TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Rays On Stadium: If You Build It, No New Tax Will Come

Artist rendering by Tampa Bay Rays

The council is set to decide June 5 whether to authorize a referendum in November on a new downtown stadium at the site of Progress Energy Park

ADVERTISEMENT

By CARLOS MONCADA

The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 16, 2008

Updated: 05/16/2008 12:12 am

ST. PETERSBURG - The Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday unveiled a plan to finance a $450 million downtown waterfront stadium with mostly private dollars and no new tax.

A central feature of the plan: Sell the existing Tropicana Field site and use the proceeds to pay off the debt on the field immediately, then divert all public money earmarked for that debt in the future toward the new ballpark.

Here's the cost breakdown, presented by the Rays at a Thursday afternoon meeting of the St. Petersburg City Council:

•$150 million from the team

•$70 million from a developer who would purchase the Trop site, mainly parking lots, and turn it into some combination of homes, stores and offices.

•$55 million in new parking revenue generated by the new ballpark.

•$100 million from Pinellas County's 1-cent bed tax, now set to expire in 2015 but extended as far as 2047 under the Rays plan. Bed tax money now is used to pay off the Tropicana debt.

•$75 million from state sales tax revenue allocated to the city of St. Petersburg - money that also is used now to pay off the Tropicana debt.

Rays representatives told Mayor Rick Baker and the city council that the private contribution would be among the largest in any major-league ballpark deal. The 34,000-seat, open-air stadium would be ready for play in 2012.

"This is one of the highest percentages of non-public dollars that would go into a ballpark facility anywhere," said Michael Kalt, Rays senior vice president of development and business affairs.

Team President Matt Silverman said redeveloping the 86-acre Tropicana site into a mixed-use community would mean, in effect, a net gain of $303 million in revenue for the city and county - far more money in new property tax revenue than the $175 million they would pay toward a new ballpark.

For example, in 2020 the city and county would be paying $12.8 million to cover the new debt on a waterfront stadium while pulling down $19.4 million in property tax revenue if the Tropicana site is redeveloped.

The combined projects - the new waterfront ballpark plus a redeveloped Tropicana site - would create almost $1 billion in new tax receipts over the next 35 years and produce more than 10,000 construction jobs and 2,500 permanent jobs, the Rays said.

City leaders were still not ready to commit to the proposal.

"They have presented a proposal I think is one that's worth us reviewing, analyzing and discussing," Baker said after the presentation.

Council members will discuss the financing plan at a Thursday workshop. The council has set an initial vote for June 5 on whether to schedule a November referendum on a new downtown stadium. The team's plan also requires approval from the Pinellas County Commission.

"We think this outline is a good starting point," Silverman said. "But it's going to take conversations between all three parties to figure out if this is something worth pursuing all the way to November."

Council members had several questions Thursday, including how the team planned to generate $55 million in parking revenue.

"The short answer is we don't know," Silverman said. "That's why we're eager to begin these conversations in detail with the city to identify how we can come up with these revenue streams."

Others wondered whether a developer's purchase of Tropicana Field would be enough to pay off immediately all the current city and county stadium debt that is set to expire in 2016.

In 2009 that debt will stand at $69 million, but the highest offer the city has received from developers to purchase the Tropicana site is $65 million. However, the purchase price is still open to negotiation, said Rick Mussett, city development administrator.

"If there is a referendum, I do want the citizens to have a clear idea as to what they're being asked to vote for," council Chairman James Bennett said. "We've seen benefits, but they also need to know the risks when they make their votes."

The financing plan didn't seem to change any minds among backers and opponents of the new ballpark.

"The public commitment of funds to benefit a private business is something that concerns us," said Niel Allen, a member of the anti-stadium group Preserve Our Wallets and Waterfront, or POWW. "So really, I haven't seen anything here today that would change our positions on the issues."

Kenny Locke, founder of Fans for Waterfront Stadium, said the proposal minimizes the city's risk by not requiring any public contribution until 2017.

"The risk is still eight to nine years out," he said. "The benefit far outweighs the risk."

Reporter Carlos Moncada can be reached at cmoncada@tampatrib.com or (727) 451-2333.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT