San Antonio City Council Briefing on Downtown Sports District and Baseball Stadium – January 14, 2026
San Antonio City Council Briefing on Downtown Sports District and Baseball Stadium – January 14, 2026
On January 14, 2026, the San Antonio City Council received updates on two major downtown projects: the proposed sports and entertainment district (including a new Spurs arena) and the proposed downtown minor league baseball stadium. The meeting began at 1:03 PM and ended at 5:42 PM. Staff presented detailed work plans for 2026, including timelines, budgets, and public engagement strategies. Council members provided feedback on priorities such as parking, transportation, affordable housing, community engagement, and the need to balance downtown investments with citywide infrastructure needs.
Downtown Sports and Entertainment District Update
Presentation: Ben (staff) presented a 2026 work plan that builds on the non-binding term sheet approved last summer. Key elements:
- Acquisition of Federal Property (GSA): The city proposes a $30 million offer for three parcels totaling 5.7 acres. The Spurs will contribute $30 million and up to $120,000 in closing costs. The city would acquire fee simple title, subject to a contingency deed. City Council will vote on this item on January 15, 2026.
- Connectivity Planning Grant: A $3 million USDOT grant (with a $740,000 local match) must be spent by December 31, 2026. Staff is considering whether to proceed with the existing procurement or reissue it quickly.
- District Study RFP: A consultant will analyze cost of services (traffic, fire, EMS, security, maintenance), general fund revenue projections, and new revenue opportunities. RFP release planned for January 16, 2026, with a consultant recommendation by April 16, 2026.
- Executive Program Manager (EPM) RFQ: A 5-year contract (initial $10 million) to coordinate district projects. The EPM will report to a designated city official. Staff will structure the contract with accountability measures, including incentives and penalties for on-time and on-budget performance.
- ITC Property Acquisition: The city has exclusive rights to purchase the 60-acre arena site from the UT System for an estimated $60 million, funded from the Midtown TIRZ. Negotiations will begin in early 2026.
- Chilled Water Plant Feasibility Study: SAWS is leading a study to expand district cooling capacity. Options include relocating the Market Street plant, expanding the Cherry Street plant, or building a satellite facility. A draft report is expected in January 2026.
- Parking Feasibility Study: An RFP will be issued in February 2026, with a consultant recommendation by May 2026. The study will examine existing parking assets, technology platforms, and the potential need for additional parking.
- Negotiation of Definitive Agreements: Staff aims to complete substantive negotiations on all agreements (bond indentures, community benefits agreement, development agreement, etc.) by December 31, 2026.
- Convention Center Expansion: A feasibility report is expected by September 2026.
- District Infrastructure: The initial estimate of $220–250 million for phase 1 infrastructure will be refined. A parking garage originally included will be re-evaluated based on revenue potential.
- Alamo Dome Assessment: Focus on operational capital needs over the next 10 years; major renovation pushed to 2035.
- Displacement Impact Assessment: To be completed in spring 2026 by the Neighborhood and Housing Services Department.
Council Discussion:
- Mayor Nirenberg called for a downtown master development plan and noted the city faces a $142 million budget gap in FY27.
- Councilwoman Smith (Corp) emphasized the need for a parking app, micro-mobility, and affordable housing. She supported the dashboard CCR.
- Councilman Galvan (D6) asked about the timing of definitive agreements and stressed early community engagement on community benefits agreements, small business inclusion, and housing trust revolving funds.
- Councilwoman Viagran (D2) prioritized the arena, land bridge, and convention center expansion. She wanted existing parking garages to show occupancy and opposed excessive B sessions.
- Councilwoman Alderete Gavito (D7) supported moving forward, asked about EPM reporting structure, and called for multimodal transportation alternatives to parking.
- Councilwoman Spears (D8) expressed concern about studies overlapping with budget and bond work, and requested clear timelines and funding sources (no general fund used).
- Councilman White (D10) emphasized that the project is an economic driver, insisted on honoring the term sheet, and suggested the EPM contract include performance incentives.
- Councilman Mesa Gonzalez (D3) asked about earnest money, deed restrictions, and the need for community engagement from the start.
- Councilwoman Castillo (D5) supported frequent public briefings, asked about affordable housing in mixed-use development, and wanted to use in-house capacity for studies.
