San Antonio Missions baseball fans will have to wait a little longer to see their team play in a new stadium.
Read more The Original Donut Shop has been slinging breakfast tacos for 50 years in 78201
In a memo to council members this week, City Manager Erik Walsh said completion of the new baseball stadium project the city agreed to help finance two years ago is being pushed another year.
Opening Day for the team and the ballpark is now in April of 2029.
“Earlier this summer, Designated [Bidders] indicated that delays in securing full financing commitments, along with other factors, could result in a delay to the opening of the ballpark facility,” Walsh wrote.
More recently, team owners gave the city “formal notice,” he added, that ongoing challenges related to “current construction, procurement, and labor market conditions” have resulted in a revised project schedule.
“You don’t have to read very much to figure out that much of the massive construction in the state of Texas is heavy on electrical infrastructure,” which could cause delays in procurement of materials and equipment, said Randy Smith, co-founder and CEO of Weston Urban.
In addition, he said, “Fortunately and thankfully, we have a lot of really great projects going on in the San Antonio region that impacts our labor pool, which is a regional labor pool.”
In the meantime, developer Weston Urban’s private development planned for the area surrounding the proposed ballpark — at least $1 billion worth of multifamily and hospitality projects — could move forward on a revised timeline with construction starting in early 2027, before the ballpark.
“The ballpark has a much shorter construction schedule than the private development,” Smith said. “So there’s no reason to start the ballpark too early for an opening of ’29. There’s really one day in a year where you can open a ballpark.” Doing so any earlier than Opening Day would add cost to the project, he added.
Since 2024, the team’s owners have worked to nail down a site for the stadium in the northwest quadrant of downtown San Antonio, secured a parking structure to support the facility and completed designs for the ballpark and surrounding mixed-use development.
Demolition of an apartment complex, Soap Factory, at the site has been partially completed and work started on a linear park.
Despite the progress, “ongoing challenges related to current construction, procurement, and labor market conditions have prompted a revised project schedule,” Walsh said in the memo sent Tuesday.
The start of construction is now expected to start in summer 2027 and a planned bond issuance has also been delayed to next year, meaning the stadium wouldn’t be ready for the team’s season opener in 2028 as planned.
In 2024, Major League Baseball (MLB) gave the city an ultimatum: Have a plan pulled together to replace or greatly improve the aging Nelson W. Wolff Stadium on the Southwest Side by Oct. 15 — or else the team could be moved to another city.
The owners of the Double-A minor league team — a group of investors, developers and local leaders — rallied and came up with a draft financing proposal the city and county signed on to before the clock ran out.
Walsh said Designated Bidders has discussed the new schedule adjustment with the MLB, which supports the revised timeline.
But, in lieu of starting construction on the stadium, the first phase of planned mixed-use development by developer Weston Urban could get going and be completed in time for the opening of the new home of the Missions.
The cost of building the 7,500-capacity stadium and acquiring the land adjacent to the San Pedro Creek Culture Park has been estimated at $160 million.
Under the terms of a draft agreement with the city, county and San Antonio Independent School District, Designated Bidders committed to $34 million for the stadium and to $1 million in annual lease payments and yearly payments of $250,000 for facility maintenance.
About 86% of the cost of construction will be supported by the team’s contribution, ticket fees and team revenue, city and county property tax increment dollars and a guaranteed municipal management assessment from the first two of four planned new developments in the area.
The finance plan also called for the San Pedro Creek Development Authority, which owns the ballpark, to issue a private revenue bond with a pledge from the Houston Street Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ).
In April, seeking to bridge a financing gap for the ballpark, the Authority obtained a $10 million loan from the county for the ballpark.
Read more At D1 town hall, Jones warns of deeper cuts ahead as she defends her budget proposals
It agreed to pay back the loan in full plus 4% annual interest, and gave the county two parcels of land for a park adjacent to the new Missions stadium. Designated Bidders also increased its contribution to the project by $5 million, bringing the total to $39 million.
“The momentum for the construction of a new multi-use facility and ballpark that our fans and citizens deserve continues to build,” said Bob Cohen, co-founder of Designated Bidders, a board member and investor in the team.
He said that they had hoped for construction to start this summer, but made the decision “in consultation with the MLB, to postpone to early next year.”
“We have worked tirelessly to reach this point and although the timing has been adjusted, it will not impede us from achieving our goal of building the best multi-use facility in the country,” Cohen said.
He has previously said plans call for the new stadium to be more than a ballpark. The venue is being designed to also house events like concerts, large meetings, graduations, tournaments, rodeos, campouts, car shows and swap meets.
Is Smith of Weston Urban disappointed in the delay? No, he does not want to rush it, he said.
“If you look at our 14 years of being downtown every day … and working to restore historic buildings and eradicate surface parking lots, create things where there was nothing before, the best things have just always taken time,” he said.
What happens at Wolff
For now, the city-owned Wolff Stadium remains in play.
Until the new facility is complete, the team will continue to operate, maintain and play its home games at Wolff Stadium, according to the agreement.
But its future beyond that is uncertain.
The city’s chief financial officer, Ben Gorzell, said in August 2024 that team owners and the city have talked about redevelopment opportunities and uses at the existing stadium on the Southwest Side.
The District 6 councilwoman at the time, Melissa Cabello Havrda, said she was excited about the redevelopment potential of Wolff Stadium and the 42 acres of property in her district.
So while the city keeps its eye on the new ballpark plans, it’s also focused on what will happen to Wolff stadium after the Missions move to a new home.
Starting Aug. 6, two public input sessions are scheduled to gather ideas for the Nelson W. Wolff Stadium Master Plan and a vision for how the ballpark can be reused or redeveloped.
The 6,200-seat stadium that opened in 1994 is considered no longer up to MLB standards despite multiple upgrades, even in recent years.
Last year, City Council voted unanimously in favor of spending more than $258,000 on improvements to the aging stadium after an audit revealed a number of deficiencies.
The cost of those improvements was estimated at $368,755.71 with the city responsible for 70% of the tab to enlarge the visiting locker room, relocate the laundry room and storage areas, expand team training areas and repair the dugouts.
In 2023, an improvement plan also called for enhancing drainage and irrigation, making field upgrades, adding parking lot gates and more.
Still, the facility lacks the kind of clubhouses, field lighting and training facilities common in today’s ballparks.
A master plan now in the works will include redeveloping the Wolff ballpark located on U.S. Hwy. 90 and South Callaghan Road, and several parcels of land adjacent to the stadium, according to a map provided by the city.
The stadium was named for former mayor and county judge, Nelson W. Wolff, in 1995. Wolff led efforts to build the new ballpark, relocating the Missions from a stadium at the St. Mary’s University campus where the team played from 1968 to 1993.
The second input session is scheduled for Aug. 20. Both meetings will be held from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Ron Darner Parks and Recreation Operations Headquarters, 5800 Historic Old Highway 90 West.
Read more Basking in increased visibility, Trinity’s new branding draws from historic sun imagery
