St. Petersburg City Council talk loose ends of Rays stadium deal

ST. PETERSBURG — After several delays, drafts marked up in red by lawyers and reams of petitions and letters for and against, a new baseball stadium for the Tampa Bay Rays and surrounding redevelopment appears to be headed for approval later this week.

City Council members received a quick presentation going over substantial changes to agreements governing both the stadium deal and plans for the Historic Gas Plant District before they could ask questions and discuss. If approved, the city would contribute $429.5 million to a project that includes a Major League Baseball stadium, housing, hotels, an African-American history museum, and numerous other features. That amount does not include interest or any future affordable housing financing.

Overall, the project is expected to cost $6.5 billion in public and private funds.

“I have felt heard,” said City Council member Gina Driscoll, who has vacillated on her support for the deal. She thanked the city and the Rays for their hard work. “To see all of it come together in this draft was really meaningful.”

Tuesday was the fifth such meeting since a tentative deal was struck between the city, Pinellas County, the Rays and development partner Hines in September. Negotiations began in January 2023 when Mayor Ken Welch selected the Rays and Hines out of four bids. Tuesday’s workshop sets the table for a final Thursday vote on the deal. A dozen agreements will be voted on then as a package to be approved or denied in a single vote by council members. While the council will decide at Thursday’s meeting how to finance the deal with bonds, it will address the zoning of the project in August.

If five council members vote to approve the package, then all that’s needed is approval of more than $312.5 million from the Pinellas County Commission. Its members have generally spoken favorably of the deal.

The county’s vote is tentatively set for the July 30. A July 25 workshop will include a preview of that meeting’s agenda and could involve discussion of the stadium.

Mayor Ken Welch began Thursday’s city’s presentation by sharing that his staff listened, made changes and refined the agreements based off of council members’ feedback.

“We’ve arrived at a place of historic opportunity for our community,” he said.

The development now calls for a fresh food grocery store built by 2045 and a day care, child care, preschool or similar facility built in the next nine years.

The Rays and Hines can now convert market-rate housing to affordable and workforce housing. Council member Richie Floyd, a critic of the deal who is a likely no vote, pointed out how the contract still says affordable housing is contingent on receiving additional money from federal, state and local sources.

“The public should be aware that this deal doesn’t provide affordable housing, it just outlines how future deals will provide it,” Floyd said. “I think that’s an important distinction and one that I’m frustrated by.”

The agreements now define who the parties are in the city’s agreements and eliminate the possibility of Rays owner Stu Sternberg staying on as a developer if he sells the team. City Council approval is now required for several changes, including how many affordable and workforce housing units get constructed and how $10 million in community benefits get spent on things like funds for talent pipelines and educational programs in southern St. Petersburg.

Council member Lisset Hanewicz, another critic of the deal who is likely to vote no, said her concerns remain. She confirmed with attorneys that the city has no way to vet those new parties to the agreement. She said if Sternberg were to sell the team along with the development rights, the new owner could buy out Hines without council approval. Rays president Matt Silverman said the Rays would not share the Hines Historic Gas Plant District Partnership agreement.

A new state law overriding the city’s ordinances weakens language about hiring apprentices and disadvantaged workers — goals that speak directly to the unfulfilled promises made to descendants of the Gas Plant neighborhood when it was razed for redevelopment more than 40 years ago but then later turned into a baseball field. The contract now says that there is a “voluntary agreement” that 15% of all hours worked are performed by those groups. A disadvantaged worker can be a person with a criminal record, a veteran, a resident of the neighborhoods around the Trop, someone who is unhoused or receiving public assistance.

Council Member Brandi Gabbard sought clarification from the Rays and Hines that their hiring commitment is not just aspirational but doable. Anddrikk Frasier of the development team said they were “upset about the news that came out of Tallahassee” but were still confident they could meet those goals.

The agreements outlines more about the Woodson African American Museum of Florida. The museum must provide a final financing plan and show it can cover half of the total cost to receive a $10 million donation, which is considered a community benefit, by next July. If construction has not begun within 15 years, the developer must propose another community benefit subject to City Council approval.

New drafts require that developers would use “good faith efforts” to get environmentally friendly LEED certification for the stadium, though the contract does not specify what level of certification. Solar panels would be designed for “potential renewable energy onsite” and a minimum of 20% of parking stalls would be for electric vehicles, including 2% of stalls with electrical vehicle charging stations.

The open space on the property also increased from 10 to 12 acres.

Council member Gina Driscoll asked about the difference in sustainability and environmental language between the Historic Gas Plant development and the stadium. Michael Harrison, Hines’ senior managing director, said conditioning a stadium is different than an office building.

“We both are committed to using the best practices for sustainability as it relates to residential, retail and office use,” Harrison said.

Hanewicz took issue with the lack of obligation in that language. Attorney Peter Berrie from the city’s outside counsel, Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP, said the language would be stronger if it read “and must implement.”

“If you’re say you’re going to do it, say it,” Hanewicz said.

Another concern of Hanewicz’s: The $50 million in community benefits to be paid out over the 30-year term of the agreement. “We have discounted the land by $50 million. And they’re giving us $50 million in community benefits. Who’s actually paying for that?” she asked.

Council member Copley Gerdes said the city’s discounted price for the sale of public land — an agreed upon price of $105 million for 65 acres compared to an appraised value of $279 million — could be counted as an incentive for the Rays and Hines to build affordable housing.

“If we decided that the discount of the land value that was enough incentive based on the administration’s feeling to get that land deal done, then we still can hold them to this threshold of the minimum development for affordable workforce housing,” he said.

Council chairperson Deborah Figgs-Sanders asked about Oaklawn Cemetery, a Black cemetery paved over for the stadium and surrounding parking lots. The city’s workforce and development director Brian Caper said a firm is using radar to identify those areas. A report is expected to be completed this fall.

“When you say you want to pay homage to the descendants, you can’t get any more honorable than that.”

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.