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The San Antonio Housing Trust (SAHT) closed on the Robert E. Lee Apartments downtown earlier this week, officially putting the affordable housing apartment tower in public hands and marking a major victory for one of San Antonio’s youngest tenant unions.
Robert E. Lee residents formed the Robert E. Lee Tenants Union last year after they found out local real estate developer Weston Urban — which owns several properties surrounding Robert E. Lee — was interested in purchasing the building.
They organized to find a way to keep their building out of a private portfolio and eventually became partners with the housing trust. They voted to approve of the housing trust putting forward a bid for the building.
The SAHT’s initial bid was $3.75 million, but the final purchase price has not been disclosed.
Megan Navarro is the founder and leader of the tenants union.
“After one year of fighting against displacement and gentrification, we are pleased to announce that through community organizing, unionizing, and class solidarity, we have officially won the right to stay in our homes,” she said in a statement. “It is our hope that our success story will inspire other renters and homeowners to work together with their neighbors to make a stand against the billionaire takeover of San Antonio.”
Navarro added that she and her neighbors would continue advocating for other working-class residents in the downtown area being pushed out by major developments like the Missions baseball stadium and Project Marvel and reasserting that "housing has to be and will be a human right in San Antonio."
In a statement, SAHT Executive Director Pete Alanis said he was now looking forward to funding mechanisms to fix up the century-old property.
“Our goal was to protect current residents and secure long-term affordable housing in a prime downtown location,” he said. “We look forward to ramping up for a 2026 housing tax credit process to fully rehabilitate the property.”
The building’s previous affordability restriction was set to expire at the end of 2027, allowing whoever owned the property at that time to increase rents.
The SAHT has now extended the affordability land use restriction by another 40 years, assuring affordable rents downtown for another generation of residents.
