Bexar County commissioners on Tuesday approved county tax breaks for two developments in the Pearl area that will add a combined 275 living units.
Commissioners approved a 10-year, 40% tax break on real and personal property investments for Oxbow Real Estate for the developments known as Iselta at 102 East Josephine Street and The Mira at 1200 East Elmira.
The county tax breaks are valued at more than $1.4 million.
But the new properties will be valued at $129 million.
County Judge Peter Sakai said that will still generate new property tax revenues for other taxing entities, including the City of San Antonio and for schools.
Omar Gonzalez, director of developments for Oxbow, said they will pay for $10 million in pedestrian improvements around the San Antonio River.
"We've added two new bridges. We'd like to add stairs to those bridges, so they can be accessible on either side of the river," he said. "We're going to put some investments into the streets and sidewalks in that area, adding some stop signs, making it safer for pedestrians."
Precinct 4 County Commissioner Tommy Calvert, who represents the area and voted for the tax breaks, said in addition to new property tax revenues for other taxing entities, it is more affordable for the county to back developments in the city center that already have police and fire protection and other infrastructure in place to support it.
All those new Oxbow residential units will go for market rate. That prompted some commissioners and the county judge to call on Oxbow and other developers to work with them in the future to bring more affordable housing to the city center.
Gonzalez said Oxbow would be willing to consider such a partnership.
