The Missions Minor League Baseball team are one step closer to building a new $160 million 7,500-seat stadium in downtown San Antonio, following official approval by San Antonio Independent School District to execute the purchase of the final piece of land: a 2.29 acre gravel lot.
Located on Cameron Street, the dusty lot is owned by SAISD, and opponents of the new baseball stadium hoped the school district could put the brakes on downtown development by delaying its sale.
But following months of tough bargaining and closed-door meetings, the school board approved a resolution giving the district’s superintendent and board president the power to finalize a deal and transfer ownership of the lot from SAISD to Bexar County.
This comes after many residents from the nearby Soap Factory Apartments, who will have to relocate as a result of the stadium’s construction, asked the school board not to play ball with the Missions and developer Weston Urban.
Weston Urban’s co-founder Graham Weston and CEO Randy Smith are part of Designated Bidders LLC, an investment group that bought the Missions baseball team three years ago. The team currently plays at the Nelson W. Wolff Municipal Stadium, which opened in 1994 on the city’s West Side.
In December, the SAISD entered into a non-binding memo of understanding with the City of San Antonio, Bexar County, Weston Urban Management LLC and Designated Bidders.
This was in exchange for land for a new Advanced Learning Academy campus, employee parking lot, at least 1,250 affordable housing units within the district’s boundaries, access to the future stadium for event space and a seat on the Houston Street Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone.
Board members voted last-minute to alter a few elements the district will receive in exchange for the land sale after meeting in closed session for nearly three hours Monday night:
- Appointing an SAISD official to the San Antonio Housing Trust and Foundation
- Bexar County’s “commitment to adopt” a five-year plan for affordable housing in consultation with the district by Dec. 31
- Land for SAISD to expand an ALA program
- Land for a new parking garage near the Fox Tech campus, including the construction use and eventual ownership of the garage
- Change to the Quincy Street parking garage lease to “alleviate” parking fees and give the district more operational control of the garage
- Access and use of the new baseball park for SAISD students and events
“The benefits the district will receive in terms of the land for the ALA expansion and more parking for Fox Tech will be long lasting,” said board member Ed Garza. “Those are projects the districts couldn’t have been able to do on its own.”
So far, the city has delivered on one of those promises after appointing then-school board president Christina Martinez to the Housing Trust board in June. Following reorganization of SAISD’s board leadership during Monday’s meeting, trustee Alicia Sebastian is now president and Martinez is vice president.
Phillip Adcock, a housing advocate and Soap Factory resident said the agreement between the district and the county is “nowhere near enough.”
Adcock started working odd jobs after getting fired from his job as a downtown ambassador for Centro San Antonio, and now helps affected residents connect with nonprofits and find other affordable housing options. He’s been present at nearly every SAISD board meeting where the Cameron Street land sale was publicly discussed.
So far, Adcock said he’s helped about 12 Soap Factory residents affected by the first phase of Weston Urban’s demolition plan move into local shelters.
Weston Urban is offering affected residents relocation services and $2,500 move-out stipends for tenants who have to move out during the first phase.
The school board’s position has been to push for the expansion of affordable housing for families with children that could attend SAISD campuses. Garza said affordable housing is the district’s “lifeblood.”
“Having more housing is fine, but if it’s not affordable for families, then there’s no benefit to the district.”
School district officials have until Aug. 1 to finalize the sale, and the new downtown ballpark is set to open in 2028 surrounded by $1 billion worth of other development projects helmed by Weston Urban.
Team owners say the Missions have to find a new home because the current facility is outdated and not up to Major League Baseball standards, lacking the clubhouses, field lighting and training facilities of today’s ballparks.
A spokesperson for the Missions baseball team declined a request for comment.
