Gas Plant Stadium
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Location | St. Petersburg, Florida, U.S. |
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Coordinates | 27°46′6″N 82°39′12″W / 27.76833°N 82.65333°W |
Capacity | 30,000 |
Acreage | 86 |
Surface | Artificial turf |
Construction | |
Construction cost | $1.3 billion (estimate) |
Architect | Hines |
Tenants | |
Tampa Bay Rays (MLB) |
Gas Plant Stadium is a proposed indoor ballpark in St. Petersburg, Florida. If approved and constructed, it would serve as the home of the Tampa Bay Rays of Major League Baseball.[1][2] The construction cost is estimated to be $1.3 billion and the total cost to public will be $1.5 billion.
Proposal
On September 19, 2023, the Rays announced plans to build a new stadium adjacent to their current stadium, Tropicana Field.[3] This proposal involves redeveloping the entire 86-acre site, with this new ballpark within that boundary and adjacent to the current ballpark, which will subsequently be demolished.[4][5]
The construction is estimated at a cost of $1.3 billion, with the city of St. Petersburg and Pinellas County contributing $600 million through a bed tax (a six percent tax on accommodations on hotels and private homes rented for less than six months[6]), and the team contributing the rest. Factoring in the cash, tax breaks, and discounted land being offered to Rays, the public cost of the project will be $1.5 billion.[7][8]
This will be a 30,000 seat fixed roof stadium and the surrounding ballpark village would also include 4,800 market-rate residences and 1,200 affordable and workforce housing units; about 600 of the latter would be located off-site. It would have 1.4 million square feet of office space, 750,000 square feet of retail space, a 100,000-square-foot conference center, and 750-room hotel, for a total of $6.5 billion. Unlike Tropicana Field, the stadium will feature operable walls and windows that can be opened on pleasant days or closed to ward off Florida’s summer heat, rain and humidity.[9][10]
The development site will encompass eight million sq ft of development, including: 48,000 residential units, 1,200 affordable/workforce unites, 1.4 million sq ft office/medical space, 750,000 sq ft of retail space, 750 hotel rooms, a 4,000 seat concert venue, 30,000 capacity ballpark, 100,000 sq ft conference/meeting space, 50,000 sq ft non-profit community space, 14 acres of parks/open space and 14,000 parking stalls.[11]
On April 25, the development team released documents on the 65 acres of development surrounding the ballpark in advance of the May 9 city council meeting.[12] [13]
This is the latest proposal for a new Tampa Bay Rays stadium, in addition to the Ybor Stadium and Rays Ballpark.
References
- ^ Berry, Adam (September 19, 2023). "Rays announce deal for St. Petersburg ballpark". MLB. MLB. Retrieved September 19, 2023.
- ^ "Historic Gas Plant District Development". MLB. September 19, 2023. Retrieved September 19, 2023.
- ^ Cridlin, Jay (September 19, 2023). "Check out renderings of the Rays' new stadium in St. Petersburg". Tampa Bay Times. Times Publishing Company. Retrieved September 19, 2023.
- ^ Snyder, Matt (September 19, 2023). "Rays new stadium: Team announces plans for domed ballpark, surrounding 'village' in downtown St. Petersburg". CBS. CBS. Retrieved September 19, 2023.
- ^ Berdychowski, Bernadette (September 22, 2023). "How parking at Rays games could be affected during ballpark construction". Tampa Bay Times. Times Publishing Company. Retrieved September 22, 2023.
- ^ "Pay Tourist Development Tax". Pinellas County Government. Retrieved November 9, 2023.
- ^ Diner, Ron; Mullins, Tom (December 13, 2023). "St. Petersburg's proposed Rays stadium deal is a strikeout for the city". Tampa Bay Times. Times Publishing Company. Retrieved January 5, 2024.
- ^ Neil deMause (December 26, 2023). "Rays stadium subsidy could top $1.5B counting tax and land breaks". Field of Schemes. Retrieved January 5, 2023.
- ^ Cridlin, Jay (September 19, 2023). "Here's what else is in the $6.5 billion Tropicana Field redevelopment". Tampa Bay Times. Times Publishing Company. Retrieved September 19, 2023.
- ^ Berry, Adam (September 19, 2023). "Rays announce deal for St. Petersburg ballpark". MLB.com. MLB Advanced Media. Retrieved November 13, 2023.
- ^ "Historic Gas Plant District Development". MLB.com. MLB Advanced Media. Retrieved February 23, 2024.
- ^ "The Rays' Gas Plant development agreement is ready. Here's what it says". tampabay.com. Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved April 27, 2024.
- ^ "St. Petersburg city officials will finally get their say on a proposed Rays stadium". wusf.org. WUSF. Retrieved May 8, 2024.