Live in Brooks
A former Air Force base turned into a planned campus of apartments, a hospital and a medical school, where renters held 83% of the occupied homes in 2020, the zone's population rose 68% in ten years, and a quarter of the residents are in East Central ISD rather than San Antonio ISD.
The Army opened a flying field here in 1917 and named it Brooks Field in 1918; as Brooks Air Force Base it became the Air Force's center for aerospace medicine, and its last Air Force mission left on 15 September 2011. The City's Brooks Development Authority has owned and run the land since 2002, and this guide takes the City's Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone 16, Brooks City Base, as the boundary: 2,477 acres around the former base where the 2020 census counted 6,406 residents, up from 3,806 on the same blocks in 2010. Owners lived in only 450 of the 2,656 occupied homes, because most of what has been built is apartments, and the first for-sale houses on the campus broke ground in 2021. Zillow put the typical home in ZIP code 78223, which holds 64% of the residents and runs well past the zone, at $182,730 in August 2026, 4.1% lower than a year before; ZIP 78235, where the reference point is, has no Zillow series.
An air base the City took back, where most of the new homes are rented
The City of San Antonio's Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone 16, named Brooks City Base (OBJECTID 6 on the City's TIRZ layer), designated on 9 December 2004 and 2,477 acres on the layer. Traced against the Census Bureau's road layers, its irregular line follows South New Braunfels Avenue and Lasses Boulevard on the north, from about Wahrmund Court to Goliad Road; Goliad Road and Interstate 37 on the east, with a lobe across the interstate around Pickwell and Shetland drives; Juniper Street and the Loop 410 frontage road on the south; and South Presa Street, the Old Corpus Christi Highway and the BNSF railroad on the west. Southeast Military Drive (Loop 13) crosses the middle. The zone is larger than the campus the Brooks Development Authority owns, which the authority puts at 1,308 acres, and much smaller than the City's SA Tomorrow Brooks regional center. All of it is in Bexar County and City Council District 3; 4,671 of the 2020 residents are in San Antonio ISD and 1,735, along the eastern edge, in East Central ISD.
The Army opened a flying field here in 1917 and named it Brooks Field in 1918, after a cadet killed in training. The School of Aviation Medicine arrived in 1926, and President Kennedy dedicated its aerospace medicine buildings in 1963. The last Air Force mission left on 15 September 2011. Since 2002 the land has belonged to the City's Brooks Development Authority, which puts its campus at 1,308 acres. This guide uses a larger line, the City's Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone 16: 2,477 acres from South New Braunfels Avenue to Loop 410 and from South Presa Street to Interstate 37, where the 2020 census counted 6,406 residents, up from 3,806 on the same blocks in 2010.
Most of what has been built to live in is apartments. In 2020 renters held 2,206 of the 2,656 occupied homes, 83%. The Aviator apartments were made out of Air Force barracks; Southlake, 60 houses beside the Greenline, broke ground in 2021 as the first homes for sale on the campus; and 353 more apartments on Loop 410 are due in 2027. The authority counted seven residential communities finished and seven under way in January. A buyer here is buying into a place still being laid out, where the empty land next door may well become apartments.
The price is a ZIP code's, and the tax bill depends on the school district. Zillow's figure for ZIP code 78223, where 64% of the residents live and which runs far past the line, was $182,730 in August 2026, down 4.1% on the year; ZIP 78235 has no series. The Bexar County median sale was $280,999. The reinvestment zone adds no rate. On the 2025 rates a San Antonio ISD address pays 2.440474 per $100 and an East Central ISD address 2.217174; with a homestead at the 78223 figure that is about $2,366 and $2,329 a year, and without one $4,459 and $4,051. The method is on the San Antonio page.
Part of the campus is a City historic district. In the 48 acres of the Brooks School of Aerospace Medicine district, exterior work needs a certificate of appropriateness from the Office of Historic Preservation under section 35-608 of the Unified Development Code, and new construction goes to the Historic and Design Review Commission. Hangar 9 is a National Historic Landmark. The Mission historic district lies next door, and none of the City's ten conservation districts overlaps the zone.
The flood map is quiet here, and the ground drains to the river. FEMA puts 3.3% of the zone in the 1% annual chance zone, in narrow bands in the west, with no 2020 resident on a block centered in it. The land drains to the San Antonio River, and the Greenline's own rules say the park floods. Flash flooding and closed low-water crossings reach beyond the mapped zones; Bexar County runs 150 warning sites that sense rising water on roads. VIA's Brooks Transit Center, about 0.3 km from the reference point, ends the Prímo 102 along Military Drive, every 12 minutes on weekday daytimes, and two Frequent routes downtown. TxDOT is rebuilding the Interstate 37 interchange at Military Drive until late 2029.
- Read the Bexar Appraisal District record: San Antonio ISD or East Central ISD
- Ask the district which school the address is zoned to now
- Check whether the lot is in the aerospace medicine historic district
- Ask the development authority what is planned beside it
- Price a flood policy even outside the mapped zone
How Brooks got here
- 1917After the United States enters the First World War, the Army opens a field here to train flying instructors in the Gosport system, first called Gosport Field and from 5 December Kelly Field No. 5.
