Here’s why the St. Pete Downtown Partnership supports the Rays/Hines stadium deal

The St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership supports the Historic Gas Plant District Development proposal by the Tampa Bay Rays and Hines, and we encourage the City Council to vote yes.

We have approached this project objectively with a clear understanding of current development challenges, national best practices, the site’s history and a recognition that no single development can solve every problem. Last year, we ended our long business relationship with the Rays to ensure that our analysis would be impartial. After significant negotiations between the city and the developer, we believe this project is the best way for St. Pete to continue to grow in thoughtful and strategic ways.

The Downtown Partnership has participated in discussions about this project for many years. We supported the 2018 Tropicana Field Master Plan with HKS Consultants. Our CEO served as a member of the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative for Equitable Development of Tropicana Field and as a member of St. Pete’s Community Benefits Advisory Committee. In addition, seasoned real estate leaders on our board, not associated with the Hines-Rays team, offered analysis and recommendations to the administration, development team and the City Council to improve the process and final proposal.

The administration took our recommendations to heart. The Hines-Rays team listened to our suggestions. And most importantly, the City Council added important protections, cleared up legal questions and significantly improved the proposal. All parties have negotiated in good faith and worked to find common ground. In the end, Hines-Rays are not getting everything they want, and the city is not getting everything it asked for either. No deal is perfect, but this development will enhance our community and continue downtown’s momentum.

In addition to retaining baseball in our city for future generations, the Rays are paying the bulk of the costs for a publicly owned facility that will also be used as a community meeting space and concert venue. The public will retain ownership of the land and pavilion-style ballpark that will be the centerpiece of the Historic Gas Plant District. We recognize the economic impact that will come from out-of-town fans who will travel to St. Pete to cheer on opposing teams. We welcome them and their spending power, but to be truly successful, the intimate ballpark must be actively programmed throughout the year. We are encouraged by the design elements that will make it one of the most innovative and accessible stadiums in the country.

There has been significant discussion about the affordable housing components of this proposal — and for good reason. Housing access and costs remain a critical issue for St. Pete. We believe that 1,250 units of affordable and workforce housing, with 600 of those units to be built on the Historic Gas Plant District site, is an important benefit.

Gratefully, this project offers more than just housing. For many years, we have advocated for new downtown office space. The current cost of construction, inflated land values and high interest rates make it difficult to build new office buildings, despite significant demand from potential employers who would like to expand or relocate downtown. Hines, with its experience, resources and financial capacity, is better positioned than any other developer in the world to build new office space and attract thousands of new jobs to our local economy.

The green space, performance hall, Woodson African American Museum, walkability, water elements, entertainment aspects, community gathering space, connectivity to surrounding neighborhoods and intentionality about honoring the history of the site are all incorporated into this proposal. Many of these benefits are difficult to quantify financially, but they will add to quality of life for residents from across the city and region.

We also predict there will be a halo effect of innovative architecture and new investment in surrounding neighborhoods because of this project. Thoughtful design, urban management expertise and new tax revenues from investments will spill out beyond the borders of the Historic Gas Plant District. The impact of a development of this magnitude will be felt far beyond the site itself.

The Historic Gas Plant District deserves a master-planned, mixed-income, complete neighborhood that can be a global example of smart urban design. This proposal promises that. The Hines team, with architectural expertise from Gensler and influenced by the sensibilities of local developers, architects and planners, is uniquely suited to produce something extraordinary. Far more than just a cluster of restaurants surrounding a ballpark, the new Historic Gas Plant District has the capacity to be one of the country’s great neighborhoods.

This will be a smart investment by the City of St. Petersburg that will produce a significant return for generations. The city’s financial contributions toward the construction of the ballpark and infrastructure for the Historic Gas Plant District Development are reasonable and capped. The agreements before the City Council protect the city’s interests and limit its risk. And this public-private partnership will create a planned development with public benefits that could not be matched if the property were sold off in pieces to the highest bidder.

We know there will be unanticipated obstacles ahead. The next few years will be particularly challenging as the Rays work to open the ballpark and Hines works to complete phase one by opening day 2028. The vision for the first phase of this project is ambitious and will provide significant new office, entertainment, housing and a true game-day experience. The City Council’s vote to support the proposal is the right next step to a future Historic Gas Plant District we can all be proud of in a city we all love.

Barclay Harless is a community leader and commercial banker who is chairperson of the St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership. Jason Mathis is the CEO of the St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership and has three decades of experience in nonprofit management and urban development.