Epic tax breaks pitched for Tower Life resi conversion

A major resi conversion is underway in the Alamo city, in light of an epic tax break.

Plans to turn the historic Tower Life office building, at 310 South St. Mary’s Street in San Antonio, into about 230 residential units with ground-floor retail, has been put forward by a group of South Texas developers, who bought the 30-story tower in May, the San Antonio Express-News reports.

The development partners — San Antonio’s McCombs family, Jon Wiegand of Alamo Capital Advisers, and Ed Cross, the CEO and founder of San Antonio Commercial Advisors — could enter an agreement that would exempt the tower from property taxes for 75 years, in exchange for reserving 115 units for residents making less than the area median income.

The Bexar County Public Facility Corporation would buy the land and lease it to the developers for 75 years, exempting it from city and county property taxes, under the agreement.

In exchange, 40 percent of the apartments would be reserved for those making no more than 80 percent of the area median income ($46,450 annually for one person, $53,050 for a couple and $66,300 for a family of four, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development). And 10 percent of units would be reserved for those earning up to 60 percent AMI ($34,860 for one person, $39,840 for a couple and $49,740 for a family of four).

San Antonio housing advocates have argued that 80% AMI should not be considered “affordable.”

That includes Bexar County Commissioner Tommy Calver.

“But there is a missing middle, and you definitely want to support the middle class,” Calver said during a public meeting in
November.

Calvert said he pressed the developers to offer more units for residents making up to 60 percent AMI, but with rising interest rates and construction costs, they said it was not financially viable.

Originally the Smith-Young Tower, it first opened in the 1920s, on the eve of the Great Depression. The late Gothic Revival structure has been through several conversions in its lifetime. It became the Transit Tower in the 1940s. It was a local outlet of Hilton Hotels in 1956. And it was even converted into the Granada Apartments in 1966. It remained the tallest structure in San Antonio until 1968, when it was surpassed by the Tower of the Americas. Its last renovation was completed in 2010. At the time, it was 60 percent occupied. Now, it’s barely 40 percent leased. Until this year, the building had not changed hands in 70 years.

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