Members of the Soap Factory’s tenants union discuss their relocation options in an open area at the downtown apartment complex. Credit: Michael Karlis

Tenants at the Soap Factory Apartments, scheduled for demolition as part of city-approved plans for a new minor league baseball stadium, said the complex’s owner isn’t living up to promises made to help them relocate.

Residents said promises that development firm Weston Urban made to San Antonio City Council to help soften the blow for tenants were misrepresented — primarily the conditions they must meet to collect a $2,500 move-out stipend.

They also question how much nonprofit Building Brighter Communities actually can assist them with relocations and whether the city’s housing authority can make good on a pledge to find them other downtown-area dwelling options.

“It’s a way for them to get rid of the problem — which is us — and do the least amount possible,” Soap Factory tenant Sarah said of the promises Weston Urban made to council to get its approval for the sports development. “It’s very insulting, in my opinion, because this is where we live. It’s our whole lives.”

Sarah declined to give her last name out of fear of retaliation.

Weston Urban officials didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment for this story.

Soap Factory tenants, some of whom are formerly homeless, said they worry they’re about to be put on the streets to make way for the new $160 million stadium being built to house the San Antonio Missions.

The apartments — one of the few affordable complexes located in the center city — scheduled to be demolished in two phases over the next five years to make way for a hotel, luxury apartments and commercial space surrounding the ballpark.

Opportunity Home

At a Sept. 12 council meeting to discuss the stadium’s development, Assistant City Manager Lori Houston told those on the dais that Soap Factory tenants affected by the first phase of demolition plans would be able to relocate to Opportunity Home complexes. Those include the city housing authority’s Refugio, Hemisview and 100 Labor communities.

Those specific Opportunity Home properties are important because they’re located downtown. Many of the Soap Factory tenants either work downtown in San Antonio’s service and tourism industry or don’t own cars and rely on public transit to get around.

“Their application and deposit fees will be waived, and the first month’s rent will be free,” Houston said last month. “There are income-restricted units. There are some small public housing units, there are 50% AMI units, and then there are 60% and 80% AMI units as well, along with some market rate.”

Weston Urban co-founder and CEO Randy Smith said during the meeting that the average tenant income at Soap Factory is under $40,000 — less than the San Antonio median income.

Tenant Arturo Villarreal said he and many other Soap Factory residents were counting on getting spots in Opportunity Home’s subsidized downtown complexes.

However, Villarreal said that when he asked a worker from Building Brighter Communities — the nonprofit with which Weston Urban reached a five-year contrect to help with tenant relocation — he was told no such offer existed.

“About a month ago, [Opportunity Home] told us that there were 380 housing units available,” Villarreal said. “But, when I spoke to Building Brighter Communities, not all of the available units are downtown, and the properties that are downtown are not available. They already tricked us there.”

Indeed, in a statement Opportunity Home provided to the Current, Jose Garza — a communication specialist for the housing authority — said the units available downtown aren’t subsidized.

“The units with subsidies are located in other areas of the city,” said Garza, who added that Opportunity Home has been “clear and transparent” about the process.

Money and maintenance requests

The proposal council approved last month also would include a $500,000 fund to pay out the resident stipends with the cost split between the city and Weston Urban. During a presentation to City Council, Weston Urban officials said the only caveat was that the stipend would only apply to tenants who signed leases before Oct.1.

Meanwhile, the city stipulates that tenants must earn 80% or less of the area median income to receive funds and must have lived in a Soap Factory unit for at least one year prior to Oct. 1, according to the presentation given by Houston to council.

Additionally, the money will only be disbursed by those effected by the phase 1 after they move off property, which presents problems of its own, tenants told the Current.

However, a handout Weston Urban distributed to tenants at some time following the Sept. 12 meeting outlined additional conditions that applied to the $2,500 stipend. Those were not communicated to members of council during the presentation. 

According to Weston Urban’s new stipulations, Soap Factory residents must be fully caught up on rent and their apartments must pass inspection before they can collect the money, according to a document Weston Urban handed out to residents following the Sept. 12 meeting.

Tenants said they’re worried about their units being able to pass inspection, maintaining that Weston Urban stopped conducting routine maintenance on the property after the developer purchased it in August 2023 via a partnership called I Cannot Lye, LP. The “Lye” part of the name appears to refer to a chemical commonly used in soap production.

“They could find something in your apartment and be like, ‘Oh, that’s going to cost $500 to fix, that’s going to cost another $200 to fix, that’s going to cost $100 to fix,’” tenant Villarreal said. “They’re going to start pointing out the little things that need to be fixed.”

Villarreal added that his sliding door has been broken since March, but maintenance has yet to repair it.

