A large warehouse on San Antonio’s East Side, known as Oakmont 410, may soon be purchased by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for use as a detention facility. The property, located at 542 Southeast Loop 410, spans 639,595 square feet and was completed in 2022 by Oakmont Industrial Group. Despite being marketed for lease for almost three years, the building remains unoccupied.
According to sources cited by the San Antonio Business Journal, ICE is nearing a deal to acquire the warehouse. No sale has been recorded yet in Bexar County records. Neither Oakmont nor ICE responded to requests for comment, and brokers with Partners Real Estate declined to discuss the matter.
If acquired, the site would become part of ICE’s broader effort to secure large-scale warehouses across the country for detainee processing and detention. A private contractor is reportedly overseeing site selection for ICE, with another location in McAllen also under review. Similar efforts have been reported elsewhere; recently, ICE considered a 920,400-square-foot warehouse in Kansas City as well as a planned one-million-square-foot detention center in Hutchins near Dallas.
The Oakmont warehouse’s industrial zoning does not currently allow human occupancy. To convert it into a detention facility would require obtaining a special use permit from city officials. In December, the property received a zoning verification letter from the city—an early step often taken before potential sales involving changes of use.
Local government leaders are expressing concern about the proposal. Bexar County Commissioner Tommy Calvert said he had not been informed of ICE’s interest but opposed such plans: “detention facilities [are] ‘the most disreputable commercial activity since WWII’” and he promised to fight any such use. A spokesperson for District 2 Councilmember Jalen McKee-Rodriguez did not comment on what they described as speculative reports.
