Kansas City architectural firm Populous, a specialist in convention and sports facilities, has been selected to design the proposed replacement building for the Los Angeles Convention Center’s West Hall.

LA Live developer Anschutz Entertainment Group, which hopes to build a NFL stadium on the West Hall site, said Wednesday that it made the selection in consultation with the city of Los Angeles, which owns the convention center. Populous is a global firm that has completed convention center projects in Phoenix and Anaheim, and full convention centers in Qatar and India. Its sports facilities include the new Yankee Stadium, Wembley Stadium and AT&T Park in San Francisco.

Once the new facility is completed near the south end of the convention center complex, the West Hall would be demolished for the construction of the stadium, to be called Farmers Field. In addition to creating comprehensive design drawings for the new hall, Populous, as architect of record, will contribute to the environmental impact report that AEG must prepare.

AEG in March hired architecture and design giant Gensler to design and prepare environmental studies for the proposed $1 billion football stadium, which would double as a convention events center. The project has yet to receive approval from the city, which is trying to work out a bond financing deal with AEG.

Chief Executive Tim Leiweke said at a community meeting this week that AEG needs to know before the City Council goes on summer break at the end of July whether the city agrees to the proposed “framework” of the deal. That should enable the company to start construction next June on the new hall. The project is projected to take two years.

The stadium, which does not yet have a NFL team, is projected to be ready by start of the 2016 season.