"Pat Hallisey is probably the most deserving guy for this in League City," council member Tommy Cones said, according to Community Impact. Cones led the effort to name the city's new west-side sportsplex after the former mayor. On October 13, City Council approved the construction contract. That makes Pat Hallisey Park the largest park project the city has signed off on in recent memory.
Pat Hallisey Park also comes at the end of the city's park timeline. Lobit Park's renovation pays off first, and the city expects the park to reopen this fall with six new pickleball courts. If you want new pickleball courts, refurbished baseball fields or more room on a crowded athletics calendar, the timeline runs through FM 646 before it reaches Calder Drive.
What the Council Signed on October 13
The contract went to SpawGlass Construction Corp. for $49.76 million. The city received nine bids, ranging from $49.7 million to $51.9 million, and SpawGlass came in lowest, Community Impact reported ahead of the vote. The city's own meeting recap confirms the approval.
The site covers 106 acres near Calder Drive and Ervin Street. The city's naming announcement refers to the project as the former Bay Colony Park. The approved layout includes:
- 12 pickleball courts
- Five softball fields and four baseball fields
- Batting practice cages
- Two tennis courts and two soccer fields
- Two playgrounds and a picnic shelter
- A memorial garden
- A 10-foot-wide decomposed granite trail, plus detention ponds
The money comes from park dedication fees and sales-tax revenue collected through the city's 4B Industrial Development Corp. Hallisey was mayor from 2016 to 2022. He also directed both the League City and Galveston County parks departments, so naming a sportsplex after him fits his career.
Why Summer 2028 Is a Target, Not a Promise
City documents give the build 570 days, which works out to a little over a year and a half. SpawGlass expects to finish by summer 2028. As of the October 15 report, it was still unclear whether construction had officially started.
The schedule has already moved once. When the city announced the name in March 2025, it described the project as a $44 million capital project with about two years of construction. By January 2026, Community Impact was reporting construction from late May 2026 through April 2028. The approved contract now runs about $5.76 million above the 2025 figure, and completion has moved to summer 2028. Given that history, treat summer 2028 as the contractor's estimate rather than a fixed opening date.
Lobit Park Gets There First
Lobit Park, at 1901 FM 646 E., is getting a $2.3 million upgrade split into two phases, Community Impact reported in August. Phase 1 adds six new pickleball courts, upgraded baseball fields, pedestrian bridge repairs, drainage improvements and new security lighting. The park closed to the public on October 13, 2025, and construction started a week later on October 20.
Lobit has had its own delays. In July 2026, City Council approved a third change order to fix design issues with the lighting, the backstop and the pickleball courts. That pushed substantial completion to September 2026, according to the joint Parks Board and 4B board minutes. The city's latest project update, dated August 31, 2026, also blames rain for the delays. It says the courts were complete, the baseball field grading was done, and the park "is expected to reopen later this fall." For new reopening details, check the League City Listens Lobit Park page.
After the reopening, the park stays open while Phase 2 is built. The city's project page lists Phase 2 as:
- A reconstructed parking lot
- Two new soccer fields
- A shade structure over the basketball courts
- Renovated restrooms
- A new pedestrian bridge with a pergola, connecting the park to the island
- A large detention pond for site drainage
That page has Phase 2 going out to bid in spring 2027, starting construction in summer 2027 and reaching substantial completion in summer 2028. Community Impact's August article gave an earlier Phase 2 finish of August 2027 and a different list of features, including a picnic pavilion, a fitness course and a hiking trail. The city's page is the one to follow as that phase moves forward.
Two Parks, One Finish Line
Taken together, the timeline looks like this:
| Project | What it adds | Expected | Status as of October 19, 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lobit Park, Phase 1 | Six pickleball courts, upgraded baseball fields, drainage, security lighting | Later this fall | Courts built, park still closed per the Aug. 31 update |
| Lobit Park, Phase 2 | Parking lot, two soccer fields, basketball court shade, restrooms, bridge, detention pond | Summer 2028, per the city's project page | Bidding expected spring 2027 |
| Pat Hallisey Park | 12 pickleball courts, nine ball fields, two tennis courts, two soccer fields, trail | Summer 2028 | Contract approved Oct. 13 |
On the city's current schedules, the second half of Lobit and all of Hallisey both land around summer 2028. That makes Lobit's Phase 1 reopening the only new court space expected before then. Pickleball makes the gap easy to see. Lobit's six courts are already built, and Hallisey's twelve come about two years later. The two parks add 18 new public pickleball courts in total, and one-third of them are finished.
The Waitlist Behind the Building
The July 2026 joint board minutes put numbers on how busy the city's programs are. In June 2026, League City logged 164 facility reservations, and 81 of them were for fields. Fall athletics registration "filled up quickly," reaching 1,069 participants across five programs with a combined waitlist of 302.
For a sense of scale, that waitlist is a little more than a quarter of the number who got in. Lobit's refurbished baseball fields are part of the phase expected back this fall. The new soccer fields at Lobit and at Hallisey, along with Hallisey's nine softball and baseball fields, fall on the 2028 side of the calendar.
Where to Play Until Then
Most of the existing ball fields are spread across established parks. The city's Winter 2026 parks guide lists softball fields at Lynn Gripon Park at Countryside and both baseball and softball fields at Chester L. Davis Sportsplex. It lists tennis courts at Rustic Oaks Park. The city's facilities directory also shows baseball and softball fields at Bayridge Park. The guide says reservations for all parks and indoor facilities have to be made in person at Hometown Heroes Park.
Hometown Heroes is also where the city runs pickleball instruction right now. The city's registration system lists Wednesday youth lessons from October 14 through November 18, 5 to 6 p.m., at $90/$154. Adult skills classes on Thursdays are listed at $55/$100. Signups go through League City's WebTrac portal.
Just over the city line, Chicken N Pickle at 210 Blue Heron Dr. in Webster takes pickleball court reservations and runs a regular events calendar. It's a private alternative to city courts until Lobit's courts open and the Hallisey site starts taking shape near Calder Drive.
New parks change how a part of town gets used, and the west side around Calder Drive and Ervin Street will look different by 2028. If you're thinking about selling a home near Lobit Park or the Hallisey site and want those changes reflected in how it's presented, Onyx Realty Group can build that local detail into your listing. Request Your Free Property Marketing Plan.
