Thrive
Business leaders advocate for stadium deal, patience
St. Petersburg officials will take another swing at approving their contribution toward a $6.7 billion redevelopment anchored by a new Tampa Bay Rays stadium Thursday afternoon. Two of the city’s most prominent business leaders are hopeful for a late-inning save.
Storm-induced complications have put long-negotiated agreements on the brink of collapse. Chris Steinocher, CEO of the St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce, believes the partners should proceed with patience and grace.
“Our community of leaders from the county, city and Rays have all worked really hard, and none of this was caused by anybody,” Steinocher said. “It was caused by Mother Nature. We all suffered. And then we tried to make quick decisions, which are never good.”
How we got here
Pinellas County agreed to allocate $312.5 million to the $1.37 billion ballpark in July. Following back-to-back hurricanes, commissioners delayed an Oct. 29 bond vote to finance their contribution.
In a Nov. 19 letter, the Rays claimed the deal – in its current form – was dead. They said the county’s delay made the project financially unfeasible. Hours later, a reconfigured board, with less support for the initial agreements, voted to postpone bond approval until Dec. 17.
In July, the city council had approved dedicating $287.5 million to offset stadium construction costs and $130 million to upgrade a reimagined Historic Gas Plant District’s infrastructure.
At their Nov. 21 meeting, however, Rays president Brian Auld reiterated that he did not see a path forward, and council members voted to postpone their bond vote.
City and county leadership subsequently requested a formal termination notice from the team that would cancel the deal. That would also cause the Rays and development partner Hines to lose control of discounted, prime real estate surrounding a severely storm-damaged Tropicana Field.
“I’m hopeful for everyone to understand the amazing deal we had and what tweaks we might need to make it workable for everybody,” Steinocher said. “I know we’re a major league city.
“I really believe people have short-changed the notion of how damaged we are as a community, and we’re being asked to act like we’re not.”
Chris Steinocher, CEO of the St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce, at a July event celebrating the city’s approval of the Historic Gas Plant District’s redevelopment. Photo by Mark Parker.
A path forward?
Steinocher said public and private conversations with city, county and team officials since the Nov. 21 meeting have provided hope for a solution. “I don’t feel like anyone is packing it in.”
Jason Mathis, CEO of the St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership, said the 30-year project’s economic benefits remain unchanged for all involved – and thus believes the Rays could still anchor the Gas Plant’s redevelopment.
He also noted the optics surrounding the city and county reneging on agreements signed in July. “It implies to other prospective partners that our local governments will not honor their commitments,” Mathis said. “That’s not a good look.”
Jason Mathis, CEO of the St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership.
Mathis said the redevelopment project’s success does not necessarily hinge on a ballpark. However, he believes including Major League Baseball would “greatly enhance” the outcome.
Local developers comprise the Downtown Partnership. Mathis said the consensus is a major league team “validates that St. Petersburg is a legitimate urban center.”
He said most members also understand the potential upside of working with Hines, “an incredibly competent global developer.” They hope the city will move forward with a renegotiated development agreement with the firm, with or without the Rays.
Steinocher said developers are “chomping at the bit” to build in St. Petersburg. He also expressed concern over what the property would become without the Rays and negotiated community benefits.
“I’ve always said economic development is not just about growing because we will grow no matter what,” Steinocher explained. “It’s about what kind of growth do we want. We said we wanted to be a major league city with these assets and resources.”
Major League Baseball has played an integral role in St. Petersburg’s evolution for over a century. Steinocher compared it to an ingredient in “mama’s soup.”
He elaborated that while no one has the exact recipe, they know it provides much-needed comfort. Steinocher believes the Rays helped revitalize downtown and are one of many ingredients in St. Petersburg’s “soup.”
“Would the soup taste good without Major League Baseball? Maybe,” he continued. “Do I want to try that soup? No.”
Carloa Maldonado
December 8, 2024at9:17 am
The Rays stadium and the entrainment venue as cooked is the worst agreement and contract I ever studied It will be the greatest mistake over a PPP, This agreement was tailormade to the 100% benefit f the Rays owners and nothing left to the citizens of the City of St Petersburg and Piniellas County.
This is hard to say but St. Petersburg is not a MLB city it is small city, with no easy assess to the stadium with worst traffic jams at the games hours, there is not huge business support as required for a successful operations (around 60% of a team income must come from region business, which Rays not close to that figure), for me is LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION.and RAYS don’t have it.
Alan DeLisle
December 6, 2024at1:50 pm
John
Always respect points of view. The private development in the Atlanta deal was all paid for by the developer, no city money for infrastructure or the cost of land. The public sector put money into the stadium but they knew the private development was a huge money maker without public subsidies. I met and talked to the Braves about the deal many times. St Pete is putting up about $500 million in land and infrastructure and not getting any revenue back on income. The worst deal ever.
Buffalo is a bad deal, I agree, but there is no public money for private development around the stadium, similar to Atlanta.
