Rays Ballpark
Encyclopedia
Rays Ballpark was the name used in project documents for a ballpark
in the current location of Progress Energy Park
on the Tampa Bay
waterfront in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida
, proposed by the Tampa Bay Rays
as a replacement for Tropicana Field
.
The Rays had hoped to complete the park in time for the 2012 season. The proposal did not garner enough public support, and the project was abandoned.
A task force was subsequently created to look for alternate sites in and around St. Petersburg.
system at the top of the mast in 6–8 minutes.
The concourses in the proposed ballpark were similar to those at PNC Park
, whereas they would have been enclosed, but fronted with glass on the field side, allowing fans waiting for concessions to view the game's progress. As part of the new stadium, Bayshore Drive, which currently runs along the east side of Progress Energy Park, was to be closed during gameday activities, and become part of the ballpark.
The ballpark would have faced the opposite direction that Progress Energy Park does, so home runs could be hit into the water, similar to AT&T Park
in San Francisco
and PNC Park in Pittsburgh. This would have mitigated some issues involving heat, as a majority of the seats would be shaded from the sun during day games. The open access to Tampa Bay from right field would also have provided a cooling effect.
The original designs for the stadium called for up to 2.55 acres (10,319.5 m²) of Tampa Bay
to be filled in. By the time the stadium proposal was first made public, the landfill was reduced to 1.05 acres (4,249.2 m²). In May 2008, the team revealed a new design calling for moving Bayshore Drive to a bridge structure, reducing the landfill requirement to 0.4 acres (1,618.7 m²).
The plan website mentions that the simple act of moving from a dome to an open-air stadium could reduce the team's carbon footprint
by up to 70%. However, the ABC group analyzing stadium needs for the Rays have said that any new stadium must have a fully retractable roof.
, was released on November 28, 2007.
On March 11, 2008, the Rays continued to move forward with plans for a downtown stadium by submitting a preliminary design consideration document to St. Petersburg officials. In addition, the organization announced that a detailed transportation and parking study had concluded that the Al Lang site in downtown St. Petersburg is well suited for the Rays' proposed waterfront ballpark.
Nearly 14,000 parking spaces that may be available for the majority of ballpark events were identified, a figure that does not include roughly 7,000 on-street parking spaces. Some of downtown's largest institutions have expressed an interest in working with the Rays to provide parking for ballpark patrons, including All Children's Hospital
, Bayfront Medical Center
, and the University of South Florida St. Petersburg
.
was to contribute as much as $150 million or one third of the cost. The team had also planned to seek Florida's 30-year, $60 million sales tax rebate for new sports venues. They also planned to fund the new park through the sale of redevelopment rights to Tropicana Field
and the new property taxes generated from that redevelopment were projected to generate $800 million in new revenue. However, on January 7, 2008, the Rays announced they would be "temporarily abandoning" plans for seeking the subsidy. Using public funds in Florida
to build a stadium may have proved to be too difficult; the Florida Marlins
failed several times to get the sales tax rebate in their efforts to build the Miami Ballpark, and the state government anticipated heavy shortfalls in fiscal year 2009. Gov. Charlie Crist
had announced that he would be interested in doing whatever he could to help the project reach fruition.
Because the land Al Lang Field sits on is city property, city voters would have to approve a new use for the land, a referendum that was expected to be on the November 2008 ballot. Then, to allow the city to forgo paying property taxes on the site (a loophole in Florida laws allows county governments to own stadiums tax-free), a long-term lease would have been signed by the Rays and Pinellas County
would then take control of the site, a similar arrangement to that of Tropicana Field.
