Suncoast Pinellas News
Stadium Critics Say St. Pete Could Redevelop Tropicana Field Site Itself
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Published: April 9, 2008
ST. PETERSBURG Supporters and foes of the Tampa Bay Rays' downtown stadium proposal can sound off yet again at a public hearing Thursday, and three redevelopment proposals for Tropicana Field are expected to draw much of the public's comment.
Some stadium critics, though, say there is a fourth option for redeveloping the Tropicana site that has received little to no attention from city leaders: Let the city, which owns the air rights over the Tropicana field parking lots, redevelop those parcels itself, thereby allowing St. Petersburg to share more equally in the proceeds from such a project.
"Why hasn't anyone from city staff or the city attorney's office informed council of this option?" said former city council member Kathleen Ford, a critic of the $450 million open-air waterfront stadium the Rays want to build by 2012.
The city's response: That's a question for another day.
"The opportunity [to develop the air rights] is there," said Dave Goodwin, St. Petersburg economic development director. "It is an option, but it's not before us now.''
Goodwin denied contentions that council members have been left in the dark about the air rights.
"Everybody knows about it," he said. "So it's in the back of everybody's mind about that possibility in the future."
Since the first public hearing on Feb. 21, the city has received proposals from three national developers to transform the 86-acre Tropicana site into a massive mixed-use project. Thursday's hearing is at 6 p.m. at city hall. The final hearing is set for May 22.
The Rays have asked the council to decide by June 5 whether to authorize a November referendum on a new ballpark at the spring training site of Progress Energy Park, home of Al Lang Field.
City Development Administrator Rick Mussett pointed out the city was approached by the Rays with a proposal that does not include the team continuing to play at Tropicana Field, as would happen if the city decided to sell or lease any or all of the air rights it owns at the site.
"The Rays came to us and proposed a new stadium and they proposed funding part of that stadium through revenues that would come from redeveloping the Tropicana Field site," Mussett said. "The reason we got into this was in response to their request. And any development proposal for the Tropicana site, even with the air rights scenario, would require the mutual concurrence of the Rays, which is something that is often overlooked."
The 1995 agreement allowing the Rays to use the publicly wned domed stadium requires the team's approval that any development on the site would not adversely affect operations there, Mussett said.
The agreement also requires the city to provide replacement parking of any surface lots that are lost to redevelopment, he said.
"At somewhere between $12,000 and $14,000 a space, that could get very expensive," Mussett said.
Tropicana Field has about 7,000 on-site parking spaces, meaning that replacing all of them would cost upwards of nearly $10 million.
The city would be reimbursed for that cost out of the gross proceeds from developing the lots, the agreement reads. After that, the city and the Rays would share equally in the net proceeds.
Ford and other critics contend the Rays are trying to change the agreement so the team would get all of the proceeds plus the property tax revenue from redeveloping the Tropicana site, rather than splitting them with the city.
Mussett reiterated that the air rights option may be considered if the Rays' stadium proposal fails to get on November's ballot or is defeated at the polls.
"There are 20 years left on the Tropicana Field use agreement," Mussett said. "And if for some reason this proposal doesn't go forward or doesn't get approved, any conceivable option may still be on the table. But there's only one in front of us right now, and that's the one the Rays have given us."
Reporter Carlos Moncada can be reached at (727) 451-2333 or cmoncada@tampatrib.com.
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