- Councilman McKee Rodriguez (D1) questioned the federal property acquisition structure, raised concerns about TxDOT cooperation on the land bridge, and worried about the impact of using Midtown TIRZ on other projects.
- Councilman Mungia (D4) called for a comprehensive timeline website, public input opportunities, and attention to the city's “donut” (inner-ring neighborhoods) that have been neglected.
Key Outcomes:
- Staff will establish a regular update tempo (quarterly suggested) and include executive session discussions for negotiations.
- The board will consider the federal property acquisition on January 15, 2026.
- The EPM RFQ will be released on January 16, 2026, with a council decision in April.
- The parking feasibility study RFP will go to the Audit Committee in February.
- The ITC property negotiations will begin in early 2026.
- The Alamo Dome assessment report is expected in February 2026.
Downtown Minor League Baseball Stadium Update
Presentation: Ben presented the 2026 work plan for the proposed downtown ballpark, which is further along. Key elements:
- Project Summary: A 4,500-fixed-seat ballpark (capacity 7,500) at North Flores and Kingsbury, with an estimated cost of $160 million. Funding: $34 million team equity, $126 million in bonds backed by the Houston Street TIRZ and a Municipal Management District. The ballpark is scheduled to open in April 2028.
- Mixed-Use Development: Four phases; phases 1 and 2 (guaranteed $575 million total) include a hotel and housing. Phase 3 and 4 are not guaranteed. The bond issuance requires phase 1 to be ready to proceed and phase 2 design to have commenced.
- San Pedro Creek Development Authority (LGC): Created to own the ballpark. Board seats: 3 city, 3 county, 3 team.
- Relocation Plan: 381 units across three phases. Phase 1 (189 units) tenants have been relocated. Weston Urban distributed $152,000 and the city distributed $74,000; $274,000 remains for phases 2 and 3.
- Community Benefits: $250,000 annual team contribution to maintenance, local hiring goals, youth program, stakeholder days, wage commitment equal to city's minimum entry wage, and the 1888 Baseball Foundation ($200,000 annually for children and homeless veterans).
- 2026 Work Plan:
- Baseball feasibility study (bond) – consultant engaged by team, draft report in April, final in June.
- Traffic security plan – internal work, January–April.
- Intersection improvements at West Martin and North Flores – funded ($5–6 million), RFQ in July, construction after April 2027.
- Displacement impact assessment – spring 2026.
- Negotiation of definitive agreements – target completion by May 31, 2026, with council approval in June.
- Nelson Wolff Stadium site redevelopment – concept plan with consultant, community engagement led by Councilman Galvan.
Council Discussion:
- Councilwoman Smith (Corp) thanked staff for relocation efforts and highlighted the five points underpass project.
- Councilman Galvan (D6) stressed that he wants to lead community engagement for the Wolff Stadium site without a consultant.
- Councilwoman Viagran (D2) asked about programming for stakeholder days.
- Councilwoman Alderete Gavito (D7) praised the conditions on bond issuance and the need for transportation alternatives.
- Councilman White (D10) supported the project and called the financing structure a “unicorn.”
- Councilman Mungia (D4) challenged the statement that there is “no direct displacement” from the ballpark, noting that the surrounding development caused displacement. He called for using the SHIP definition.
- Councilwoman Mesa Gonzalez (D3) supported community-led engagement for Wolff.
- Councilwoman Castillo (D5) asked about the LGC makeup, relocation data, wage commitment for contractors, and thanked Councilwoman Smith for community benefits.
Key Outcomes:
- The city will continue negotiating definitive agreements with the Missions and Weston Urban, aiming for council approval in June 2026.
- The bond feasibility study will be conducted with city input; the team will pay for it.
- The intersection improvement project is already funded and on schedule.
- The Wolff Stadium redevelopment will be led by Councilman Galvan's office, with staff support.
- Staff will provide a reconciliation of relocation funds and clarify the “no direct displacement” language.
Additional Matters
- Mayor Nirenberg asked about the outstanding $2 million issue with the Spurs regarding the MLS soccer stadium rent. Staff will provide a one-pager on resolution.
- The city's debt management plan and bond process will be presented next week (January 21, 2026).
- The meeting adjourned at 5:42 PM.
Meeting Transcript
Good afternoon. The time is now 1.03 p.m. on Wednesday, January 14th, 2026. Happy New Year. And the City of San Antonio B session is called to order. Madam Clerk, please call roll. Councilmember Corps. Councilmember McKee Rodriguez. Present. Councilmember Via Gran. Here. Councilmember Mungia. President. Councilmember Castillo. Here. Councilmember Galvan. Councilmember Alderete Gavito. Here. Councilmember Mesa Gonzalez. Present. Councilmember Spears. Councilmember White. Mayor Jones. Mayor, we have a quorum. Thank you, Madam Clerk. We've got two items for briefing today. The first is an update on the proposed downtown minor league baseball stadium, and the second is an update on the proposed downtown sports and entertainment district. Eric, over to you. Thank you, Mayor. Good uh good afternoon, Mayor Council. Um, so this afternoon's uh presentation are on um two items um the downtown district um and and the um uh baseball um each presentation includes um an overview of the proposed work plans that are underway and the anticipated timelines of all the major work efforts um in each of these areas um with a big focus of on the things that um will occur later on in the year um much work needs to be done in these areas um given the the depth and amount of information included um you know i think what we're gonna do and i i uh we talked to the mayor's office earlier we're gonna break this up into two presentations so that uh we do we we we um spend time on each one of those um the other the other part of this is that and i'll I was gonna say it at the end but I'll take an opportunity to say it uh up front you know this is um um we're gonna need to set a regular time frame and update tempo for the council um and the public um as we go forward so it's one of the things I wanted to get some feedback from you all uh this afternoon um and that starts uh really today um much like we do uh with the airport in the sense that we have there are a lot of things happening at the airport not just the terminal development plan but we bring those together in to uh in in a quarterly fashion to the council if not sooner um remember for some council members we did it we did it more often early on in the in that project um and I do anticipate us needing the need to needing to have a regular executive session conversation to be able to discuss matters of negotiation when we get to that point uh later on in the year but I suspect that council will want to have some of that conversation early on um quickly so those are a couple of things that that are uh that you should consider as we as we go through the the work plan of these of these issues um and we're gonna start with um the uh the downtown district first thank you so good afternoon mayor and council members so as Eric said I'm gonna kind of walk through our proposed work plan for calendar year 2026 and is your mic on I think so there you go all right good afternoon mayor and council members so uh with the presentation today we're gonna walk through our proposed work plan for 2026 calendar year uh this work plan really builds upon the work that's been done before it takes into consideration some of the phasing that we've talked about before you know the district's got a number of very large projects in there we've talked about the fact that we've got to really phase those over time in order to be able to implement that so that is built into this work plan uh it takes into consideration our non binding term sheet on the arena project which that's the framework for how we proceed with that project and again builds on the work that we've done before so let me talk a little bit about what's in the work plan and then what's not in the work plan when we talk about the district so our work effort's gonna focus on the expansion of the convention center and I'm gonna go into these in more detail on subsequent slides. So our work effort's going to focus on the expansion of the convention center, and I'm gonna go into these in more detail on subsequent slides. This is the phased one where we've talked about previously. This is a focus on what is the dome need in terms of operational capital so it can continue to function and operate. The larger potential renovation reimagination of the dome, we've pushed that out into around a tenure time frame, so around 2035. We're gonna talk a little bit about infrastructure improvements for the district, uh mixed use development, connectivity. So we've talked about in the past how do we create more connectivity between the Alamo Dome and the eastern side of IH 37 with the park on the western side. So we'll go into a little bit more detail on that. What is not in the work plan is and you see on the right there the convention center hotel. We've talked about before that we'd kind of push that out into kind of the second phase. Um that's more challenged because the site we were looking at is the current side of Chill Water Plant. I'll give you a little bit of an update on that today. But we had already kind of pushed that out. That is not in the near-term planning for us, and I'll go into a little bit more discussion on that. The other one is the event venue listed there. So today we own the Wood Courthouse. Great opportunity to renovate that, turn that into an event venue, potentially a live music venue. Um it is not in the work plan given some of the other work that we need to do on the things I just went over. We are looking maybe towards the end of the calendar year to start to look at what do we do with that. So we might try to incorporate that towards the end of the calendar year.
openpublica.com