ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Ink met paper Wednesday afternoon, with local leaders officially signing off on the monumental deal between Pinellas County, St. Petersburg and the Tampa Bay Rays to build a new stadium and revitalize an area and community displaced decades ago.
Less than 24 hours after Pinellas County commissioners gave approval for the Rays/Hines development, developers and regional leaders gathered Wednesday morning at Tropicana Field to celebrate the finalized deal and share what's next.
"Today is a day of excitement, gratitude and appreciation," Rays team president Matt Silverman said during the news conference as he reflected on what led up to this.
Commissioners voted 5-2 Tuesday to approve $312.5 million toward the construction and design of a new ballpark — the last piece of the puzzle needed to fully fund the broader $6.5 billion redevelopment plan for the Historic Gas Plant District.
“The Rays are here to stay and the Gas Plant District will be developed because of the vision and dedication and hard work of so many here today and many, many more who contributed to this project," he continued.
Earlier this month, St. Petersburg City Council gave its final approval for the Rays stadium deal, guaranteeing that the team will stay in St. Petersburg for the next 30 years.
“To our hometown city, St. Petersburg: This has been an incredible journey; not just the past two years but for the past 27 years," Silverman said. "We are so excited to be here today.”
The project, which includes upgrading infrastructure, building parking garages, hotels, business space, an African American museum, affordable housing units and a state-of-the-art home for the Rays across 86 acres, will require nearly $743 million in public funding between the city of St. Petersburg and Pinellas County.
“What a historic day in St. Petersburg,” Mayor Ken Welch began.
“We got here because of our partnerships and our shared priorities," Welch continued. "We all know the historic Gas Plant redevelopment will be a game changer for our community, for St. Pete, for Pinellas County, for the Tampa Bay region and Florida.”
Overall, developers say the new Rays stadium will be an "intimate experience" for fans, promising to bring them closer to the action as well as the person next to them.
“Before it was, ‘Build it and they will come,’ but now it’s ‘Build it, because we are here,’” St. Petersburg City Council chair Deborah Figgs-Sanders said, in part. “We will not only live in a ‘Field of Dreams,’ but we are grateful that those dreams are closer to a reality.”
Hines & Tampa Bay Rays proposal renderings
The Rays say the ballpark will be the "anchor" to the Gas Plant redevelopment project. After the ballpark and neighboring facilities are built, the team says the project will have close to 8 million square feet of development, including more than 5,000 residential units, 600 affordable/workforce housing units on site and another 650 units in other parts of St. Petersburg.
“We are bridging the gap between the Bay and the beaches, from Terre Verde to Clearwater Beach, from Pinellas Park to downtown, there is something here for everyone,” Pinellas County Commission chair Kathleen Peters said.
Construction is set to start in January 2025 with the ballpark aiming to be ready for the Rays on Opening Day 2028.
10 Tampa Bay's Aaron Parseghian, Andrea Chu and Miguel Octavio contributed to this report.