Villarreal also said the requirement that residents move out before they can collect their stipend is unfair. After first hearing of the offer, he and others planned to use the $2,500 as deposits on new apartments. With that money no longer available before leaving the Soap Factory, some tenants worry they may end up homeless.

“I may have to live in my car for a couple months to afford a new place,” resident Cesar Alejandro Fresnillo said.

For those Soap Factory tenants who want to extend their lease while they look for a new place, Weston Urban is only offering month-to-month options, which now start at $1,400, Villarreal said.

Soap Factory tenant James Boscher said it’s clear to him why Weston Urban isn’t keeping up with maintenance on the complex. He recalled a meeting between Weston Urban CEO Smith, city council members and tenants, during which residents were told meetings between the developer and city officials had been taking place for months before the ballpark plan was publicly unveiled in August.

“They knew what was going to happen, and Weston Urban knew,” Boscher said. “And yet, they’re still scrambling as to what’s going to happen to us.”

Indeed, Smith made his plans for a downtown stadium clear as early as a November 2022 interview with Texas Monthly.

“If there’s good, clean family entertainment that brings thousands of people downtown every year, night after night, we don’t care if it’s Tiddlywinks or kickball — that’s good for San Antonio,” Smith told the magazine.

Building Brighter Communities, the nonprofit contracted to help tenants relocate, appears to be headquartered in apartment at the complex. Credit: Michael Karlis

Building Brighter Communities

With regard to potential miscommunication about what kind of units are available to Soap Factory tenants, Opportunity Home’s Garza suggested the Current reach out to Building Brighter Communities.

“It should be noted that Opportunity Home is not affiliated with Weston Urban, who hired Building Brighter Communities to undertake this process,” Garza said.

But getting in touch with Building Brighter Communities proved more difficult than one might expect.

According to IRS records, Building Brighter Communities was founded by Baltimore transplant and University of Texas at San Antonio grad Brandon Johnson in December 2021.

However, the organization hasn’t received much media coverage since a couple pieces by San Antonio news TV station KABB three years ago. When those stories ran, Building Brighter Communities wasn’t yet listed as a non-profit with the IRS.

What’s more, Building Brighter Communities isn’t included in the IRS’s most recent list of tax-exempt organizations.

Building Brighter Communities’ website has no contact information, and lists “William Wright,” whose headshot appears to be a stock photo with a bio written in Latin, as the organization’s director. There are plenty of “Donate Now” buttons on the site, however.

The group’s Facebook page is similarly sparse on information. The organization hasn’t made a post since Jan. 13, and the phone number listed on its page is disconnected.

Building Brighter Communities’ apparent base of operations is an apartment inside the Soap Factory complex. When the Current visited the apartment, Vice President Jackie Rita said the group is working to ensure tenants get their promised relocation funds.

“They just want people to come and sign up and get their money,” said Rita, who declined to give her last name but whom the Current was later able to identify via news reports.

Rita wouldn’t elaborate on who she meant by “they.” However, she denied that Weston Urban had any hand in the organization besides contracting to help people at Soap Factory relocate.

When asked about the miscommunication with Opportunity Home about vacancies at the housing authority’s downtown properties, Rita said Building Brighter Communities never made promises about those accommodations. She directed the Current’s questions back to Opportunity Home.

Building Brighter Communities CEO Johnson eventually provided an emailed statement about the services the organization is providing to tenants.

“We recognize that every resident has unique circumstances, and each relocation process will be distinct,” Johnson said. “The Building Brighter Communities team will work with residents who choose to engage with our services to identify housing options and resources available to them to utilize for their relocation process.”

However, Soap Factory tenant Fresnillo said he and others in the complex don’t trust Building Brighter Communities. He worries that he may never see the $2,500 Weston Urban pledged to distribute to each Soap Factory tenant to defray relocation costs.

“We had a meeting, and we voiced our concerns to Weston Urban about working with Building Better Communities, because we knew they were going to find loopholes to end up not giving us any money,” Fresnillo said.

San Antonio City Manager Erik Walsh didn’t respond to the Current’s questions about the extent to which the city did due diligence on Building Brighter Communities prior to council’s Sept. 12 vote to approve the ballpark project and Soap Factory’s eventual demolition.

“At the end of the day, this proposal is strong,” Mayor Ron Nirenberg said on Sept. 12 of Weston Urban’s relocation offer to Soap Factory tenants. “It’s sound. It is one that we stand by with respect to making sure our residents are taken care of in the process.”

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This article appears in Oct 16-29, 2024.

Michael Karlis is a multimedia journalist at the San Antonio Current, whose coverage in print and on social media focuses on local and state politics. He is a graduate of American University in Washington,...