San Antonio Battles it Out for Sites
Multifamily development is hot in San Antonio, too, according to experts at Bisnow’s recent San Antonio Multifamily Summit. LYND CEO Mike Lynd says development is the easy investment decision now, but it's harder to put into practice—“it’s a knife fight out there for sites.” (And your parents told you to stay in school and get a good job to avoid trouble.) With land prices skyrocketing, he says it’s important to pick an area where income supports higher rents. He’s working on a few locations in San Antonio now and hopes to kick off a few developments here soon.
USAA Real Estate managing director of multifamily development Hailey Ghalib, an avid ping-pong player, says she’s watching for challenges on a submarket-by-submarket basis. (They're like snowflakes: Each one is different and kids love them.) This year, she’s well capitalized and still investing in her build-to-core program (which includes holding the property long term) in areas with high barrier to entry. She targets over 7% stabilized yield with USAA Real Estate’s very conservative underwriting when she considers development.
Our moderator, IPA Austin/San Antonio director Scott “The Mountain” Lamontagne, says San Antonio has 32 projects underway (including student housing and affordable housing), giving it the healthiest ratio of deliveries to existing supply in Texas. He says this delivery pipeline will lead to core product selling again around the end of the year.
We snapped our sponsor Catamount Constructors’ Rebecca Mansfield, JR Jones, and Scott Reynolds. The firm is breaking ground soon on its second project with 210 Development, Villa Espada. It’s a 240-unit, 11-building apartment complex on the south side of San Antonio. Catamount is also building the Peanut Factory Lofts for 210 Development, the first major development on the west side of San Antonio that’s part of the mayor’s 2020 Vision. The abandoned peanut factory Downtown will be transformed into a 102-unit complex including 15 townhomes and eight student housing micro-units.
CARES by Apartment Life’s Mark Moreno and Shon Comparin were busy at their booth, and they’d keep your apartment complex hopping, too. The firm is redefining the resident experience (boosting retention by welcoming new residents and hosting events) in the 147,000 units it serves nationwide, including more than 100 communities in South Texas. It plans to double the number of properties it serves in San Antonio this year.
We've got yet more coverage of our developer speakers coming up in our next issue. Stay tuned!
