As MLB team considers new stadium, mayor has big plans

The mayor of St. Petersburg plans to handle racial injustice by constructing a new stadium, NBC News reports.

As Tampa Bay Rays search for a new home, a significant redevelopment project in St. Petersburg, Florida, might be the reply. The $6.5 billion project wouldn’t only beautify the 86-acre site in the town’s downtown district, but additionally provide a house for a Major League Baseball team for the subsequent 30 years.

Additional development plans for the world include construction of inexpensive housing, a Black history museum, a hotel, green space, entertainment facilities, and office and retail space, which might create 1000’s of jobs in the world.

For Ken Welch, St. Petersburg’s first black mayor, the new project may even fulfill his mission to right historical wrongs which have plagued the town for a long time.

Tropicana Field is currently home to the Tampa Bay Rays. The dome’s sprawling parking lots are within the Historic Gas Plant District, once home to a thriving black community. People were forced out of the world to construct Tropicana Field, which has the bottom attendance of the 30 MLB stadiums, and to construct an interstate highway.

Mayor Welch’s commitment to combating racial injustice features a proposal to construct a $1.3 billion, 30,000-seat baseball stadium that may open in time for the 2028 MLB season.

“Empowering residents from every part of St. Pete is essential to the success of our city,” Mayor Welch said in a September 2023 letter. announcing stadium project details. “You can expect rapid growth from the most important development project within the region that can create more jobs, provide more cost-effective/workforce housing, provide top-notch educational and cultural facilities, offer extensive office space, community space and green space, and generate impactful economic development, including equal opportunity for local and minority businesses. This project will likely be a successful breakthrough for many who live, work and visit St. Petersburg.

“Like many others, I have called the Gas Plant home,” he continued. “Some 40 years ago, my family’s livelihood was uprooted by the promise of economic opportunity that would improve and enhance their lives. Now we have the opportunity to fulfill that promise and preserve the legacy of the Historic Gas Plant District.”

With the Rays facing uncertainty about their future, a final vote by the Pinellas County Commission will determine whether a new stadium will turn out to be their home. To realize the vision, the town can have to spend an estimated $417.5 million, including $287.5 million for the stadium itself, in addition to $130 million in infrastructure for the larger redevelopment plan. Despite the big numbers, St. Petersburg isn’t anticipating new or higher taxes.

Pinellas County, which currently has the ultimate say, would contribute $312.5 million toward its share of the stadium costs. County officials say a bed tax, funded largely by tourists, can be where they’d raise their share of the cash needed for the project.

A vote on the plan is scheduled for July 30.