A new 308-unit affordable apartment complex is now open beside Pearsall Park, dropping a sizable chunk of income-restricted housing into San Antonio’s South Side. Lincoln Avenue Capital cut the ribbon on Leon Creek Flats last Wednesday, a four-story project aimed at several low-income brackets. City officials praised the building’s finishes and its front-row seat to green space, while tenant advocates reminded everyone that for many residents, even “affordable” still is not cheap enough. The complex is one piece of a broader wave of bond-backed housing rising across the South Side.
Who the apartments are for
Leon Creek Flats is entirely income-restricted, with 308 apartments in total. According to the San Antonio Housing Trust, 47 of those units are set aside for households earning at or below 30% of the Area Median Income (AMI). The remaining 261 apartments are reserved for households earning up to 60% AMI. The complex sits on about 10.6 acres near Ray Ellison and Old Pearsall Road and offers one- to three-bedroom floor plans geared toward families and older adults.
How it was financed
Reporting by the San Antonio Report puts the project’s total development cost at roughly $64.9 million and notes that the financing relies on federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credits. Developer materials also cite about $2.5 million in soft-loan support from the city’s 2022 Affordable Housing Bond, according to a Lincoln Avenue press release published via PR Newswire. For a family of three, the AMI thresholds used for the property are $26,650 at the 30% level and $52,200 at the 60% level, the local outlet reports.
Leasing and local reaction
Lincoln Avenue representatives told reporters that leasing is moving quickly. The deeply affordable 30%-AMI units were snapped up early, while the 60%-AMI apartments were about half leased, according to the San Antonio Report. Kayla Miranda, director of the Coalition for Tenant Justice, told the same outlet she is “concerned that units for higher AMIs aren’t meeting San Antonio’s affordable housing needs,” pointing out that the median household income in the 78242 ZIP code is about $50,644. Pete Alanis, executive director of the San Antonio Housing Trust, acknowledged the strain on residents at the very bottom of the income scale, writing in an email that “it is harder for many of our lowest-income folks in any ZIP code” to afford even LIHTC rents.
What’s next for the neighborhood
Leon Creek Flats is not a one-off. Lincoln Avenue Capital is also developing the senior-focused Residences at Pearsall Park next door, along with additional family and senior communities at Brooks, according to the San Antonio Housing Trust. City leaders say many bond-funded developments landed on the South Side because they checked key boxes like access to jobs, transit and parkland.
The opening at Pearsall Park delivers dozens of new income-restricted homes to a long under-served area. At the same time, the rollout highlights a familiar tension in housing policy: whether AMI-based programs, even when they bring hundreds of units online at once, truly reach the lowest-income households who need help the most.
