SAN ANTONIO – The oldest and largest public housing project in San Antonio will soon be redesigned, with the Aalzan-Apache Courts master plan set to be finalized in February 2023.
Construction is set for August, according to officials with design firm Able City.
The company is tasked with preserving history and making improvements to outdated units. To try and accomplish this, Able City has had numerous community events to get input and feedback on design options.
Paola Fernandez, project manager for Able City, said they now feel like they have community consensus to move forward. In October, they showed four designs to residents, which have now been reduced to one.
“Maintaining the streets (view) was one of the decisions that residents chose, so the new building within the Alazan Courts will go behind the existing buildings. It’ll be three stories, but it’s far enough behind where you can’t see the difference in height from the street view,” Fernandez said.
The hope is to keep the housing projects’ historic look intact as much as possible while giving residents a better place to live. Fernandez said the goal was to preserve the existing 501 units.
Due to some units falling in a flood plain, those will have to be demolished. But Fernandez said they were able to add those units back and include more with new construction.
The courts will have a total of 556 units — 468 will be at Alazan, and 88 will be at Apache.
Older units will also get a facelift to meet Opportunity Home San Antonio standards. Design teams plan on making most units about 25% bigger throughout the renovation process. They also want to include insulation, updated air conditioning and new windows.
The total cost of the project is still pending. Although, Able City has already secured $8 million through a housing bond to start construction.
“What is already ongoing is the 88 units at the Apache fields — we actually will start the community meetings for that next week,” said Fernandez.
Construction will be in phases to avoid displacing residents.
Current residents may need to move to different units in the courts throughout the duration of the project. However, Able City wants to avoid having people move out of the area during construction.
For more information on the Reimagine Alazan project, call 210-390-6212, email reimaginealazan@able.city, or visit reimaginealazan.org.
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