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St. Pete Wanted To Hold Off On Revealing Rays Stadium Plans
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Published: November 16, 2007
ST. PETERSBURG - Plans for a Tampa Bay Rays stadium on the downtown waterfront could score an economic home run, the team says, pumping $1 billion into the city's economy, creating 2,500 permanent jobs and attracting a million square feet of new retail, office and residential development, including 900 homes.
Those are new details gleaned from 600 pages of documents the city released Friday about the Rays' plan to build a new $450 million ballpark and put its current 75-acre home at Tropicana Field to other uses.
The Rays wanted to formally announce the plans this month, but top city administrators said no because more details needed to be ironed out first, the documents show.
They also show the Rays have spent more than a year working on plans for the downtown stadium and redeveloping Tropicana Field.
Among benefits the team outlines in correspondence with the city:
Together, the projects would bring more than $1 billion in new investment into the downtown area.
The proposal would create 2,500 permanent jobs for local residents and spur 14,000 temporary construction-related jobs.
Redeveloping the Tropicana Field site would generate more than $800 million in new property and sales tax revenue during the next 35 years.
The figures are in an Oct. 22 letter to the city from Michael Kalt, a Rays senior vice president. The letter is part of a stack of memos, internal e-mails and other documents the city released Friday afternoon in response to public records requests, including one from The Tampa Tribune. News about the downtown stadium broke a week ago.
"As you know, we have spent almost a year developing a plan which we believe will not only solidify the future of the Rays in St. Petersburg for decades to come, but, more importantly, will also serve as a powerful economic development engine for the continued growth and expansion of the downtown core," Kalt wrote.
Most details about the plans, however, including drawings of the proposed ballpark, remain confidential under state law, officials said, even though they have been shared with Mayor Rick Baker, his top staff members and city council members.
"The reason they wanted to travel under the confidentiality provisions is so that they could determine if it was even remotely feasible," St. Petersburg Development Administrator Rick Mussett said.
Earlier Friday, at a Tampa Bay Partnership luncheon, Rays President Matt Silverman said the team is targeting Nov. 28 to reveal its plans to the public.
Last month, though, Mussett wrote Silverman that a November announcement was premature.
"Matt, I know you … would like to proceed as expeditiously as possible, but we feel a more deliberate approach is advisable, especially since the entire endeavor is predicated on the public's acceptance of the proposal," Mussett wrote.
Among the uncertainties Mussett cited are financing plans for a downtown stadium, whether the ballpark can be "successfully integrated" into the downtown landscape and the need to refine the redevelopment proposal for Tropicana Field.
The documents showed the Rays are trying to find what they call a unique retailer to anchor the Tropicana Field site. The Rays have told officials they expect to develop 1 million square feet of retail and office space - about the size of a major indoor mall - and build 900 homes on the site, at the western edge of downtown.
The documents show the Rays have been exploring their options for relocating from Tropicana Field since spring 2006 or earlier - just a few months after Stuart Sternberg bought the team.
In May 2006, Kalt wrote city development administrator Kevin Dunn requesting information about the ownership and sales history of the properties surrounding the Tropicana Field site. The next month, Kalt wrote Dunn asking about the size and value of Tyrone Square Mall in west St. Petersburg and the taxes it generated.
Those would be helpful pieces of information in determining how much revenue the sale and redevelopment of the Tropicana Field site might generate. According to officials who already have been briefed on the Rays' plans, the team is counting on that money for a significant portion of the financing for a new stadium.
Pinellas County Commissioner Bob Stewart, who as a St. Petersburg councilman voted in 1986 to build Tropicana Field, said he supports the team's plans.
"I want to see baseball played in the Tampa Bay area, preferably in St. Petersburg," said Stewart, who was briefed on the plans this week along with other elected county and city officials. "And it's obvious that the Rays don't see the long-term future of Major League Baseball in this facility."
Reporter Marc Lancaster and News Channel 8 reporter Rod Challenger contributed to this report. Reporter Carlos Moncada can be reached at (727) 451-2333 or cmoncada@tampatrib.com.
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