By Tim Harris, vice president of multifamily development, Rosewood Property Co. San Antonio’s multifamily market is realizing its own potential. New nodes of development are emerging, and new projects are meeting pent-up demand for higher-quality renter experiences. Today, developers are building multifamily projects that they wouldn’t have considered five or 10 years ago. They’re no longer stuck in their comfort zones, afraid to venture into new submarkets. And they’re no longer worried that they won’t be rewarded with the rents necessary to provide differentiated properties with unit diversification, higher-end finishes and increased amenities. History, Affordability Historically, many institutional investors and national developers have overlooked San Antonio. Bigger and trendier Texas cities — Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston — have always overshadowed the Alamo City. That wasn’t always the case, though. In 1860, San Antonio was the largest city in the Lone Star State. It thrived as a center for the cattle industry until the 1930s, when its population fell behind that of Houston and Dallas, mostly because of the booming oil industry. Today, San Antonio’s metro area is the 25th-largest in the country with 2.6 million residents, according to Oxford Economics. Hispanics represent 55.1 percent of the population — the …
