S.A. to raise $158M via reinvestment zone extension

San Antonio is extending its Inner City Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone for 10 years.

The City Council voted to extend the TIRZ past its previous Sept. 30, 2025 expiration date, the San Antonio Business Journal reported. Established in 2000, the TIRZ has collected about $59 million and is expected to collect an additional $28 million before its previous expiration.

These zones use an area’s future tax growth to fund developments or community improvement projects. The 10-year extension for the San Antonio TIRZ is expected to collect an additional $158 million.

The Inner City TIRZ covers 2.5 square miles. Its board is recommending future funds go to projects including the Hays Street Bridge, Blue Star Contemporary Art Museum and La Villita.

Previous funds from the Inner City TIRZ have gone to Alamo City Studios for a youth content creator program, a feasibility study for senior affordable housing, the Greyson Heights apartment project in Government Hill, and the Cruising Kitchen food truck on Nolan Street.

The City Council also recently approved a grant of $8.5 million for the Texas Research and Technology Foundation to expand the 12-acre hub for life sciences companies and researchers that it’s developing along Cherry Street, between Center and Houston streets. The group has already invested about $60 million into converting the Merchants Ice complex into a 140,000-square-foot lab and office compound for bioscience tenants. The more than $800 million expansion will include 680,000 square feet of office, lab, retail and commercial space for the lot at 321 Center Street. The $8.5 million granted by the city will help cover the approximately $7 million worth of infrastructure improvements needed for the complex.

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SA grants $8.5M for life sciences nonprofit to create more labs

— Victoria Pruitt