The minor-league ballclub hopes to have a 4,500-seat stadium built in downtown San Antonio by April 2028.
SAN ANTONIO — Kansas City-based architectural firm Populous is getting to be busy in the Alamo City.
Having designed hundreds of projects around the world, the firm has now been tapped to design a new downtown baseball stadium for the Double-A San Antonio Missions. It’s already leading efforts to expand the Henry B. González Convention Center, which the city has identified as a priority element of its broader Project Marvel ambitions for a sports and entertainment district downtown.
The announcement of Populous as the lead designer and architect for the Missions ballpark represents a key step after its ownership group cleared two significant hurdles: the December signing of a Memorandum of Understanding by San Antonio ISD to acquire a key piece of land owned by the district and City Council’s recent vote to establish a San Pedro Creek Development Authority that “will own the ballpark and issue bonds to pay for its construction,” according to a press release.
“With these pieces in place, the Missions are moving forward with programming and design considerations for a ballpark poised to become a cherished community asset for generations to come,” the Missions said in the release.
The ownership group hopes to have the 4,500-seat ballpark built by the spring of 2028, in time for the start of the San Antonio Missions season. The minor-league ballclub is an affiliate of the San Diego Padres and has been playing at Nelson Wolff Stadium since 1994.
That group took over the ballclub in 2022—marking the Missions’ first time being under new ownership since the 1980s. It’s partially led by Reid Ryan, the son of MLB Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan, who in 2023 said San Antonio deserves better “than having the worst stadium in Minor League Baseball.”
Enlisting Populous is one step towards elevating San Antonio’s status in the MiLB. Over recent years the firm has envisioned the homes of the Pittsburgh Pirates, New York Yankees and Kansas City Royals, as well as other major sports venues in South Korea, Canada and Taiwan.
According to the Mission’ release, ballparks designed by Populous have won Ballpark of the Year more than a dozen times.
“We’re incredibly grateful for the opportunity to design a ballpark that reflects not only the spirit of this community, but also its deep love for the game,” Populous Senior Principal Byron Chambers is quoted as saying in the release. “This will be more than a place to watch baseball. It will be a gathering place, a source of pride and a true celebration of the city.”
Renderings of the upcoming ballpark, which will be located at the intersection of Camaron and Kingsbury and is expected to cost about $160 million, will be released this summer.