- 1918On 4 February the Army renames it Brooks Field, after Cadet Sidney Johnson Brooks Jr., killed in a training accident; by the end of the year it has sixteen hangars. Hangar 9 survives and is a National Historic Landmark.
- 1926The School of Aviation Medicine moves to Brooks from New York on 1 August, by the Handbook of Texas's date; the Brooks Development Authority's history gives 1927.
- 1929On Thanksgiving Day the first mass paratroop drop in the history of the United States armed forces takes place at Brooks.
- 1948After the Air Force is separated from the Army, the field is renamed Brooks Air Force Base; the development authority's history dates the change to 1947.
- 1959The School of Aviation Medicine returns from Randolph, and on 1 October Brooks becomes headquarters of the Aerospace Medical Center; all flying there ends on 23 June 1960.
- 1963President John F. Kennedy dedicates four buildings of the aerospace medicine complex, his last official act by the Handbook's account; the buildings are now the University of the Incarnate Word's medical school.
- 2001The City of San Antonio creates the Brooks Development Authority to redevelop the base, and on 22 July 2002 it takes control of what is renamed Brooks City-Base.
- 2004On 9 December the City designates Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone 16, Brooks City Base, the boundary this guide uses.
- 2011Mission Trail Baptist Hospital opens on the campus on 27 June, replacing Southeast Baptist Hospital, and Air Force operations end on 15 September after 94 years.
- 2017"City Base" is dropped from the name, Hangar 9 reopens after a $2.8 million restoration, and the University of the Incarnate Word's School of Osteopathic Medicine takes its first class.
- 2018The Greenline, a 43-acre linear park with ponds and lit trails, opens in April in the middle of the campus.
- 2019VIA opens the Brooks Transit Center, the end of the Prímo 102 line along Military Drive, and the City Council adopts the SA Tomorrow plan for the Brooks regional center.
- 2020The census counts 6,406 residents and 3,006 homes inside the zone; owners live in 450 of the 2,656 occupied homes.
- 2021The Greenline's extension to the San Antonio River's Mission Reach trail opens, and Southlake, 60 houses and the first homes for sale on the campus, breaks ground.
- 2026In March the NRP Group breaks ground on Lucia at Brooks, 353 apartments on Loop 410 due in 2027, and on 24 September TxDOT starts a $40 million diverging diamond interchange at Interstate 37 and Southeast Military Drive, due for completion in late 2029.
A 43-acre park in the middle, and a trail to the missions
The Greenline opened in April 2018 on Sidney Brooks: 43 acres with a mile of lit hike and bike trail, 1.5 miles of jogging trail, five terraced ponds for catch-and-release fishing, a dog park and pavilions, open from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. Since 2021 an extension through a tunnel under the Union Pacific line has joined it to the Mission Reach trail along the San Antonio River. Mission San Juan is the nearest of the national park's four missions, which are about 2.5 miles apart.
What the map does not show: the Greenline's own rules say it is subject to flooding. The City's park layer also puts Brooks Park, a 49-acre sports complex, and Pytel and Pickwell parks at least partly inside the zone.
25 places, with real drive times
Road-adjusted distance and drive time from the centre of the community to each destination, nearest first. Filter by category.
Showing 1–12 of 25 places, nearest first.
Method: distances and drive times are computed from OpenStreetMap's place node for Brooks, beside the Greenline, using straight-line distance multiplied by a road factor and a tiered speed model: honest ranges, not routed times.
Every gym within reach
The City has no recreation center or pool inside the zone. The nearest are the Quintero Community Center and Southside Lions Pool, both at 3100 Hiawatha to the north, and the nearest YMCA is the Harvey E. Najim Family YMCA on Roosevelt Avenue.
- Harvey E. Najim Family YMCA: about 5.5 km, closed on Sundays
- Quintero Community Center: about 5.7 km
- Southside Lions Pool: about 5.7 km, closed for the season
| Facility | What it is | Drive |
|---|---|---|
| Harvey E. Najim Family YMCA open | The YMCA of Greater San Antonio branch at 3122 Roosevelt Avenue, beside the Mission Branch Library: open 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday to Thursday, to 7 p.m. on Friday, to noon on Saturday, and closed on Sunday. | 8–12 min |
| Quintero Community Center open | The City's community center at 3100 Hiawatha Drive in Southside Lions Park, north of the zone off Interstate 37. | 9–12 min |
| Southside Lions Pool open | The City's outdoor pool at 3100 Hiawatha, with a diving board and a baby pool; the City's pool layer read closed for the season on 30 September 2026. | 9–12 min |
| The Greenline open | The free option, inside the zone: a mile of lit hike and bike trail, 1.5 miles of jogging trail, fitness stations and a connection to the Mission Reach trail along the San Antonio River, open 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. | 3–4 min |
The free option is the Greenline's trails and fitness stations.
