SAN ANTONIO – After a ball game’s worth of public comment and discussion, the San Antonio City Council gave the signal Thursday afternoon for a minor league baseball stadium project to round first base.
Council members voted 9-2 to approve the broad strokes of a deal with Bexar County, downtown developer Weston Urban, and the San Antonio Missions’ ownership group, known as Designated Bidders. The plan would create a $160 million stadium for the San Diego Padres’ AA affiliate along San Pedro Creek in downtown San Antonio.
The stadium would be finished for opening day in April 2028.
The deal relies on also developing the surrounding area, including the low-cost Soap Factory Apartments, whose residents have loudly opposed the project that would force them out in waves over the next five years.
The new tax revenue from surrounding development, which could include 1,500 new market-rate housing units, would go toward paying off the construction costs of the stadium, as would lease payments from the team, and a $2 ticket fee. The Missions ownership is also kicking in $34 million of equity and helping secure the debt with a line of credit.
The private development around the stadium, planned to go up in four phases over the next seven years, would not receive any public funding or incentives. City officials have also stressed that the financing for the ballpark won’t happen until the first phase of development is ready to begin.
“On behalf of the 30-some-odd owners of the San Antonio Missions, we’d like to express not only our gratitude, but our enthusiasm. We’ve spent the last two weeks doing two things, which is listening and leaning in,” Weston Urban CEO Randy Smith told council members.
Smith and fellow Weston Urban co-founder Graham Weston are also part of Designated Bidders.
Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez (D2) and Councilwoman Teri Castillo (D5) voted against the project after unsuccessfully trying to delay the vote over concerns about the displacement plan for Soap Factory residents.
Councilwoman Adriana Rocha Garcia (D4) and Councilwoman Melissa Cabello Havrda (D6) also joined the attempt to delay but ultimately voted to approve the project after the first motion failed.
Bexar County Commissioners will also need to approve the deal. A spokesman for Bexar County Judge Peter Sakai said a vote has not yet been scheduled, though commissioners’ next meeting will be Oct. 8.
SOAP FACTORY SLIPS AWAY
The project would be “game over” for the low-cost Soap Factory Apartments, which a Weston Urban affiliate acquired last year. The complex consists of 381 units in three clusters of buildings at the intersection of North Santa Rosa Street and West Martin Street, which will be largely torn down over the next five years.
Smith has said the apartments are approaching functional obsolescence and need to be redeveloped.
Though the apartments are technically market rate, they’re also cheaper than many other downtown options. Residents worried about seeing affordable downtown living slip out of their grasp had hoped the council would hold off on a vote.
Though plans for displaced residents have been beefed up in the two weeks since a special council meeting on Aug. 29, residents said they haven’t had a real seat at the table.
“The plan presented to us at 8 p.m. last night, just 13 hours before today’s conversation, was not well thought out, was hastily written, and doesn’t keep our best interests in mind, nor does it include our voices,” Soap Factory resident Sarah Hunnicutt told council members.
The displacement plan includes allowing residents to move into income-restricted apartments at another Weston Urban property downtown, getting them into apartments at Opportunity Home’s mixed-income properties across the city, and providing housing navigation help through the group Building Brighter Communities.
A last-minute addition to the plan includes Weston Urban and the city each providing $250,000 to help with a $2,500 “relocation package,” primarily for the first group of about 189 tenants who would be forced out. The city plans to dip into a pot of COVID-relief dollars for its share, which raised some eyebrows.
The use of American Rescue Plan Act money “to put out a fire that this project created” was not innovative, said Castillo, who asked Weston Urban to also try to get money from the county.
SUPPORTERS
The residents were among dozens of people who spoke on the deal over the course of one hour and 45 minutes, including the business community, Soap Factory residents, baseball fans, the University of Texas at San Antonio president, and community groups.
City officials and supporters of the project call it a “home run,” pointing out that the team owners are local, saying the funding scheme protects the city, and arguing that the project will revitalize that portion of downtown.
Dr. Damaso Oliva Jr. told council members he works downtown and believes the park would bring “new life and business.” He also reflected on his family’s connection with the team.
“My kids have chased the Puffy Taco. They’ve run the bases. They’ve been there. And we would love for you guys to support this project,” Oliva said.
Asked about his sales pitch to skeptics of the project, Smith also pointed to the stadium being affordable, family entertainment.
“A family of four can get in the ballpark on Tuesday night for $8 and have hours of enjoyment. And I don’t know anywhere else that happens in town,” Smith said. “By putting that in the middle of the town, it’s going to be available to so many more folks.”
Mayor Ron Nirenberg has been one of the biggest supporters of the project, telling reporters after the meeting “A new home for the Missions has been discussed for years. I told them, ‘bring us a deal that I can stand up for on its merits.’ This is that deal.”
He also told the council and audience “the areas that will be redeveloped are already going to be redeveloped, whether or not there’s a stadium built there or not.”
Community group COPS/Metro had been critical of the project, but came on board after the latest changes to the deal.
COPS/Metro member Father Jimmy Drennan told council members the group expected to be included in upcoming discussions for a Spurs arena.
“The citizenry of San Antonio needs to be treated in the same way that developers and billionaires and millionaires are treated in this community,” Drennan said.
TIMELINE
The Missions’ current home at Nelson Wolff Municipal Stadium on the far West Side doesn’t meet the latest Major League Baseball standards.
Smith has said MLB gave the team an Oct. 15 deadline to get the broad terms of a deal for a new stadium settled.
Weston Urban is also still negotiating with the San Antonio Independent School District to acquire a key piece of property.
The approved deal calls for issuing the bonds to finance the ballpark by the end of November 2025.
You can see Thursday’s presentation below: