Goodwill San Antonio buys downtown building to expand training

A mostly vacant downtown building is getting new life as a major nonprofit expands training for jobs ranging from truck driving and nursing to a future program in advanced manufacturing for some of the city's largest employers.

Goodwill San Antonio purchased Rosa Verde Towers , a former medical office building at 343 W. Houston St., after considering multiple sites in and around the city center where it already owns other real estate, said President and CEO Carlos Contreras.

"Goodwill coming in is going to be able to really make an investment not only in expanding workforce training, but make an investment in the heart of downtown and activate a building that otherwise could have been sitting vacant for quite some time," he said.

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The 141,000-square-foot Rosa Verde Towers building across from the Christus Children's hospital is mostly empty. It's a block from Goodwill's offices, store and training facility — at 7,000 square feet the organization's biggest such operation — at South Santa Rosa Avenue and West Commerce Street.

It's accessible via public transportation, which Contreras said is a crucial factor for those attending Goodwill training programs.

The building, which it acquired from a company affiliated with Harrison Street and Ackerman & Co., will allow Goodwill to vastly increase its training programs.

"What limits our ability to scale is the footprint of our facilities," Contreras said.

Aside from the building's size and location, the price was also appealing. Goodwill bought Rosa Verde Towers for a "very affordable price" of less than $40 a square foot, he said.

Retrofitting a building rather than erecting a new structure is also in line with Goodwill's environmental approach, reflected in its resale of clothing, tools and other items that come into its stores.

Goodwill already provides training for new commercial truck drivers, pharmacy technicians, medical and nursing assistants and logistics, warehousing and construction workers. It also hosts job fairs with local employers.

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Rosa Verde Towers will be used for Goodwill's nursing training, administrative offices and an advanced manufacturing program the organization plans to launch to help meet demand for employees at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Texas Inc., Navistar International Corp., JCB and other companies with plants in the area, Contreras said.

"We've seen a steady increase not only in the participants who are looking to receive training, but also the people who are looking to try to find work," Contreras added.

The cost of renovating the building has yet to be determined and the nonprofit will probably roll out a campaign to raise money for it, he said. The work would be done in phases, so it's unclear how soon Goodwill could move in.

The nonprofit's acquisition comes as many organizations and businesses are reducing space or leaving downtown for other parts of the city amid the shift to remote work and a desire for new buildings with more amenities. The vacancy rate in office buildings in the central business district is 24.3%, higher than the 16.6% rate in the suburbs and near Pearl, according to commercial real estate firm Partners.

Contreras said he's bullish on downtown.

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He cited local developer Weston Urban's plan to build apartments, including some that will be set aside for residents making less than the area median income, near Goodwill's Commerce Street operations.

The firm is building more than 300 apartments on a block bounded by Commerce, Dolorosa and Laredo streets and San Pedro Creek through a partnership with the Bexar County Public Facility Corp. The county nonprofit's involvement provides a full property tax exemption in exchange for renting at least half of the apartments to people earning less than the area's median income level.

Contreras also pointed to the University of Texas at San Antonio's efforts to draw more students to the area.

The university has more than doubled its real estate holdings in the city center over the past five years, including constructing a pair of buildings for the School of Data Science, National Security Collaboration Center and technology and science programs and research. It is seeking to buy One Riverwalk Place, a nearly 265,000-square-foot office building.