Stadium Updates: We have a (first) vote! And it favors the Gasplant District Redevelopment!
Here’s why nothing is final yet.
This week, St. Petersburg inched a bit closer to a deal for the redevelopment of the former Gas Plant District anchored by a baseball stadium that will be the home of the Rays for years to come. The St. Petersburg City Council took the first of two required votes on the development agreement with the Rays/Hines partnership. This agreement is the key document that will spell out the details of the stadium and larger redevelopment deal.
The deal has a lot of moving parts, and requires more hearings and votes. Here I’ll try to summarize some of the key takeaways for Rays fans who simply wonder, will our area still have a local team in 2028?
For those who want to explore the issue further, in the last section you’ll see a summary of the major points of the development agreement; a link to to actual draft development agreement; and other article links below.
Who are the key players, and where do they stand on the development agreement?
- St. Petersburg mayor Ken Welch, who has championed this plan from the beginning. The city staff (planning, economic development) work for the mayor, so much of the work to support the development agreement is provided by this staff.
- The eight-member St. Petersburg City Council, which must support selling and leasing public land, providing financing for the stadium and surrounding infrastructure, and providing a host of permits and zoning changes. This week they voted 5-3 to support the development agreement moving forward to... another vote. They will hold a workshop on the agreement on July 9 and have scheduled another vote on July 11. Those opposing the deal have a few complaints: some dislike using public funds for the benefit of a private company, or if such funding is on the table they would like to see more affordable housing and a better financial deal for the city. A tie is a “no”, so the Rays/Hines group can’t afford to lose any votes.
- The Pinellas County Commission, which must approve the use of its Tourist Development Tax to pay a portion of the stadium costs. This group will vote in a few months, and there are likely to be two obstacles to their support. Commissioner Latvala has on several occasions complained that most of the county’s tourism is generated in the Clearwater area, which he happens to represent, and therefore tourism investments should be concentrated there, including requested upgrades to the Phillies complex (author’s note: I have no idea if his analysis of county tourism is correct!). Perhaps more problematic, the county is also considering spending a good chunk of its tourism tax collection on beach re-nourishment projects, because they can no longer count on the Army Corps of Engineers to do the job (why? it’s complicated). Do they have enough revenue to pay for the stadium and pay for sand?
- The partnership of Hines Development and the Rays. They have already signed off on the proposed development agreement; they become significant to this conversation only if one of the public bodies votes down the development agreement and further negotiation would be required.
What does the June City Council Vote to move forward mean?
In addition to allowing another vote to occur, the City Council approved the extension of a Tax Increment Finance (TIF) district that would have otherwise expired in 2032 so they can count on those revenues for part of the city’s contribution to the financing plan proposed by Hines/Rays. Opposition to the deal from City Councilmember Richie Floyd and from some of the public speakers focused on this point.
Overall, there are some interesting conversations about time frame.
City staff stress the urgency of these decisions, and we can imagine the Rays feel the same way. Working backwards from Opening Day 2028, it’s clear that stadium planning and approvals need to happen now if the Rays are to have a place to play by then. On the other hand, the deal’s opponents often talk about feeling “rushed” and needing to have more study, more public input, more time to weigh tradeoffs and more negotiations.
Several councilmembers complained that the documents they were reviewing are not the final documents, but it’s not clear to me what remains to be added or changed. They also complained that they will get the final documents in the coming weeks, which is when they are on break, and will need to use vacation time to review them for the scheduled July meeting.
If you really like to get into the weeds, you can see all the documents reviewed by City Council here, but here’s a summary of the key elements of the agreement, which I’ve copied from the city staff report as follows.
Details on the Stadium deal presented
BACKGROUND: The Development Agreement serves at the regulatory agreement with the purpose of the following:
- Identify the geographic area of the district;
- Establish the duration, 30 years [author’s note: this is 30 years from signing the agreement, not from the opening of the stadium]
- Address public facilities and services including sanitary sewer, solid waste, drainage/stormwater, potable water, transportation, parks and recreation;
- Determine the impact of existing and proposed development on each service or facility and determine whether any deficiency will be created;
- Be consistent with the local government comprehensive plan. The subject parcels are all included in the master plan for the supporting the new vision for this District.
- Total proposed construction activity over the 30-year period is estimated to be 10,626,898 gross square feet (GSF), or 3.0 FAR over the project upland area. Proposed construction activity includes:
- 5,400 dwelling units; including 600 Affordable/Workforce dwelling units [author’s note: there are additional affordable housing units planned offsite];
- 750 Hotel rooms; 90,000 gross square feet of Conference and Meeting Space;
- 1,400,000 gross square feet of Office (General and Medical);
- 850,000 gross square feet of Commercial (Retail/Entertainment);
- 50,000 gross square feet of Civic/Museum;
- Up to 35,000 seat Sports Stadium.
For more, this week’s developments have been covered by all the local media, here are some links: