAISD land as a way to sidestep requirements for a competitive sale. The city is the one that set up the Houston Street TIRZ in the first place.
Both have also already given their blessing to the broad strokes of a downtown stadium and agreed to a general funding scheme.
Martinez said the district hopes Bexar County will take the lead in negotiations.
Bexar County Judge Peter Sakai already sent SAISD a letter on Nov. 14, the day after the district announced the proposed terms. Sakai addressed each of the five proposed conditions in his letter, pouring cold water on some of them.
He wrote the earliest funding for the ALA building could be arranged through the TIRZ would be 2056 and suggested the district talk with the city about its policy for representation on the TIRZ board.
Though the county judge said affordable housing was also a county priority, he did not respond to the specific numbers SAISD put out, urging instead they create a working group together.
He also said the county had no mechanism for paying $400,000 to the district, but he appeared agreeable to the creation of a new parking garage, which he said was the basis of the county’s proposal.
Read Sakai’s full letter below:
GAME OF PICKLE
If the parties disagree with SAISD’s terms, district staff have already floated a pair of curveballs as possible alternatives.
Instead, the district could put the property up for a competitive sale through a sealed-bid process. That could leave the property in someone else’s hands instead of the Missions or its partners.
But district officials also say they hadn’t been interested in selling the property anyway, having hoped to use it to help with expanding operations in the area.
Instead of selling the land, district staff said SAISD could use its power of eminent domain to snatch up neighboring property near Kingsbury Street and North Flores Street — specifically, other properties Weston Urban has bought for the ballpark site.
Either option would appear to carry an implicit threat to the proposed stadium, but district officials deny they are playing “hardball.”
“We believe it’s ... a fair counteroffer,” Aquino said in response to KSAT’s suggestion. “If we wanted to ‘hardball,’ you heard today where people said, ‘why aren’t you asking for half a billion dollars to help our infrastructure needs?’
“So we believe this is the right thing to do, aligns to our values of promoting our educational mission, supporting our student’s families and promoting affordable housing that we repeated is the lifeblood of a district that’s facing declining enrollment.”
SOAP FACTORY DOWN THE DRAIN
The board vote came after a two-hour parade of public comments largely opposing the downtown stadium project.
Numerous speakers railed against the displacement that would result from the planned demolition of the 381-unit, low-cost Soap Factory Apartments nearby.
“It’s very clear that the vibrant and thriving San Antonio our leadership is portending to create does not include us,” Soap Factory resident Sarah Hunnicutt told the board.
The apartments are not in the ballpark’s footprint, but the funding scheme for the $160 million stadium relies on Weston Urban developing the surrounding area.
The new tax revenue from the development, which could include 1,500 new market-rate housing units, would go toward paying off the construction costs, as would lease payments from the team and a $2 ticket fee. The Missions ownership is also kicking in $34 million of equity and helping secure the debt with a line of credit.
KSAT EXPLAINS: How will the city, county pay for the new downtown Missions baseball stadium?
A short walk across San Pedro Creek from the proposed stadium site, the Soap Factory Apartments are already owned by Weston Urban. The redevelopment plans would put residents out in three phases between 2025 and 2029.
Aquino said the district didn’t have the power to stop what happens to the apartments, which Weston Urban CEO Randy Smith has said “is a property that needs to be redeveloped.”
“If we don’t agree to sell, you know, that doesn’t guarantee safeguard for the Soap Factory or (Robert E. Lee),” Aquino told reporters, referring to an affordable housing building nearby the San Antonio Report said Weston Urban also wants to buy.
“We’re using our negotiating terms to stand for what we believe is in the interests of our families and community and residents, including those who live in the two apartment buildings.”
Read the full SAISD presentation below:
SAISD's presentation by Mason on Scribd