SAN ANTONIO – It will be about three weeks before San Antonio ISD knows how its hard stance on terms for handing over a downtown parking lot to a minor league baseball stadium project shakes out.
However, some of the early responses are less enthusiastic than the district might have hoped.
SAISD trustees unanimously agreed Monday night to a hefty set of terms to present to the San Antonio Missions ownership group, Designated Bidders, as well as developer Weston Urban, the City of San Antonio, and Bexar County.
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
District officials said they hadn’t yet received an offer for the 2.3-acre parcel that they believe aligns with their values and mission. So they’ve put forward this counterproposal.
“So we went into this discussion being asked to donate our property for 250 parking spaces,” SAISD Trustee Sarah Sorenson said. “So when the community comes and expresses concern about, you know if folks are coming at this in good faith, I hope that they are. But, you know, we have experience in that, too."
The board gave a Dec. 9 deadline for the parties to respond.
Though trustees didn’t discuss it in depth, the district has also floated possible alternatives to a negotiated sale, which could put the stadium project at risk.
SAISD could make the sale a competitive process, which could end up with the property in someone else’s hands.
Weston Urban CEO Randy Smith, Designated Bidder member Hope Andrade, and the Missions front office did not respond to KSAT’s requests for comment Tuesday. But the city and county’s reactions indicated a lukewarm reception.
A draft set of the terms were posted publicly Nov. 13, and Bexar County Judge Peter Sakai sent trustees a memo the next day.
Sakai’s memo poured water on some of the district’s more burning hopes, noting that it may be decades before the $45 million ALA building could funded the way the district suggested.
Although Sakai wrote affordable housing is a “priority of the city and county,” his letter does not mention specific numbers.
“Perhaps we can agree to a number. I’m not in a position right now to say, ‘yes, I can agree or not agree,‘” the county judge told KSAT on Tuesday.
Sakai’s Nov. 14 memo to trustees also notes some conditions, like funding the ALA building through the Houston Street Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone or putting SAISD representatives on that TIRZ board, are outside the county’s authority.
The Houston Street TIRZ was established by the city.
San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg said he would need to review the district’s terms with attorneys, “But I’ll tell you that it would be a tragic mistake for us to not approve this deal as a community."
“I’m optimistic that when the dust settles from this latest round of of political discourse, that people will see the benefit of it, including the district, and it will get the deal done,” he told KSAT Tuesday.
Meanwhile, a city spokesman provided KSAT with a statement Tuesday that didn’t indicate any willingness to bend for new negotiations.
“SAISD officials have not discussed the terms with City officials. The City is proceeding within the framework of the Term Sheet approved by the City Council and County. There are no plans to restructure the framework in the Term Sheet.”
City of San Antonio statement
Sakai, though, is hopeful a deal will be reached. His memo was supportive of the request for a new parking garage, which he says had been part of the county’s previous proposal.
“We got to come together, and I think — I’m confident that we’re going to be able to do that. And I hope that we come to an agreed resolution that protects everybody, especially the constituents of San Antonio ISD, especially for the children and families," he said.