My comments are based on 35 years of practicing successful public-private economic development, seven of which in St Pete. I know there are few independent voices out there on this project.
Mine is as independent as you will get.
John
December 6, 2024at11:48 am
Alan – It’s not close to the worst deal ever.
Hell, the Atlanta deal up north already looks worse than what St Pete has on the table.
And look at Buffalo, they’re about to pay over a $1B for a stadium that hosts 8 NFL games a year.
I respect your comments but you’re sounding like an old disgruntled city employee with every article comment now.
MelvinJunior
December 6, 2024at2:00 am
It is absolutely, NOT “the worst deal ever.” Not even CLOSE. It is a VERY fair deal. For BOTH sides. All around. There is a lot of ‘give and take’ from both sides. That is exactly, the way that it is supposed to be. Is it PERFECT!? No. Because, nothing ever is. Especially, with these ‘types’ of deals. It is a total ‘no-brainer’ of an opportunity, all around, and they should JUMP at the chance. They’ll never get another one. St. Pete will be completely, irrelevant on the national stage if they can’t get this done. It’s just a fact. AND, it 💯 will hurt their reputation with prospective future developments, by showing that they cannot guarantee any agreement will be honored from here on out. It would be a BIG blow. This “Hines/Ballpark Development” is a once in a lifetime opportunity, with limitless benefits for the city/county and entire metro region, for decades to come. The “Phillies” WILL BE getting ‘their’ pretty penny here soon (from Pinellas County), towards their own new (Half a BILLION Dollars+) Drew Street Development, so WHY NOT the Rays!? There are some people who are just HATERS, period. Anything about ‘sports’ in general, & everything about anything that ‘they’ don’t or can’t understand. And, there are ‘others’ who have their OWN ‘selfish’ personal agendas. Then, there are a few who are just blinded by their stubborn egos, for their heads are buried in the same sand that they have drawn a line into. They just won’t… Because, they can’t move past this. We are dealing with a lot of children.
Nicole Caron
December 5, 2024at9:08 pm
Corrections: *mire* and *unintended*
Yeesh 🙄 I shouldn’t one-finger type when I’m riled up!
Nicole Caron
December 5, 2024at9:05 pm
No, Chris, this was not an “amazing deal.” This was a deal that would more the city in debt for decades to come, saddle St. Pete’s homeowners with stiff property tax increases, and leave our aging infrastructure intended. The shortsightedness and the egotism of the mayor and the City Council members who supported this iteration of the deal is mind-boggling. Those people are ill-equipped to make major financial decisions on behalf of our city. I hope voters remember this at election time. I sure will.
james gillespie
December 5, 2024at8:16 pm
I would argue that the deal must be proven to benefit all residents long-term. The arguments from both sides too often are general and based on presumptions. For $6.5 billion, the plans should enhance all people’s economic opportunities and prospects, right down to the youngest of the young.
Alan DeLisle
December 5, 2024at6:13 pm
So sad. Both know that this is the worst stadium/development deal ever negotiated, with or without Mother Nature. The city will be hurt by this deal for 30 years. It’s sad when the business community is controlled by one special interest vs what is in the city’s best business interest. It should be about whether St Pete is a world class city not whether Wall Street plays a game in its backyard unfairly paid for by city taxpayers.
The business community and the city will be under the control of the Rays for the next 30 years if this goes through. Mother Nature just exposed it sooner than later. The Mayor, the sold out five Council members, and the business community were sadly and badly outsmarted by the Rays.
Ask one question: why did the city approve two separate deals, one for the stadium and one for the development and never had the foresight to tie them together? I guess the answer is evident if the city still insists on approving the worst deal ever: make sure the Rays are always in control.
Ask another question: Why is the deal being approved this way. If it was a good deal, do you think it would need to be jammed through like this. Of course not. Simple put: this is a terrible deal that will be written about for years as a “how not to” for cities.
The business community fell into a trap of having to save the Rays at any cost and didn’t have the courage to do what’s right by the city when the worst deal in baseball history was exposed.
It will be an embarrassment to the city well after these business leaders and public officials move on.
I hope and pray that quality economic development carries the day in the end, or St Pete will be a negative story for years to come. It was not about saving the Rays at any cost; it was about maintaining the integrity of a great city.
Herb
December 5, 2024at5:14 pm
Kill the deal. The storm was “a sign” not to do the deal.
Here we are fixing a stadium that is going to be torn down!
Do the politicians really think the voters want this?
Lauren Lopez
December 5, 2024at5:00 pm
Unreal. I really like this quote: “It’s about what kind of growth do we want. We said we wanted to be a major league city with these assets and resources.”
Maybe that is what YOU said you want the city to be. As a 4th generation Native, I never wanted this vision that you imagine. If it’s such a great idea, you should have let the citizens vote for it by referendum. Too scary for all of you big business folks? Huh.
I guess we will see if you guys get your way. Greed and business and politics. So attractive. Said no one ever.