Supporters, opponents say work remains in Tropicana Field redevelopment

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The  St. Petersburg City Council took a major step in plans to redevelop the Tropicana Field site and Historic Gas Plant District Thursday as members voted 5-3 to approve 12 agreements needed to move the plan forward.

“Today is a major milestone in a 40-year journey to fulfill the promises of the Historic Gas Plant District, and we’re so excited,” Mayor Ken Welch said during a news conference following the vote.

The $6.5 billion project from developer Hines and the Tampa Bay Rays is expected to bring not just a new ballpark, but also to revitalize the Gas Plant District with features like office space, new jobs, and 1,200 units of affordable housing.

A major concern from the public has been that promises in the agreement — particularly concerning the affordable housing — could fall through, just as pledges made to Gas Plant residents did when they were forced to move when the Trop was originally built.

“The first dislocation had nothing written,” said Welch. “There were no written agreements, certainly to the degree that we have those now. We have legal agreements with Hines-Rays that sets both targets and minimum development standards.”

Councilwoman Lisset Hanewicz was one of the three members who voted against the plan. She raised concerns about the amount of public money being spent — as the city’s share would be $417.5 million. That included developers contributing $50 million in community benefits to the project — the same amount she said the city had discounted the cost of the land.

“So, they are not really paying $50 million in community benefits, we are,” Hanewicz said. “Yet they are providing those benefits with conditions throughout a 30-year term with a lot of ambiguity still within those contractual provisions.”

The vote left some members of the public disappointed. Chaize Harrell, a member of the group Faith in Florida, said he doesn’t plan to stop speaking out about the redevelopment.

“There’s, you know, other ways to protest. There’s other ways to stop it,” Harrell said. “There’s going to be a new city council in November, you know what I mean? There’s going to be new allies, possible new people that are elected because of this deal.”

Welch, though, said he’s received mainly positive feedback about the project as a whole.

“There is overwhelming support for what we’re doing moving forward,” he said. “You’ve heard from, in my view, the same group of folks who are opposed to any public/private partnership moving forward. I mean, the day that I announced I selected Hines-Rays, basically the same group that was protesting this week was protesting that day.”

Next up, the Pinellas County Board of County Commissioners is expected to vote on agreements related to redevelopment later this summer. The county’s contribution to the plan will be $312 million.

“Their contribution is from bed tax dollars that can only be used for tourism or sports-related purposes,” Welch said. “We’re not going to take their vote for granted, but I do think we have support from the county commission.”

Rays owner Stu Sternberg was cautious in talking about the upcoming vote.

“I’m not taking the county vote for — I’m going to hold that in judgment for now,” Sternberg said after the council vote.

If approved by the commission, construction on the project is expected to start next year.