The Brooks Development Authority has moved to challenge two federal leases that would put immigration offices at its WatersEdge complex on San Antonio's Southeast Side, issuing a formal notice of default to the developer and giving it 60 days to answer the alleged violation, Texas Public Radio (TPR) reported on Tuesday, November 11.
The authority's board authorised its legal counsel on Tuesday to send the notice to BOZ III-WatersEdge, an entity associated with Dallas-based Preston Hollow Community Capital, which controls the office buildings. TPR reported that the notice has already been sent. The notice is a formal warning that the board believes Preston Hollow violated the terms of its agreement with Brooks, and the developer has 60 days to address the alleged violation before Brooks could pursue further action.
Source: Texas Public Radio — Brooks challenges ICE office leases, gives developer 60 days to respond
The leases at issue cover about 75,000 square feet of office space at WatersEdge, at 7515 and 7611 Inner Circle Drive in the Brooks district, on the site of the former Brooks Air Force Base. The two 15-year leases are worth about $51 million combined, according to federal records and reporting by the San Antonio Express-News, TPR and the San Antonio Current. They were awarded in early October.
The space is not a detention centre. According to a statement Preston Hollow gave to KSAT, the leases are for administrative office space and expressly prohibit detention facilities, holding cells and the processing of individuals or families in custody. The anticipated occupants are attorneys and support staff for the Executive Office for Immigration Review, which runs immigration courts, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Office of the Principal Legal Advisor, which represents the Department of Homeland Security in removal proceedings — in other words, the lawyers and court offices that handle immigration cases, not a facility for holding people.
What Brooks says went wrong
Brooks officials maintain that Preston Hollow tried to sublease its space at WatersEdge to the federal government without the development authority's permission or notification, the Express-News reported, and that the move violates the terms of the agreement under which the buildings were developed. Under that deal, Brooks handed leasing authority for the two office buildings to Preston Hollow, which financed the project, but the authority says a sublease to the federal government still needed its approval — approval it says it never gave. Preston Hollow disputes the allegations, TPR reported.
Brooks President and CEO Leo Gomez had already objected publicly when the leases emerged in October, saying the arrangement did not fit "within our vision" for the mixed-use district and that he had received no advance notice. The development was built as a community of homes, offices, shops and public space on the former air base, and Gomez has argued that federal immigration offices do not align with that mission. The formal notice of default is the authority's first legal step to enforce its reading of the agreement.
What the notice does — and does not — do
The notice does not immediately stop the federal leases, and it remains unclear what action Brooks might take if the dispute is not resolved within the 60-day period, TPR reported. The authority says it is now awaiting a response from Preston Hollow or the expiration of the 60-day period before determining its next steps. That leaves the leases in a holding pattern: signed and, on the federal side, in place, but challenged by the landlord's own development authority.
The wider San Antonio fight over ICE's footprint
The Brooks dispute is one half of a two-front effort by San Antonio against a growing federal immigration presence in the city. The other is a planned detention and processing facility on the East Side, in a nearly 640,000-square-foot warehouse at 542 Southeast Loop 410 that ICE bought for $66.1 million in February and that could hold up to 1,500 people. The city sued the Department of Homeland Security and ICE on October 13, arguing that federal officials skipped a required environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act before moving to convert the warehouse.
On Monday, November 9, Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones said on Texas Public Radio's "The Source" that federal officials had agreed to conduct that environmental review, potentially resolving the central dispute in the lawsuit — although court filings do not specify the terms, and it remains unclear whether renovation work will be suspended while the review runs. The City Council had already voted on October 15 to direct city staff to explore lawful steps to block or delay the East Side facility, and a late amendment expanded that direction to include the Brooks office leases. Jones had also contacted Brooks President Leo Gomez on October 8 seeking confirmation of the lease arrangements.
For immigrants and families with cases in South Texas, the WatersEdge offices matter because of what they are — immigration courtrooms and the government lawyers who argue removal cases — not because anyone would be detained there. The leases expressly prohibit detention or processing of people in custody. The practical question now is whether the offices open on schedule while Brooks and Preston Hollow fight over the lease, or whether the 60-day notice leads to a renegotiation, a court fight, or a different home for the immigration courts and legal offices. Awaaz Punjab will follow the developer's response and any further action by Brooks or the city.
What happens next
Preston Hollow has 60 days from the notice to address the alleged violation. If it does not, Brooks will have to decide whether to escalate — which could mean further legal action — or accept the arrangement. The city, meanwhile, is still awaiting updates on the leases as part of its wider effort against a longer-term federal immigration presence on the Southeast Side, and the East Side detention facility remains on pause while its environmental review is negotiated. Awaaz Punjab will update this story when Preston Hollow responds or Brooks takes its next step.