City Council on Thursday paved the way for thousands of homes and apartments and commercial development to be built in Southeast Bexar County.
The council approved the annexation of nearly 800 acres of land east of Southeast Loop 410, where developers are preparing a master-planned community they are calling Condalia.
Located between New Sulphur Springs and South W.W. White roads, the privately owned farmland will be developed in a partnership made up of the owner and VersaTerra Development CEO Paul Basaldua, who called it a legacy project for his company.
The land to be annexed is 794.5 acres of a total 1,854.6 acres owned by R City Developments, a family-owned company from Mexico, which requested the annexation.
The council also voted in favor of establishing the Rosillo Creek Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ) to support infrastructure development and assigning its land use category and zoning as mixed-use.
“If we didn’t have the zoning or the TIRZ created, the project would not look like a master plan community,” Basaldua said. “It would have been more of a hodgepodge of development. But this allows us to really think through the infrastructure and build something that’s well thought out.”
Until now, the land was registered under the state’s agricultural tax exemption rules.
“Today’s approval of the petition-initiated tax increment reinvestment zone (TIRZ) and the full-purpose annexation of the newly created Rosillo Creek TIRZ marks a significant step forward for San Antonio’s historically underserved South and Southeast Side,” said District 3 Councilwoman Phyllis Viagran. “This initiative will not only drive much-needed investment but also address critical infrastructure challenges while leveraging economic tools to foster strategic growth.”
In addition to building 5,329 single-family homes, 67 acres of multi-family units, 170 acres of commercial development, the developer is setting aside 425 acres for light industrial development.
Basaldua described the vision for the community, located in close proximity to the planned Arboretum San Antonio, as something similar to Rogers Ranch on the far North Side or the sprawling Alamo Ranch in far west San Antonio.
It’s a vision the developer and landowner agreed on when they met two years ago, Basaldua said.
“They were thinking about moving forward on either selling the property or being involved in the development and their vision for the property matched mine,” he said. We both wanted to “build a community that has a major positive impact on the surrounding community” by increasing capacity and serving as a catalyst for new infrastructure.
“We wanted to build something that 25 years from now, us and our children could drive through and be very proud of the impact that we’ve had on the community,” he added.
The landowner has agreed to donate almost 50 acres to the San Antonio Housing Trust for an affordable multi-family development within the TIRZ.
The Housing Trust works with the City of San Antonio to identify and acquire land parcels for affordable housing needs, said Pete Alanis, executive director of the San Antonio Housing Trust. Thus, the 50 acres would likely be held in trust for future needs as the city grows. But that deal is still in the works.
“The San Antonio Housing Trust would need to go through a due diligence process and board consideration prior to any land conveyance occurring,” he said.
Viagran said the project “aligns seamlessly with the city’s Strategic Housing Implementation Plan goals” for the district.
The voluntary annexation and TIRZ are occurring at the same time, states city documents, with the “urban mixed-use” and “business/innovation mixed-use” land use designated in the 794.5 annexed acres, and a “mixed-use district” zoning, with a maximum density of 40 dwelling units per acre on the entire 1,854.6 acres.
The annexed area will be incorporated into the SA Tomorrow Southeast Community Area Plan and will receive city services, including solid waste, police and fire services, and other city services already provided to surrounding properties.
Basaldua said the plans for the community include at least one school, and possibly two, built in the community which is located in the East Central Independent School District.
The property has about 80 acres of highway frontage, but also a creek which Basaldua said flows even in the hottest part of the summer.
“We’re actually going to use that as a major amenity for the neighborhood,” he said, adding that they plan to create a linear park with jogging trails that could someday connect to the citywide Howard W. Peak Greenway Trail System.
