Last week, the Tampa Bay Rays + Hines presented their redevelopment plan to St. Pete City Council.
The $6.5 billion dollar project — which includes a $1.3 billion new stadium — was detailed in an 184-page document and discussed at a nine-hour workshop. Beyond the new stadium, the redevelopment will turn the 86 acres, which was once the Historic Gas Plant District, into a new neighborhood with a hotel, housing, green space, and more.
“Our mission is to create a great place for St. Pete,” said Hines Senior Managing Director Michael Harrison in a release. “Placemaking is more than combining office, apartments and retail into the same block. It is creating a place that focuses on the human experience.”
Now that the dust has settled... we’re digging into what the transformation looks like before the City Council votes on the plan.
What will the rest of the neighborhood look like?
- 5,400 residential units including 1,250 affordable + workforce housing units
- A pedestrian bridge over I-275
- A new Woodson African American Museum of Florida
- 750 hotel rooms
- 90,000 sqft of conference, ballroom and meeting space
- A library
- 1.4 million sqft of office + medical space
- 750,000 sqft of retail space, including opportunities for small businesses and a grocery store
- 14 acres of green + open space
- A 4,000-6,000 seat concert + entertainment venue
In the words of Jed Bartlet, what’s next?
After the lengthy discussion,, the St. Pete City Council’s next meeting on the project was pushed from Thursday, May 23 to sometime in June. In the meantime, the council will pore over the “complex” agreements, according to the St. Pete Catalyst.
The current plan states that the Rays will take the field at the new stadium in 2028, but the rest of the project’s construction could take up to 30 years, according to WUSF.
