San Antonio’s East Side is on track to get a major new neighbor, after Opportunity Home’s board voted unanimously Monday to move ahead with financing and operations for Central at Commerce, a 279-unit mixed-income apartment project. The seven-story, roughly $91 million development is a joint venture with Indiana-based The Annex Group and is slated to break ground in February 2026. Plans call for one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments, with a substantial share reserved for households earning between 30 and 70 percent of the area median income.
As reported by the San Antonio Business Journal, the board’s vote authorizes staff to negotiate final financing and operational terms so the team can chase tax credits and other gap funding. The decision also locks in Opportunity Home’s role as a general partner on the deal while its private partner continues to fine-tune construction and leasing plans.
The development already cleared a key design checkpoint when the Historic and Design Review Commission signed off in October on detailed plans for the nearly one-acre site at 1231 E. Commerce St., according to KSAT. Public filings and renderings from design firm Evolve Architects highlight brick facades, large street-facing windows and a scale meant to mesh with the edge of the downtown skyline.
Financing and unit mix
Developers are pursuing 4% low-income housing tax credits and have applied for roughly $41 million in credits over ten years, and the project is also lined up for $6 million in gap funding from the city’s 2022 affordable-housing bond, The Real Deal reports. The current plan would reserve about half the building at 70% AMI or below, with a portion set aside at deeper affordability levels to reach very low-income households.
“One of our competitive niches as a company has really been doing urban infill affordable housing,” Annex Group senior vice president Ryan Clark told the Houston Chronicle, adding that gap funding was crucial to making the downtown site pencil out. Renderings submitted with the application show activated ground-floor space, a courtyard, a pool and other amenities for residents.
Opportunity Home, the rebranded San Antonio housing authority, has been stepping into more direct development roles as the city confronts a widening affordable-housing shortfall, a shift tracked by the San Antonio Report. City bond dollars and public-private partnerships have become central tools for closing financing gaps caused by rising land values and construction costs.
What’s next: the partners will hammer out final terms and wait on state tax-credit decisions; if financing comes together, the team plans to break ground in February 2026, with first move-ins expected in late 2027, according to the San Antonio Express-News. For the East Side, Central at Commerce would be a rare case of downtown-adjacent affordable infill, bringing hundreds of new residents and construction jobs to the neighborhood.