Rays ownership revealed the financing plan on May 16, 2008. Under this plan, in addition to the $150 million Stuart Sternberg was to provide, at least $70 million would have come from the sale of Tropicana Field. $100 million would have come from an extension of the one cent on the Pinellas County
tourist development tax that was approved for Tropicana Field, which was to be extended 25 to 30 years. $75 million was to be redirected from the money the city of St. Petersburg currently pays on the debt owed for construction of Tropicana Field, with those payments extended 25 to 30 years; the debt on Tropicana Field would be assumed by the redevelopers, taking that burden off the city. The remaining $55 million would be from parking fee revenues, and guaranteed by Sternberg. Sternberg would pay any cost overruns.
By that time, groups opposing and supporting the new stadium had already formed.
Proposals for the redevelopment of the Tropicana Field site were submitted to the City of St. Petersburg on March 18. Negotiations with Hines Construction and Archstone-Madison were begun for the redevelopment of Tropicana Field
on May 1.
On June 13, St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker recommended that City Council accept the redevelopment bid made by Archstone-Madison, which offered $65 million for Tropicana Field. Their redevelopment plan involves building 755 condominiums, 1,935 apartment units, at least 600 hotel rooms, 800000 sq ft (74,322.4 m²). of office space, and 1126000 sq ft (104,608.8 m²). of retail space. If approved by City Council and had the new stadium proposal passed, it would have been built in three phases, and completed in 10–13 years.
The first major hurdle for approval took place on June 5, when the St. Petersburg City Council voted 7–1 in favor of directing the City Attorney to draw up language for an approval referendum for the November 4, 2008, ballot.
The team also announced that a "community-based coalition," headed by Progress Energy President Jeff Lyash, will be evaluating alternate sites for the new ballpark in addition to the waterfront, and will be studying the team's fan base and corporate support. There is no publicly-released timetable for proceeding with stadium plans.
Derby Lane greyhound racing track and Toytown, a former landfill, are among seven suggested sites for a new Tampa Bay Rays ballpark. According to the St. Petersburg Times, there are environmental hazards at the Toytown landfill.
Among the possibilities is a 15 acres (60,702.9 m²) site in the Carillon area. The Carillon location also has twice as many people within a 30-minute drive than either downtown St. Petersburg site, according to an internal report released by the Rays. Carillon has been suggested as the best location from a transit perspective. Carillon Town Center would provide excellent potential for shared parking with adjacent development and excellent connectivity to the I-275 interstate corridor. This site would also seem to have a very high potential for a rapid transit connection. It appears that from a transportation and parking perspective, this site could potentially accommodate the majority of potential events at a new ballpark.
St. Petersburg City Attorney John Wolfe has stated that the city, which has a lease agreement with the Rays through 2027, "would only approve a stadium project within the city of St. Petersburg."
Baseball park
A baseball park, also known as a baseball stadium, ball park, or ballpark is a venue where baseball is played. It consists of the playing field and the surrounding spectator seating...
in the current location of Progress Energy Park
Progress Energy Park
Progress Energy Park is a 7,227 seat baseball stadium located on the downtown waterfront of St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. It is named in honor of Al Lang, a former mayor of St. Petersburg who helped to bring professional baseball to the city...
on the Tampa Bay
Tampa Bay
Tampa Bay is a large natural harbor and estuary along the Gulf of Mexico on the west central coast of Florida, comprising Hillsborough Bay, Old Tampa Bay, Middle Tampa Bay, and Lower Tampa Bay."Tampa Bay" is not the name of any municipality...
waterfront in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida
St. Petersburg, Florida
St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. It is known as a vacation destination for both American and foreign tourists. As of 2008, the population estimate by the U.S. Census Bureau is 245,314, making St...
, proposed by the Tampa Bay Rays
Tampa Bay Rays
The Tampa Bay Rays are a Major League Baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays are a member of the Eastern Division of MLB's American League. Since their inception in , the club has played at Tropicana Field...
as a replacement for Tropicana Field
Tropicana Field
Tropicana Field is a domed stadium in St. Petersburg, Florida, which has been the home of Major League Baseball's Tampa Bay Rays since the team's inaugural season in 1998, when they were the Devil Rays. It has also served as the host stadium for the Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl, an NCAA-sanctioned college...
