The bulk of the long-shuttered Friedrich refrigeration and air conditioning factory no longer looms over East Commerce Street as a constant reminder of what the community lost.
Once a humming manufacturing complex surrounded by shops and restaurants in the heart of San Antonio’s Black community, the 6-acre site has been mostly vacant for more than 40 years. Plans to redevelop it failed. What remained was a warren of decaying buildings pocked with broken windows — and the disappointment and frustration of area residents and business owners.
But their hopes rose in 2023 when crews began demolishing the buildings to make way for 358 mixed-income apartments, the first tangible sign of progress at the site. The San Antonio Housing Trust, American South Real Estate Fund and Provident Realty Advisors teamed up on the project, dubbed Friedrich Lofts…