A vacant 11-story medical office tower on San Antonio's West Houston Street is being reborn as a $60 million job-training headquarters, and construction crews have already framed and sheetrocked the first three levels. Goodwill San Antonio bought the former Rosa Verde Tower and its parking garage from Christus Santa Rosa in 2024, and the nonprofit says the finished Opportunity Center will boost its job-skills training and placement capacity by about 700%.
The purchase and renovation were first detailed by San Antonio Report, which reported that crews have completed asbestos abatement, dismantled existing interior walls, and installed a new HVAC system inside the 154,000-square-foot building at 343 W. Houston St. Goodwill San Antonio plans to move its headquarters and training operations into the tower next year, replacing a current downtown training center that is nearly 20 times smaller at just 7,800 square feet. The nonprofit acquired the mostly vacant tower for less than $40 per square foot from an affiliate of Harrison Street and Ackerman & Co., according to The Real Deal, a discount that helped shape the financial strategy behind the broader redevelopment.
What the New Building Will Hold
Once complete, the Opportunity Center will include a new Houston Street entrance, a corner café, and a three-level staircase, along with classrooms, meeting rooms, break areas, and office space, per the San Antonio Report account. The building will also house outside nonprofits offering disability support, vocational rehabilitation, financial empowerment, and mental health services. RVK is serving as project architect, Skanska is the contractor, and Project Control of San Antonio is managing the build, the outlet reported.
Goodwill San Antonio says it is funding the project through its own resources as part of its third capital campaign. The organization, founded in 1945, already trains nearly 1,500 people annually across training centers and academies spanning a 24-county region, offering instruction in medical assisting, nursing assistance, pharmacy technology, manufacturing, and construction trades. It reports a waiting list for most of its medical and health care programs, and the new facility could allow it to launch up to four additional training pathways, including programs it's considering in dental assisting and HVAC repair.
A City Contract Ties Into the Expansion
The buildout comes as Goodwill San Antonio serves as a prime contractor under the city's SA Ready to Work program. The city selected the organization in November 2025 as a prime partner under a four-year contract to train 1,800 participants in healthcare, construction, logistics, and manufacturing, according to Goodwill San Antonio. Goodwill's own programs require no income qualification and are open to anyone seeking career advancement, with schedules built around students' classes and personal obligations.
Citywide, SA Ready to Work has grown into a substantial workforce effort. By May 2026, the municipal program had surpassed 5,000 approved job placements, with participants seeing average salary increases exceeding $33,500 after training, according to the City of San Antonio Workforce Development Office. Eligibility requires adult participants to earn less than 250% of federal poverty guidelines — about $33,975 for an individual — and the program offers wraparound funding for childcare and emergency transportation, according to KSAT.
The Poverty Numbers Behind the Push
The scale of the investment tracks with local need. About 38% of San Antonio adults earn less than 200% of the federal poverty level, according to census data cited in the San Antonio Report's reporting, and more than 15% of the city's adults — roughly 1 in 7 — lack a high school diploma or its equivalent. Goodwill San Antonio has said its mission centers on helping people build skills and remove barriers to employment, aiming to connect trainees with a sustainable wage and, in many cases, offering students jobs directly.
The program's economic case has drawn outside validation. An April 2026 study by economist Steve Nivin projected that SA Ready to Work will generate an $11.8 billion long-term economic impact, including $7.5 billion in worker wage growth and $497 million in social safety net savings, as reported by Texas Public Radio. The initiative is funded by $235.8 million in local sales tax revenue that voters approved in 2020, spending about $7,100 per participant, with training and placements continuing through 2030 even though the tax collections ended this year.
Neighborhood Under Transformation
The Opportunity Center sits on the west side of downtown next to San Pedro Creek Culture Park and the Alameda Theater, placing it in the middle of a rapidly changing corridor. It's near the planned site of a $160 million downtown San Antonio Missions baseball stadium, whose opening was pushed from 2028 to April 2029 due to financing and land delays, according to the San Antonio Report. Surrounding that stadium district, developer Weston Urban is planning a four-phase, $1 billion private development that begins with more than 650 residential units and a 160-room hotel, per the San Antonio Express-News.
The tower's exterior overhaul has drawn some local scrutiny too. San Antonio's Historic and Design Review Commission approved Goodwill's request in October 2025 to replace the building's windows with reflective blue glass, despite driver concerns over glare similar to what's been reported near the Frost Tower, according to MySA. The 1970s-era tower falls within the city's downtown River Improvement Overlay district, which governs exterior changes near the river and creek corridors.
Goodwill San Antonio's broader footprint remains sizable even as it builds toward this new chapter. According to the organization's 2025 Community Impact Report, it repurposed 17.2 million items, operated 26 retail locations, employed 1,760 staff members, and guided 1,531 people through career training or education programs last year. The organization is one of roughly 150 independently operated Goodwill nonprofits across the United States and Canada, and it also accommodates people with disabilities across its programs and workplaces.
-4.webp?w=160&h=400&fit=crop&crop=edges)