.
The Rays had hoped to complete the park in time for the 2012 season. The proposal did not garner enough public support, and the project was abandoned.
A task force was subsequently created to look for alternate sites in and around St. Petersburg.
Design
The Tampa Bay Rays have been working with Populous (formerly HOK Sport) on a design for a possible future ballpark since at least the beginning of 2007. The main design point of the proposed stadium was the "Mast and Arch" retractable roof design. Instead of a solid material sliding roof panel, the "roof" would have been a fabric covering stored inside the shade to the seating. It was to be deployed by a pulleyPulley
A pulley, also called a sheave or a drum, is a mechanism composed of a wheel on an axle or shaft that may have a groove between two flanges around its circumference. A rope, cable, belt, or chain usually runs over the wheel and inside the groove, if present...
system at the top of the mast in 6–8 minutes.
The concourses in the proposed ballpark were similar to those at PNC Park
PNC Park
PNC Park is a baseball park located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is the fifth home of the Pittsburgh Pirates, the city's Major League Baseball franchise. It opened during the 2001 Major League Baseball season, after the controlled implosion of the Pirates' previous home, Three Rivers Stadium...
, whereas they would have been enclosed, but fronted with glass on the field side, allowing fans waiting for concessions to view the game's progress. As part of the new stadium, Bayshore Drive, which currently runs along the east side of Progress Energy Park, was to be closed during gameday activities, and become part of the ballpark.
The ballpark would have faced the opposite direction that Progress Energy Park does, so home runs could be hit into the water, similar to AT&T Park
AT&T Park
AT&T Park is a ballpark located in the South Beach neighborhood of San Francisco, California. Located at 24 Willie Mays Plaza, at the corner of Third and King Streets, it has served as the home of the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball since 2000....
in San Francisco
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
and PNC Park in Pittsburgh. This would have mitigated some issues involving heat, as a majority of the seats would be shaded from the sun during day games. The open access to Tampa Bay from right field would also have provided a cooling effect.
The original designs for the stadium called for up to 2.55 acres (10,319.5 m²) of Tampa Bay
Tampa Bay
Tampa Bay is a large natural harbor and estuary along the Gulf of Mexico on the west central coast of Florida, comprising Hillsborough Bay, Old Tampa Bay, Middle Tampa Bay, and Lower Tampa Bay."Tampa Bay" is not the name of any municipality...
to be filled in. By the time the stadium proposal was first made public, the landfill was reduced to 1.05 acres (4,249.2 m²). In May 2008, the team revealed a new design calling for moving Bayshore Drive to a bridge structure, reducing the landfill requirement to 0.4 acres (1,618.7 m²).
The plan website mentions that the simple act of moving from a dome to an open-air stadium could reduce the team's carbon footprint
Carbon footprint
A carbon footprint has historically been defined as "the total set of greenhouse gas emissions caused by an organization, event, product or person.". However, calculating a carbon footprint which conforms to this definition is often impracticable due to the large amount of data required, which is...
by up to 70%. However, the ABC group analyzing stadium needs for the Rays have said that any new stadium must have a fully retractable roof.
Proposal
The design of the ballpark, as well as the redevelopment plan for Tropicana FieldTropicana Field
Tropicana Field is a domed stadium in St. Petersburg, Florida, which has been the home of Major League Baseball's Tampa Bay Rays since the team's inaugural season in 1998, when they were the Devil Rays. It has also served as the host stadium for the Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl, an NCAA-sanctioned college...
, was released on November 28, 2007.
On March 11, 2008, the Rays continued to move forward with plans for a downtown stadium by submitting a preliminary design consideration document to St. Petersburg officials. In addition, the organization announced that a detailed transportation and parking study had concluded that the Al Lang site in downtown St. Petersburg is well suited for the Rays' proposed waterfront ballpark.
