Mission Statement

 San Antonio has an incredible history that dates back to the early 1700s.  The Lavaca neighborhood was a part of that beginning!  

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After the end of the Spanish Mission period, the Germans came to San Antonio to create a “German Reign” in the new world by building their homes in the King William area. Those who worked for these folks created their own neighborhood nearby which they named “Lavaca”.  

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Our little corner of Lavaca was taken over by the city in the 1940s to establish a neighborhood of 660 single family apartments to house lower income families. It bordered on the south side of Cezar Chavez on the north, to Leigh Street on the south and Labor/I37 on the west and east.  This community was called “Victoria Courts” which poised a damper on new development for the city for many years.  After numerous attempts to upgrade these units, the entire neighborhood was demolished in the 1990s. 

​SAHA (San Antonio Housing Authority) took over the area in the early 2000s with a plan to build apartments and single-family townhomes that would be sold or rented to a mix of market and low-income individuals.  The new project – called Victoria Commons – started with the Refugio Place Apartments on the corner of Labor and Refugio Street. The second phase was 120 townhomes of 2 and 3-bedroom single family units from Refugio to Leigh Street.  A small number of these units were to be held for purchase (at a reduced price) to low-income families.

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The pilot project of this second phase built three (3) buildings of 22 single family units called Artisan Park Townhomes.  Sixteen (16) were to be sold at “market” price and six (6) reserved for low-income families to purchase.  Of the six, only 4 were ever sold and 3 ended up in foreclosure within the first 18 months (non-payment of mortgage, utilities and assessments – leaving out the back alley late at night).  

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     The housing market crash killed the remainder of the project.  In the summer of 2015, SAHA placed the last two reserved units on the market and turned over the HOA to the Artisan Park Townhome owners!  We have been self-managed ever since! {Interested in the detailed history – go to: Colfg.utsa.edu}