Tenants at the Robert E. Lee earn 60% or less of the area’s median income, making it one of downtown’s few low-income apartment buildings.
Tenants at the Robert E. Lee earn 60% or less of the area’s median income, making it one of downtown’s few low-income apartment buildings. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

The San Antonio Housing Trust has officially entered a $3.2 million bid for downtown’s low-income Robert E. Lee apartments, according to Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs records.

The bid, quietly filed last week, comes after San Antonio developer Weston Urban expressed interest in purchasing the historic 72-unit building. That news stoked tenant fears that the real-estate firm might throw them out or drastically increase rents.

The Robert E. Lee’s current owners, RELEE Partners LP, sent a letter to residents last August letting them know Weston Urban floated a $2.65 million offer for the building. Even so, Texas Department of Housing officials told the Current via email that, as of March 6, the developer hadn’t filed a formal bid.

The City of San Antonio established the nonprofit San Antonio Housing Trust to create and preserve affordable housing for low-income residents. The Robert E. Lee is classified as low-income housing, since its tenants earn less than 60% of the area median income.

“Our intention would be to ensure permanent affordability of the [Robert E. Lee],” San Antonio Housing Trust Executive Director Pedro Alanis told the Express-News earlier this month. “We want to ensure that residents have an opportunity to continue living downtown. Our intention is that they will not be displaced.”

Tenants at the Robert E. Lee began organizing late last year after hearing that Weston Urban was interested in taking over the 10-story structure.

The urgency increased after members of the building’s tenants union witnessed the displacement of residents at the nearby Soap Factory Apartments, owned by Weston Urban. The developer plans to demolish that low-income complex to make way for luxury condominiums.

“It’s a competitive offer,” Robert E. Lee Tenants Union founder Megan Navarro told the Current of the Housing Trust bid. “It’s more than Weston Urban is offering, and it’s a pretty good closing deal. So, we’ve just got to see if the owner will take it.”

Other interested parties, including Weston Urban, still have until May 15 to place a counteroffer to buy the Robert E. Lee.

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This article appears in Mar 5-18, 2025.

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,...