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Rays' New Stadium Plan May Be 'Challenging'

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By DENNIS JOYCE

The Tampa Tribune

Published: April 18, 2008

Dozens of changes are needed to shoehorn a new Rays stadium into a busy corner of downtown, including more parking closer to the site and a different location for team offices, says a review of the proposal released today by St. Petersburg city staff.

The review, sent to city council members by Mayor Rick Baker, turned up no deal breakers, but does say "it may be challenging to accommodate the proposed stadium on the Al Lang site."

It also says the stadium must be redesigned to keep off a piece of property that is subject to a deed restriction the team failed to notice. And it suggests that if the project moves forward, the Tampa Bay Rays take steps to "encourage national awareness that the team plays in St. Petersburg."

The review was done to help the St. Petersburg City Council decide whether to put the stadium proposal to a voter referendum in November. The council is scheduled to reach that decision by June 5. A council workshop on the proposal is scheduled Thursday.

The Rays submitted a preliminary plan March 11 for moving the stadium from Tropicana Field west of downtown to a bayfront site centered on the team's former spring training location, Al Lang Field, home of Progress Energy Park.

The open-air stadium would have 34,000 seats; "one of the smallest upper decks in major league baseball," according to the city review; and a unique design featuring a retractable fabric roof to shield players and fans from rain and sun.

"When you build downtown ballparks, there are issues in every one of them. You have to build around them and accommodate them," said Michael Kalt, Rays vice president of development and business affairs. "We expected issues to come up, and we're looking forward to working with the city."

Among the changes recommended in the city review:

Use half a mile, or about six blocks, instead of three-quarters of a mile as the limit on how far fans walk from parking spaces to the stadium. The reason: St. Petersburg's climate, which is hot and humid enough that special measures are being taken to cool the open-air stadium once fans get there.

Provide more than two entry points into the new stadium to avoid congestion among pedestrians, or at least provide more details about how people would get in to allow for better evaluation of the time it would take.

Find somewhere else to stage the many buses that would transport fans. Using a planned new city park, as proposed by the Rays, would be too disruptive.

Put the team offices inside the stadium. A building for this purpose should not be erected, as proposed, on property adjacent to Al Lang that is now part of Progress Energy Center for the Arts. The building would damage the "vista/sense of arrival" at the center.

Make Bayshore Boulevard wider when it is rerouted east into Tampa Bay, to accommodate the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. The springtime race takes over the stadium vicinity one weekend each spring.

Consider support columns rather than landfill to raise a portion of the relocated Bayshore out of the bay – a move the team has told city staff it is considering. This could reduce the amount of fill by a third and minimize environmental impact.

If further studies show potential harm to balls of oysters living within the project limits, relocate them or place additional balls of oysters elsewhere in Tampa Bay as mitigation.

The deed restriction that was turned up in the city review covers water lots that were conveyed to the city in 1917 by Marguerite Cook. It prohibits structures on upland areas in a portion of what is now the Al Lang site.

The southwest corner of the proposed stadium could be affected by the Cook deed restriction, the city review says.

Neither the Rays nor their architect on the project, HOK, were aware of the deed restriction, the city review says.

"Staff has recently advised the Rays … and they believe the proposed stadium design can be modified …"

Reporter Josh Poltilove contributed to this report. Editor Dennis Joyce can be reached at (813) 259-7604 or djoyce@tampatrib.com.

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