Bexar County Commissioners Court voted 3-1 to move ahead on a new stadium for the San Antonio Missions. One commissioner abstained from the vote. Credit: Screenshot / Bexar County

Bexar County Commissioners Court on Tuesday approved — albeit reluctantly — a plan for the San Antonio Missions minor league baseball team to build a new $160 million downtown stadium.

With a 3-1 vote, the court gave the green light to the same formal document San Antonio City Council approved last month. However, unlike council, more than half of the county commissioners expressed reservations about the proposed project’s financing. One commissioner also abstained from the vote.

Indeed, Bexar County Judge Peter Sakai said there is “much work that needs to be done” before the plan can come to full development.

Although the county approved the Missions’ plan, the construction of the ballpark still isn’t guaranteed. The team’s ownership group, Designated Bidders LLC, must still reach an agreement with San Antonio ISD to purchase a 2.3-acre plot of land before the group can present a final proposal to MLB.

Designated Bidders and SAISD have until Oct. 15 to come to an agreement, or the San Antonio Missions could lose its league affiliation. MLB has told the team it must construct a new facility or invest in substantial upgrades to aging Nelson W. Wolff Municipal Stadium, where it currently plays.

A reluctant court

At Tuesday’s meeting, Precinct 3 Commissioner Grant Moody voted against the proposal, arguing it contains loopholes that leave the county at financial risk. He questioned whether the Missions’ ownership group will be able to complying with conditions imposed by City Council on the development.

“I don’t want to micromanage a billion dollars in construction projects,” Moody said. “But I do want to protect taxpayers to the best of my ability. That’s my responsibility as a commissioner for Precinct 3.”

Precinct 4 Commissioner Tommy Calvert abstained following intense questioning of the team’s ownership about contractors, hiring practices and other mitigating factors.

“My constituents have been clear about how they feel about a baseball stadium project,” Calvert said in a Wednesday statement. “I honor and respect their point of view. At the same time, I want to respect the vision Commissioner Rodriguez has for Precinct 2. It is important to acknowledge the boundaries that define our precincts. Balancing in a time of extreme imbalance is important to me, and my constituents made it clear the County has not done enough for them.”

Although Precinct 1 Commissioner Rebeca Clay-Flores voted in favor of the deal, she said she still has questions for the team’s ownership about the potential displacement of tenants at the Soap Factory Apartments. Under the proposed plan, developer Weston Urban would raze the affordable downtown complex to make way for the stadium and surrounding commercial development.

“There’s been a lot of talk of economic development, and of course, there were those promises that were made with the Frost Bank Center on the East Side that didn’t happen,” Clay-Flores said. “How do we ensure that the economic development that we’re saying we’re supporting today is going to happen?”

Even Sakai, who spearheaded negotiations between the county and the Missions’ ownership, admitted that many details remain to be hashed out.

Development promises
David Ortiz, a San Antonio land-use attorney representing Designated Bidders, told the court that the economic development surrounding the proposed 4,500-capacity stadium is guaranteed.

The city won’t issue bonds to support construction on the project until there’s proof of design for its first and second phases, which include apartments and retail space around the ballpark, Ortiz said. However, that doesn’t mean that the retail space must be constructed before work begins on the ballpark, he added.

Ortiz and County Manager David Smith also noted that the proposal voted on Tuesday is amendable and not a finalized plan.

All eyes on SAISD

Be that as it may, Designated Bidders still has one more obstacle to overcome before the project moves forward: SAISD’s Board of Trustees.

The team’s ownership must be able to purchase a 2.3-acre plot of school district-owned land where the stadium itself would be located. That property, the former Fox Tech baseball field, is currently being used as a parking lot by the district.

Designated Bidders has only four business days to get a deal done with SAISD, and as of press time, the district’s Board of Trustees has still hasn’t indicated when it might make a decision.

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This article appears in Sep 25 – Oct 15, 2024.

Michael Karlis is a multimedia journalist at the San Antonio Current, whose coverage in print and on social media focuses on local and state politics. He is a graduate of American University in Washington,...