Nearly 14,000 parking spaces that may be available for the majority of ballpark events were identified, a figure that does not include roughly 7,000 on-street parking spaces. Some of downtown's largest institutions have expressed an interest in working with the Rays to provide parking for ballpark patrons, including All Children's Hospital
All Children's Hospital
All Children's Hospital is a Pediatric hospital located in St. Petersburg, FloridaIt is the only freestanding children’s hospital on the state's Gulf coast. It has consistently ranked among America’s top 25 children’s hospitals in comparative studies done by Child Magazine, which rated All...
, Bayfront Medical Center
Bayfront Medical Center
Bayfront Medical Center is a hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida. Bayfront Medical Center is Pinellas County's only trauma center and St. Petersburg's longest-standing hospital....
, and the University of South Florida St. Petersburg
University of South Florida St. Petersburg
The University of South Florida St. Petersburg , commonly known as USF St. Pete, is an autonomous campus in the University of South Florida system, located in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida by the Tampa Bay waterfront...
.
Financing
Rays owner Stuart SternbergStuart Sternberg
Stuart L. Sternberg is a Wall Street investor. He is the principal shareholder of the ownership group that owns the Tampa Bay Rays, and has acted as the team's Managing General Partner since November 2005....
was to contribute as much as $150 million or one third of the cost. The team had also planned to seek Florida's 30-year, $60 million sales tax rebate for new sports venues. They also planned to fund the new park through the sale of redevelopment rights to Tropicana Field
Tropicana Field
Tropicana Field is a domed stadium in St. Petersburg, Florida, which has been the home of Major League Baseball's Tampa Bay Rays since the team's inaugural season in 1998, when they were the Devil Rays. It has also served as the host stadium for the Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl, an NCAA-sanctioned college...
and the new property taxes generated from that redevelopment were projected to generate $800 million in new revenue. However, on January 7, 2008, the Rays announced they would be "temporarily abandoning" plans for seeking the subsidy. Using public funds in Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
to build a stadium may have proved to be too difficult; the Florida Marlins
Florida Marlins
The Miami Marlins are a professional baseball team based in Miami, Florida, United States. Established in 1993 as an expansion franchise called the Florida Marlins, the Marlins are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League. The Marlins played their home games at...
failed several times to get the sales tax rebate in their efforts to build the Miami Ballpark, and the state government anticipated heavy shortfalls in fiscal year 2009. Gov. Charlie Crist
Charlie Crist
Charles Joseph "Charlie" Crist, Jr. is an American politician who was the 44th Governor of Florida. Prior to his election as governor, Crist previously served as Florida State Senator, Education Commissioner, and Attorney General...
had announced that he would be interested in doing whatever he could to help the project reach fruition.
Because the land Al Lang Field sits on is city property, city voters would have to approve a new use for the land, a referendum that was expected to be on the November 2008 ballot. Then, to allow the city to forgo paying property taxes on the site (a loophole in Florida laws allows county governments to own stadiums tax-free), a long-term lease would have been signed by the Rays and Pinellas County
Pinellas County, Florida
Pinellas County is a county located in the state of Florida. Its county seat is Clearwater, Florida, and its largest city is St. Petersburg. This county is contained entirely within the telephone area code 727, except for some sections of Oldsmar, which have the area code 813...
would then take control of the site, a similar arrangement to that of Tropicana Field.
Rays ownership revealed the financing plan on May 16, 2008. Under this plan, in addition to the $150 million Stuart Sternberg was to provide, at least $70 million would have come from the sale of Tropicana Field. $100 million would have come from an extension of the one cent on the Pinellas County
Pinellas County, Florida
Pinellas County is a county located in the state of Florida. Its county seat is Clearwater, Florida, and its largest city is St. Petersburg. This county is contained entirely within the telephone area code 727, except for some sections of Oldsmar, which have the area code 813...
tourist development tax that was approved for Tropicana Field, which was to be extended 25 to 30 years. $75 million was to be redirected from the money the city of St. Petersburg currently pays on the debt owed for construction of Tropicana Field, with those payments extended 25 to 30 years; the debt on Tropicana Field would be assumed by the redevelopers, taking that burden off the city. The remaining $55 million would be from parking fee revenues, and guaranteed by Sternberg. Sternberg would pay any cost overruns.
