Alejandra Lopez, president of the San Antonio Alliance school workers union, speaks out against SAISD’s plans to sell land to developer Weston Urban for a new minor league baseball stadium. Credit: Adam Doe

During a marathon San Antonio ISD meeting on Monday, roughly 100 people railed against developer Weston Urban’s plan to demolish an affordable apartment complex downtown to make way for a new minor league baseball park.

The proposed stadium for the San Antonio Missions would be built on the site of the former Fox Tech baseball field, which SAISD owns. District trustees have until Oct. 15 to decide whether to sell the property.

With the clock ticking, a sense of desperation filled the air at SAISD’s public input meeting. The majority of people who spoke at the often-boisterous gathering urged the board not to sell.

During her time at the mic, Alejandra Lopez, president of the San Antonio Alliance school workers union, said the proposed destruction of the Soap Factory Apartments — one downtown’s few affordable housing properties — would further damage student enrollment for SAISD and hurt its finances.

“We all know that those buildings are not built for families; they’re not built for college students,” Lopez said of Weston Urban’s proposed development of condos around the stadium. “They’re not built for working-class people, and therefore they don’t bring students to our district.”

SAISD closed 15 school campuses this year because of dwindling student enrollment caused by families’ flight to the suburbs.

“And now, with this Missions stadium development, we have a project that will raise some of the only affordable housing in the middle of our district, displacing not just families but working-class people,” Lopez continued. “Our public school district should also feel a responsibility to all those who live within its boundaries.”

Opponents of the plan to sell SAISD land for the San Antonio Missions ballpark hold signs at the district’s public input meeting last month. Credit: Adam Doe

City Council last month approved a preliminary plan for the Missions’ $160 million stadium. However, the project still can’t move forward unless SAISD hands over the former Fox Tech field.

SAISD’s public input meeting on the proposed sale stands in stark contrast to the path council took as it granted preliminary approval to the project. Council held no such meeting, and the public had less than three weeks’ notice of Weston Urban’s planned demolition of the Soap Factory Apartments.

That irony wasn’t lost on Amy Kastely, a retired St. Mary’s University law professor and pro bono attorney for the Esperanza Peace & Justice Center.

“This [project] reeks of corruption, and that is because there is virtually no public benefit from this project,” Kastely said. “This is not going to be an employment generator. We have so much data to prove that. Just look around. Look at Hemisfair, and look at the AT&T Center. These are not economic generators. It’s just another betrayal of the West Side.”

Bruce Hill, an investor in the Double AA San Antonio Missions, told the crowd he feels bad about the relocation of Soap Factory tenants, but he asserted “there’s no corruption in this.” His remarks were periodically interrupted by hecklers.

San Antonio Missions investor Bruce Hill assures residents that there was “no corruption” in getting the ball park project approved by City Council. Credit: Adam Doe

“I am sorry there’s a relocation, I really am,” Hill said. “That’s not what I want. It’s part of the process and how we got here. But let me tell you what this is not. This is not kicking people out. There will be no leases terminated. Anybody can leave whenever they want to, without penalty.”

Hill concluded his remarks by emphasizing that Weston Urban is providing $2,500 vouchers to cover moving costs for displaced Soap Factory tenants.

“And I want to tell you this, there’s no obligation legally to do that,” Hill added. “That doesn’t mean we’re not going to do it.”

MLB officials gave the San Antonio Missions front office until Oct. 15 to deliver a finalized plan for a new ballpark or risk being being booted from the league.

“The MLB told us — they put us on notice — if we don’t build a new stadium, they will pull our license,” Missions investor Hope Andrade told the San Antonio Report last month. “If we run so close, we might not make the deadline, even if we deliver the letter personally. So that’s our concern. Everything else we can work out.”

Despite the ticking clock, the SAISD Board of Trustees hasn’t specified when it will make decision on the land sale, district Communications Director Lorraine Pulido told the Current on Tuesday.

Bexar County Commissioner’s Court is set to discuss the proposed ballpark project Tuesday.

Adam Doe contributed to this report.

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This article appears in Sep 18-24, 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,...