Tax Credit Program Highlight: Maverick Building

History

The Maverick Building, designed by architect Lou Harrington in 1922, is one of San Antonio's original high-rises. The building was one of the many developments promoted by the Maverick Family, a prominent Land Baron family who owned large tracts of land along Houston St. and much of Bexar County. The Maverick Family rose to prominence under Samuel Augustus Maverick; a Texas lawyer, politician, land baron, and signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence. Maverick’s name has also often cited as the source of the term “maverick.” The building was shuttered in 1981, and then was rehabilitated in the 1990s as part of a previous federal tax credit project. This project retained the original corridors and lobby in their historic configuration, but converted the former office spaces into low-income apartments.

Rehabilitation Project

The current project replaced the former low-income apartments, created during the 1995 tax credit project, with more desirable new market-rate apartments. This included all new flooring, kitchens and baths, and new apartment layouts. The work to the building also included general repairs, systems replacement, and upgrades to the formerly vacant ground-level and basement tenant spaces that hope to attract new businesses. Part of the second floor had previously been cannibalized from a two-story tenant space, which has been reestablished to provide more light and a more desirable ambience for a future restaurant. As a crowning touch, the illuminated metal rooftop signs reading “MAVERICK” were repaired, and so they continue to announce the building’s legendary namesake.