As the Brooks Development Authority starts setting its sights on projects outside of its official boundaries, a mixed-use project at a nearby major intersection is starting to take shape.
The group in charge of the former Brooks Air Force Base is teaming up with Cleveland-based NRP Group on a market-rate apartment project southeast of its acreage. Known as “Project Yeager,” the apartments and commercial buildings are slated to rise on the northwest side of the Loop 410 and Interstate 37 interchange. The total project is expected to cost about $78.2 million and add approximately 350 apartment units to the area.
After buying the 23.93-acre vacant property, Brooks will lease 13.93 acres to the developer for the apartments in a 75-year deal. The developer will pay $75,000 in rent the first year, with a 3% yearly increase, according to a November presentation shown to the Brooks board of directors.
Brooks Chief Strategy Officer Connie Gonzalez told the Business Journal that this area of the city still has a gap in market-rate housing.
“We knew, as far as providing a variety of housing and providing quality, market-rate was actually missing from this corner of San Antonio,” she said. “We think that there is the opportunity still to provide market-rate as we attract a lot of these high-paying jobs.”
While the developer is working on the apartment side, Brooks will be in charge of fleshing out the commercial and retail center on the southern edge of the land. Gonzalez said the team will draw on community feedback from the Brookside neighborhood to determine who ends up occupying those buildings.
“I’m going to take their feedback into account as we try to explore and find who may be those future tenants,” she said. “We know some of the needs that are still missing. … So it’s still to be determined. It’s still very new. We have the opportunity to be flexible on what goes on that 10 acres of commercial development.”
She cited early childhood day care and dry cleaning as two services lacking in the area.
Brooks’ board of directors recently authorized President and CEO Leo Gomez to negotiate the sale and lease.
Los Angeles-based Lincoln Avenue Capital is in the early stages of developing two affordable projects on the Brooks grounds, and Gonzalez indicated that talks are taking place on similar projects yet to be announced. She said expanding single-family home offerings is also on their radar.
The NRP Group plans to purchase the land in summer 2024, close on the financing that December and finish building the apartments in June 2027.
Article originally published here: NRP Group partners with Brooks on $78M apartment, commercial project