Gas Plant Stadium

27°46′6″N 82°39′12″W / 27.76833°N 82.65333°W / 27.76833; -82.65333Capacity30,000Acreage86SurfaceArtificial turfConstructionConstruction cost$1.3 billion (estimate)ArchitectHinesTenantsTampa Bay Rays (MLB)

Gas Plant Stadium is a proposed indoor ballpark in St. Petersburg, Florida. If approved and constructed, it would serve as the home of the Tampa Bay Rays of Major League Baseball.^[1][2] The construction cost is estimated to be $1.3 billion and the total cost to public will be $1.5 billion.

Proposal

On September 19, 2023, the Rays announced plans to build a new stadium adjacent to their current stadium, Tropicana Field.^[3] This proposal involves redeveloping the entire 86-acre site, with this new ballpark within that boundary and adjacent to the current ballpark, which will subsequently be demolished.^[4][5]

The construction is estimated at a cost of $1.3 billion, with the city of St. Petersburg and Pinellas County contributing $600 million through a bed tax (a six percent tax on accommodations on hotels and private homes rented for less than six months^[6]), and the team contributing the rest. Factoring in the cash, tax breaks, and discounted land being offered to Rays, the public cost of the project will be $1.5 billion.^[7][8]

This will be a 30,000 seat fixed roof stadium and the surrounding ballpark village would also include 4,800 market-rate residences and 1,200 affordable and workforce housing units; about 600 of the latter would be located off-site. It would have 1.4 million square feet of office space, 750,000 square feet of retail space, a 100,000-square-foot conference center, and 750-room hotel, for a total of $6.5 billion. Unlike Tropicana Field, the stadium will feature operable walls and windows that can be opened on pleasant days or closed to ward off Florida’s summer heat, rain and humidity.^[9][10]

The development site will encompass eight million sq ft of development, including: 48,000 residential units, 1,200 affordable/workforce unites, 1.4 million sq ft office/medical space, 750,000 sq ft of retail space, 750 hotel rooms, a 4,000 seat concert venue, 30,000 capacity ballpark, 100,000 sq ft conference/meeting space, 50,000 sq ft non-profit community space, 14 acres of parks/open space and 14,000 parking stalls. ^[11]

On April 25, the development team released documents on the 65 acres of development surrounding the ballpark in advance of the May 9 city council meeting.^{[12] [13]}

This is the latest proposal for a new Tampa Bay Rays stadium, in addition to the Ybor Stadium and Rays Ballpark.

References