ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A brand new ballpark for the Tampa Bay Rays will likely be constructed close to the present one beneath plans unveiled Monday as a part of an enormous redevelopment challenge that additionally contains reasonably priced housing, workplace house and retail in what was as soon as a thriving Black neighborhood.
Mayor Ken Welch, of St. Petersburg, Florida, selected a partnership between the Rays and the Houston-based Hines growth firm from amongst 4 proposals to rework an 86-acre (34-hectare) downtown web site the place Tropicana Subject now sits. Welch mentioned the plan ought to maintain the Rays in St. Petersburg for the long run.
“This staff is the perfect companion for this generational endeavor, and now the subsequent section of labor begins to carry this dream to actuality for everybody in St. Petersburg,” Welch mentioned in a speech on the steps of Metropolis Corridor.
The Rays have performed on the domed Tropicana Subject since their inaugural 1998 season however have thought-about transferring elsewhere, resembling neighboring Tampa, amid persistently low attendance. There was additionally a proposal to separate their house video games between St. Petersburg and Montreal that was rejected by Main League Baseball.
Rays President Brian Auld, who attended the mayor’s occasion, mentioned in a short interview it’s “a thrill” to see the challenge take a serious step ahead. The plan requires a brand new domed stadium to be prepared for the 2028 season opener; the Rays’ present stadium lease is up in 2027. Renderings point out the outdated stadium could be demolished.
“This choice validates all of the exhausting work,” Auld mentioned.
Main League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred mentioned final 12 months that there’s a “sense of urgency” for the Rays to resolve their stadium challenge and that MLB desires the staff to stay within the Tampa Bay space.
“We expect Tampa is a serious league market and we wish to discover a answer that makes the membership economically viable in that market,” Manfred mentioned then.
Particulars stay to be labored out over the subsequent a number of years, together with the best way to finance the challenge among the many Rays, town, Pinellas County and different entities. Welch, who’s St. Petersburg’s first Black mayor, emphasised {that a} key aim is to revive a majority Black neighborhood often known as the Gasoline Plant District that was ousted by the stadium and a freeway.
The broader plan contains about 5,700 housing items — a big chunk of them to be deemed reasonably priced — workplace and retail house, 700 resort rooms, a 2,500-seat leisure venue and a brand new Woodson African American Museum of Florida.
General, Welch mentioned, the thought is to create a vacation spot for individuals who come to Rays video games, in addition to construct a brand new group.
“People wish to be right here. They wish to be subsequent to a vibrant downtown,” Welch mentioned. “It isn’t only for a ballgame however a whole expertise.”
Two proposals shepherded by the earlier mayor had been scrapped final 12 months by Welch, who sought to focus extra on reasonably priced housing and job alternatives on the Gasoline Plant District. The mayor’s grandfather ran a wooden yard enterprise there earlier than the neighborhood was primarily obliterated by Tropicana Subject.
“I’m a baby of the Gasoline Plant,” Welch mentioned. “It is going to now not be a dream denied.”