Two districts, and one of them on a 2021-22 map
Of the 2020 residents, 4,671 are in the San Antonio Independent School District and 1,735, on the eastern edge, in the East Central Independent School District. On San Antonio ISD's 2021-22 attendance map, the most recent it publishes, the reference point is zoned to Mission Academy, PK to grade 8, rated C (78) for 2026; a fifth of residents were zoned to Foster Elementary, which the district voted to close in 2023. Hot Wells Middle School, rated D (65), takes about a third for grades 6 to 8, and Highlands High School, rated C (74), every San Antonio ISD block. CAST Med High School, inside the zone and rated B (88), takes students by application.
| School | Board | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Mission Academy | San Antonio Independent School District | 9210 South Presa Street, PK to grade 8. On the district's 2021-22 attendance map, the most recent it publishes, it is the zone at the reference point and for 2,493 of the 2020 residents, 39%; Ball Elementary held 929 and Foster Elementary 1,249. The Texas Education Agency rated it C, 78, for 2026 and B, 83, for 2025; 76.8% of its students counted as economically disadvantaged. Confirm the assignment with the district for your address. |
| Charles C. Ball Elementary | San Antonio Independent School District | 343 Koehler Court, early education to grade 5: the 2021-22 zone for 929 residents, 15%, and one of the schools the district named to take Foster's students. |
| Foster Elementary (closed) | San Antonio Independent School District | The 2021-22 map zones 1,249 residents, 19%, to Foster, which the district's trustees voted in November 2023 to close among 15 schools; the district's plan sent its students to Schenck, Highland Hills or Ball. A buyer on those blocks has to ask the district which school is now zoned. |
| Hot Wells Middle School | San Antonio Independent School District | 400 Hot Wells Boulevard: on the 2021-22 map the middle school zone for 2,178 residents, 34%; the rest of the San Antonio ISD blocks, around the reference point, are in Mission Academy's PK-8 zone. Rated D, 65, for 2026 and F, 56, for 2025. |
| Highlands High School | San Antonio Independent School District | 3118 Elgin Avenue: on the 2021-22 map the zoned high school for all 4,671 San Antonio ISD residents, 73%. Rated C, 74, for 2026 and C, 71, for 2025, with a graduation rate component of 82.6; 90.1% of its students counted as economically disadvantaged. |
| CAST Med High School | San Antonio Independent School District | 2601 Louis Bauer Drive, inside the zone: a district-wide choice school for the health sciences that students apply to, sharing the building with CAST Imagine Middle School. Rated B, 88, for 2026 and B, 87, for 2025. |
| East Central ISD schools | East Central Independent School District | 1,735 of the 2020 residents, 27%, live in East Central ISD, along Goliad Road and Interstate 37 on the zone's eastern edge. The district publishes its locator through a third-party link that was not opened for this guide, so no East Central campus is named here; its high school is on FM 1628, about 14 km east. Check the address with the district. |
Confirm the school with the district for your exact address. San Antonio ISD's published zones predate its 2023 closures, and East Central ISD's locator was not opened for this guide.
Month by month, what living here looks like
Not a highlights reel: the actual annual rhythm, including the dates residents have to remember.
- The appraisal district values every property as of 1 January; last year's bill is due by 31 January
- Highs near 17 °C and lows near 5 °C at San Antonio International, with about five nights at or below freezing on the 1991 to 2020 normal
- Penalty and interest start on unpaid property tax bills on 1 February
- Highs near 20 °C and 44 mm of rain, the driest month on the normal
- Highs near 23 °C and lows near 11 °C
- 59 mm of rain on the normal and about one night at or below freezing
- Fiesta San Antonio runs from 15 to 25 April 2027; Chanclas y Cervezas at the Greenline is an official Fiesta event and drew 5,000 people in 2025
- Highs near 27 °C and three days reaching 32 °C on the normal
- 15 May, or 30 days after the appraisal district mails its notice if that is later, is the deadline to protest a value
- 112 mm of rain, the wettest month on the normal: late spring storms are when flash floods and low-water crossings close roads
- Highs near 34 °C and about 24 days reaching 32 °C on the normal
- 83 mm of rain
- Highs near 35 °C, with about 28 days reaching 32 °C and six reaching 38 °C on the normal
- The Greenline's lit trails stay open until 11 p.m.
- Highs near 36 °C and lows near 24 °C, the hottest month on the normal, with about nine days reaching 38 °C
- 55 mm of rain
- 99 mm of rain on the normal: the second flash flood season, when the Greenline's rule that the park is subject to flooding applies
- Highs near 32 °C, with about 20 days reaching 32 °C on the normal
- Muertos Fest fills Hemisfair downtown from 23 to 25 October 2026, free
- 95 mm of rain and highs near 28 °C, the last month with a real flash flood risk on the normal
- The 45th Ford Holiday River Parade is on the River Walk on 27 November 2026
- Highs near 22 °C and lows near 10 °C
- Highs near 18 °C and lows near 6 °C, with about four nights at or below freezing on the normal
- 51 mm of rain, the start of the dry season
Every photograph in this guide's library is above
This library holds 3 photographs and the page has already printed all of them, each once. The credits are in the footer.
About these photographs. Openly licensed images geotagged in or near Brooks, found on Wikimedia Commons and served from there with full attribution. Inline photos elsewhere on the page may still come from the site's shared San Antonio library.