200 houses are mapped for South Side

This is a rendition of what the Verano, a commercial, residential and industrial master planned community will look like. This is a rendition of what the Verano, a commercial, residential and industrial master planned community will look like. Photo: Courtesy Illustration Photo: Courtesy Illustration Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close 200 houses are mapped for South Side 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

In the grand scheme of things, it's not much. But it's a start.

Development firm Verano Land Group is set to build 200 single-family homes on its 2,500-acre master-planned site that encompasses the Texas A&M University-San Antonio campus on the South Side.

It's the first phase of a plan to build more than 2,000 single-family homes there over the next decade, said Brooke Rogers, vice president of business development for the firm.

The one- and two-story houses will range from 1,400 square feet to more than 2,000 square feet. The developer will market about 10 floor plans for homes with between two and four bedrooms. Amenities include front porches, garages with rear access and a clubhouse with pool.

Homes will cost $150,000 to $225,000.

Construction hasn't started, but the first homes could come online by December.

“We feel that there's a huge pent-up demand for housing on the South Side,” Rogers said. “And we want to meet the needs of the market in every way that we can.”

She added that growth for the university and the Eagle Ford Shale will be key components to increasing demand for housing in the area.

The development firm plans to announce other projects later this year, but Rogers declined to provide details.

The grander vision for Verano is to create a mix of residential and commercial space, essentially anchored by the university.

A group of investors from Las Vegas acquired the site in 2005 for about $65 million.

The residential component of Verano's plan includes more than 4,000 apartments and condo units. The commercial portion calls for more than 1 million square feet each of office and retail space and more than 3 million square feet of industrial space.

The firm recently sued three former partners — who managed the project in San Antonio — and a law firm.

The suit alleges the onetime partners donated more land to Texas A&M for a campus — 694 acres, valued at $25 million — than the 400-acre maximum the majority partners said they'd agreed to.

Also, the former managers are accused of setting up a separate entity that stood to receive an infusion of public money for the reimbursement of development costs because the property lies in a tax increment reinvestment zone, according to previous San Antonio Express-News reports.

Rogers declined to comment on the suit, but said the dispute would have no impact on the development plans.

Currently, the university has a single 90,000-square-foot building on campus and two main roads, University Way and Verano Parkway.

A&M has started construction of the four-story Central Academic building, which will include a 400-seat auditorium, and the two-story Patriots' Casa, a facility that will offer support services and counseling and computer labs, said Marilu Reyna, associate vice president of university communications.

Still, demand for single-family housing on the South Side hasn't grown much over the past few years. In 2012, there were 164 housing starts in that area. That accounted for a 2 percent share of the overall San Antonio market, a figure that hasn't changed much since 2008, said Jack Inselmann, a vice president at housing research firm Metrostudy.

“There's interest there, but it's limited,” he said.

vlucio@express-news.net