Following the 1996 Summer Paralympics, the Olympic Stadium was reconfigured as designed into the baseball-specific Turner Field, serving as the home of the Atlanta Braves of Major League Baseball from 1997 until 2016.

After the Braves' departure for Truist Park in Cobb County, Georgia State University acquired the stadium and its surrounding parking lots for a large scale expansion of the university's campus, including new private and student housing, academic, and retail space, in addition to the stadium redevelopment.

In the multimillion-dollar renovation covered by the ACOG, much of the north end of the stadium was removed in order to convert it to its permanent use as a 49,000-seat baseball park.

[14] Between April and May 2014, Georgia State University announced its intentions to pursue the 77-acre (31 ha) Turner Field site for a mixed use development.

[15][16] On December 21, 2015, the Atlanta Fulton County Recreation Authority announced that they had accepted Georgia State's bid for the stadium property.

[18][19] The sale of the Turner Field property to Georgia State was officially closed on January 5, 2017, with the stadium conversion project beginning in February 2017.

Renovations took place over multiple phases, and included installing an artificial turf playing surface, reorienting the lower bowl, covering upper deck seating, and upgrading locker rooms.

[22] On August 8, 2017, the university announced that the playing surface would be named in honor of Georgia State alumnus Parker H. "Pete" Petit, who contributed $10 million towards the Panthers athletic program.

In April 2017, protesters set up a tent city near the stadium; however, the encampment was removed by the Georgia State Police Department at the behest of Summerhill residents in June 2017 for health and safety reasons.

[24] On August 11, 2020, the university entered a naming rights agreement with the Atlanta Postal Credit Union (APCU), in a contract lasting 15 years and valued at $21 million.

[28] The first Panthers home game in the stadium was on August 31, 2017, a 17–10 loss to the Tennessee State Tigers in front of an announced sellout crowd of 24,333.

[39] In December 2022, the GHSA and the Atlanta Falcons reached a three-year agreement, starting in the 2023 season, to bring the football championships back to Mercedes-Benz Stadium.