Trustees for the San Antonio Independent School District approved terms Monday night under which they would agree to sell land for the construction of a new stadium downtown for the San Antonio Missions minor league baseball team.
Trustees also voted to give the parties involved with the ballpark development until Dec. 9 to accept the terms or respond with a proposal of their own. SAISD trustees plan to discuss the next step in negotiations over the land sale at their regular board meeting on Dec. 16.
The Missions ownership group first approached SAISD in the spring with a request to purchase 2.3 acres of land on Camaron Street that is within the footprint of the proposed stadium. Bexar County officials later offered to build SAISD a new parking garage in exchange for the land, which is currently being used as a parking lot for students and staff on the Fox Tech campus.
The school district’s counteroffer includes a new $45 million elementary school for the Advanced Learning Academy, a parking garage for the Fox Tech campus, $400,000 a year for 30 years, two seats for school district representatives on the board of the tax zone that will finance the ballpark development, and a guarantee that at least 1,250 affordable housing units will either be preserved or built within the school district.
The lack of sufficient affordable housing options and Weston Urban’s plans for two apartment complexes in the area were the leading topics of concern for most of the more than 50 people who signed up to speak during public comments Monday night. SAISD leaders share their concern, in part because the school district loses enrollment when families are priced out of their neighborhoods.
One notable exception to the speakers focused on affordable housing was the chair of the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, Mario Barrera. He chastised SAISD leaders for publicly releasing their counteroffer instead of negotiating behind closed doors.
“To have put your offer on a press release was not the way to do it,” said Barrera, who also sits on the board of the SAISD Foundation.
He said the San Antonio business community has helped SAISD improve over the years and should work with the business community to “get this deal done.”
“I'm here to tell you that there is a better way to approach it, open minds, collaboration. You all are fiduciaries to that property. You can accomplish what you want to do, but there are better ways to do it,” Barrera said.
Barrera’s comments echoed the sentiment of a press release sent out Monday by Centro, a nonprofit funded by downtown business owners. Centro called on SAISD to delay voting on the counteroffer and instead “enter negotiations with Bexar County.”
However, after public comment ended, SAISD Board President Christina Martinez stood by the decision to publicly release the proposed terms.
“We did that out of transparency,” Martinez said. “We wanted to make sure that people had the opportunity to see those terms, to be able to come tonight. Most folks do not know how to navigate finding a board agenda on a website, and so this was our way of really being upfront with the community about what those terms were.”
“We want to be a good partner. We believe in economic development, but as a school district our mission is to advance the educational offerings for our students,” SAISD Superintendent Jaime Aquino chimed in. “As of today, we have not received an offer that aligns to what we believe are our values: promoting our educational mission, supporting our families, our students and our staff, and promoting affordable housing.”
Several people who spoke during public comments were current or former residents of the Soap Factory Apartments, which are owned by Weston Urban, and the Robert E. Lee Apartments, for which it has made a purchase offer.
Weston Urban’s plans to develop the area around the stadium call for the demolition of the Soap Factory apartments. The residents wanted SAISD to stop their displacement, but SAISD leaders said they don’t own the apartment complexes and can’t control what Weston Urban does with it.
“If we don't agree to sell, that doesn't guarantee safeguard for the Soap Factory or Robert Lee [Apartments],” Aquino said in a brief press conference after the board voted to approve the counteroffer. “We're using our negotiating terms to stand for what we believe is in the interest of our families and community and residents, including those who live in the two apartment buildings.”
When Esperanza Center Director Graciela Sánchez addressed the board, she pointed to a Texas Monthly article highlighting other San Antonio development projects that failed to spur economic development, like the Alamodome.
“Our elected, appointed and their staff continue to support silly boondoggles that favor the pocketbooks of the wealthy while continuing to destroy the lives of a third of our 1.5 million residents, making San Antonio one of the top economically segregated cities in the nation,” Sanchez said.
She also asked how SAISD would secure a guarantee for affordable housing.
SAISD Attorney Pablo Escamilla later said the City of San Antonio and Bexar County could amend their MOUs with the owners of the Missions team. “And we don’t make a transfer of title until we have some legally binding guarantee that those replacements are going to occur,” Escamilla said.
SAISD Deputy Superintendent Patti Salzmann said the district hopes the City of San Antonio will work with them to negotiate the terms for affordable housing, and Board President Christina Martinez said SAISD hopes Bexar County will take the lead in negotiating the overall terms of the land sale.
Bexar County would build the new parking garage, however, Escamilla said Weston Urban and the Mission team would be responsible for paying SAISD $400,000 a year until Bexar County pays off the bond for the parking garage and transfers ownership to the school district.
“We're looking to the developer and the team for that payment,” Escamilla said.
SAISD real estate expert Kamal ElHabr said district staff came up with the $400,000 amount because that is what they estimate SAISD could make in interest if they sold the Camaron Street property and invested the money.
“We basically would be going from a property that we own, to a property that we don't own, and so that's where we came up with. Well, if we sold it and put the money in the bank, we can make about $400,000 a year until we own the other garage,” ElHabr said.
Escamilla said the district’s request for funding for a new school would have to be approved by the parties involved with the tax zone, since that would be the source of funding for the school. District officials are also hoping that the tax zone, called a TIRZ, could fund affordable housing.
SAISD leaders said Bexar County Judge Peter Sakai was the only party who has reached out since the school district published its counteroffer last week.
Correction: A previous version of this story misstated Weston Urban's financial relationship with Robert E. Lee Apartments. It has made an offer to buy the apartments.
