MEDFORD, Ore. (Sep. 9, 2026) — The City of Medford is taking an initial step toward developing a proposed minor league baseball stadium at Hawthorne Park, with a pre-application conference scheduled later this month to review the project’s potential land-use requirements.
The proposal, identified as Project PA-26-294, calls for a recreation and leisure facility that would include a minor league baseball stadium on approximately 12.8 acres at Hawthorne Park, located on the west side of Hawthorne Street between East Jackson and East Main streets.
The property is owned by the city and is currently zoned Public Parks, or P-1. It is also within the city’s Airport Area of Concern overlay and adjacent to a designated Frequent Transit Corridor.
The city’s application describes the stadium as a multipurpose facility that could accommodate minor league baseball games, youth sports tournaments, outdoor concerts and festivals, civic events, small-scale restaurants and the Rogue Valley Growers and Crafters Market.
City documents emphasize that the project remains in the conceptual design phase and could change as the planning process moves forward. The current application is intended in part to determine the appropriate land-use entitlement path for the proposed development as part of the city’s due diligence under City RFP 26-003.
Hawthorne Park uses would change
Hawthorne Park currently includes open space, a playground, dog park and skate park. The Rogue Valley Growers and Crafters Market also uses the park one day each week.
Under the proposal, the new facility would replace the existing Hawthorne Park improvements and uses, with the exception of the market, according to the supplemental findings submitted with the application.
The city’s preliminary review states that the proposed facility is a permitted use within the P-1 Public Parks zoning district. The project would be subject to Park Development Review and/or review by the Site Plan and Architectural Commission.
The property is approximately 12.83 acres and is designated Parks and Schools under the city’s General Land Use Plan.
Planning review set for Sept. 23
The city has scheduled a Land Development Committee meeting for 9:30 a.m. Sept. 23, where city departments and outside agencies will have an opportunity to review the proposal and identify potential conditions or requirements.
The meeting will be conducted through a Zoom webinar, according to the city’s routing memo.
The pre-application process is an early stage of development review and does not represent final approval of the stadium project. The documents submitted by the city describe the proposal as conceptual and subject to change.
The city’s application includes supplemental findings, property information, land-use and zoning maps, overlay and transit-corridor maps, and a conceptual site plan and elevations for the proposed stadium.
At this stage, the documents do not establish a construction schedule, final stadium design, financing plan or final operating details.
The proposal will continue through the city’s land-use and development review process before any final development approvals could be issued.
Stadium part of larger Creekside Quarter plan
Medford voters gave the green light to the Creekside Quarter project in November 2025, approving Measure 15-238 in a special election. The measure authorized a two-percentage-point increase in the city’s transient lodging tax, from 11% to 13%, providing a key piece of the financing structure for the proposed downtown redevelopment.
The vote marked a significant step forward for Creekside Quarter, a proposed roughly $500 million development envisioned to include a conference center, hotel, parking facilities and a baseball stadium.
The project is expected to rely primarily on private investment, with the lodging tax revenue intended to help support the public side of the development. The approval by voters cleared the way for Medford officials and project partners to continue advancing the concept toward development.
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