Work on approval
The first official public hearing on the park was held on February 22, 2008, before the St. Petersburg City Council.By that time, groups opposing and supporting the new stadium had already formed.
Proposals for the redevelopment of the Tropicana Field site were submitted to the City of St. Petersburg on March 18. Negotiations with Hines Construction and Archstone-Madison were begun for the redevelopment of Tropicana Field
Tropicana Field
Tropicana Field is a domed stadium in St. Petersburg, Florida, which has been the home of Major League Baseball's Tampa Bay Rays since the team's inaugural season in 1998, when they were the Devil Rays. It has also served as the host stadium for the Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl, an NCAA-sanctioned college...
on May 1.
On June 13, St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker recommended that City Council accept the redevelopment bid made by Archstone-Madison, which offered $65 million for Tropicana Field. Their redevelopment plan involves building 755 condominiums, 1,935 apartment units, at least 600 hotel rooms, 800000 sq ft (74,322.4 m²). of office space, and 1126000 sq ft (104,608.8 m²). of retail space. If approved by City Council and had the new stadium proposal passed, it would have been built in three phases, and completed in 10–13 years.
The first major hurdle for approval took place on June 5, when the St. Petersburg City Council voted 7–1 in favor of directing the City Attorney to draw up language for an approval referendum for the November 4, 2008, ballot.
Cancellation
City and county leaders criticized the referendum plan as being "rushed." On June 25, 2008, in the face of mounting opposition, the Rays abandoned their attempts to get on the November ballot and postponed the project indefinitely. On May 22, 2009, the team announced that they had abandoned all plans for a ballpark on the St. Petersburg waterfront, preferring a location nearer the center of Pinellas County.The team also announced that a "community-based coalition," headed by Progress Energy President Jeff Lyash, will be evaluating alternate sites for the new ballpark in addition to the waterfront, and will be studying the team's fan base and corporate support. There is no publicly-released timetable for proceeding with stadium plans.
Derby Lane greyhound racing track and Toytown, a former landfill, are among seven suggested sites for a new Tampa Bay Rays ballpark. According to the St. Petersburg Times, there are environmental hazards at the Toytown landfill.
Among the possibilities is a 15 acres (60,702.9 m²) site in the Carillon area. The Carillon location also has twice as many people within a 30-minute drive than either downtown St. Petersburg site, according to an internal report released by the Rays. Carillon has been suggested as the best location from a transit perspective. Carillon Town Center would provide excellent potential for shared parking with adjacent development and excellent connectivity to the I-275 interstate corridor. This site would also seem to have a very high potential for a rapid transit connection. It appears that from a transportation and parking perspective, this site could potentially accommodate the majority of potential events at a new ballpark.
St. Petersburg City Attorney John Wolfe has stated that the city, which has a lease agreement with the Rays through 2027, "would only approve a stadium project within the city of St. Petersburg."
External links
- Major League Downtown Official Website
- Ballpark by the Bay the St. Petersburg TimesSt. Petersburg TimesThe St. Petersburg Times is a United States newspaper. It is one of two major publications serving the Tampa Bay Area, the other being The Tampa Tribune, which the Times tops in both circulation and readership. Based in St...
' web page listing articles related to the stadium proposal. - Ballpark Frankness the St. Petersburg Times' blog on the new ballpark and its approval process.
- Fans for Waterfront Stadium the main pro-ballpark lobbying group
- Preserve Our Wallets and Waterfront the main anti-ballpark lobbying group