Two Florida cities have two major stadium proposals in the works.
In St. Petersburg, the city is looking to build a new stadium for the Tampa Bay Rays and redevelop the surrounding land. In Jacksonville, the city is looking to overhaul the stadium for the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Colleen Wright with the Tampa Bay Times and Casmira Harrison with JAX Today discussed the proposals Friday with Tom Hudson on The Florida Roundup.
The St. Petersburg plan would be a $6.5 billion public and private investment, according to Wright. It includes redeveloping 86 acres of land.
“So the stadium itself will take up about 17 to 20 acres or so. And the remaining 65 acres or so is going to be home to a new African American History Museum. It would actually be the first building built specifically for an African American museum,” Wright said. “It will have somewhere estimated around 5,000 residences, some of those affordable and workforce housing. It may have an entertainment hall. There may be some hotels and some office space depending on what comes out.”
The Rays' stadium site was once the Historic Gas Plant District, a Black community razed decades prior. Wright explained how the site was instead used to build Tropicana Field.
“It used to be thriving. It had bars, restaurants, a school, there was really a loving community, and then a lot of descendants will tell you that," Wright said. "And in the ‘70s, the city said, the area's become blighted, we're going to raze it and we're going to put light industry and new homes and we're going to revitalize the area. Sometime later, in the ‘80s, the plans got changed. And the city council said, this could be maybe a potential ballpark site. So those plans, those promises of jobs and housing never came through. I mean, a lot of people see it as a lie, or a promise unfulfilled.”
RELATED: A group raises questions over the Gas Plant District redevelopment in St. Petersburg
Because of this, Wright said there is a big emphasis on providing affordable housing for residents, as well as jobs and opportunities for minority-owned businesses. The Rays and real estate developer Hines would face penalties of $25,000 per unit if 300 affordable housing units aren’t built by 2030. They would also have to pay a $850,000 penalty for every 10 years they don’t reach a minority business goal, which is 10%. But those are a far cry from the recommendations issued by St. Pete’s Community Benefits Advisory Council, which spent weeks reviewing the proposal.
"So those plans, those promises of jobs and housing never came through. I mean, a lot of people see it as a lie, or a promise unfulfilled."Colleen Wright
As for the price tag: the stadium would cost about $1.3 billion, with the Rays covering around $700 million. The city of St. Pete would pay about $287.5 million, and Pinellas County would pay around $312.5 million from bed tax or hotel tax. That’s the tax surcharge you pay from visiting a hotel or short-term rental like an Airbnb.
St. Pete Mayor Ken Welch has said property taxes won’t be raised to pay for the stadium, according to Wright.
“The stadium right now is in a community redevelopment area. They're going to look at tax increment financing. So basically, they're leveraging increased property values in the future, once this is built, they're kind of borrowing on that money now, and it's being backed up by non-property taxes.”
Wright also said the team and Hines are buying the 65 acres surrounding Tropicana Field for $105 million. Two years ago, the land was appraised for $279 million.
She mentioned the city and county are relying on studies saying the proposal will bring jobs, which would allow them to pay it off.
“However, people who are not in favor say, well, hey, we could sell this off at way more closer to market rate, and really get our money's worth out of this,” Wright said.
RELATED: Key decisions on a new Rays stadium are still to come
She noted opponents to the plan also point out the low attendance numbers Rays games get.
Jacksonville's “Stadium of the Future”
In Jacksonville, the renovation plan for EverBank Stadium is expected to cost about $1.4 billion. However, Harrison said some things are still up in the air.
“The city has been pretty tight-lipped about the details of the negotiations. And according to Mike Weinstein, who's the chief negotiator on the deal, nothing is set in stone until everybody agrees to it,” Harrison noted.
It’s also unknown how Jacksonville and the Jaguars will foot the bill. Harrison said the two have gone with a 50-50 split in the past.
“… if you were to take the initial numbers, say $1.4 billion, and split that in half, you got $700 million that the city has to invest in this," Harrison said. "Where the money comes from, however, is not entirely sure.”
Unlike St. Petersburg, the Jacksonville stadium would be completely renovated instead of rebuilt to keep construction costs down, Harrison explained. The overhaul is being touted as the “Stadium of the Future.”
“Among the most visual changes, though, would be the roof. They want to provide some protection across it, get better air flow in the stadium, protect from the weather, that sort of thing," Harrison said. "Plus, the city has been handling maintenance for years and, according to the Jags, they've been deferring maintenance issues that really need to be addressed.”
There were also plans initially to redevelop the surrounding area.
“There's plans for the Four Seasons Hotel that (Jaguars owner) Shad Khan got built, working on over there and all of this other space around the stadium, but it appears that the city and the Jags took that off the table earlier,” Harrison said.
