Rays release new St. Petersburg stadium renderings in partnership with Hines, the developer of Petco Park

Dec 2, 2022 - 7:00 PM

Following years of drama, the Tampa Bay Rays have formally submitted a proposal for a new baseball stadium at the Tropicana Field site, and provided the following renderings for a new ballpark and mixed-use district in downtown St. Petersburg.

The pyramid shaped stadium is planned to be covered in green space, and in the renderings includes a music hall and African American museum.

The development partner for this stadium concept is Hines, a Houston-based firm that is one of the world’s top developers, best known in the sports world for developing Petco Park in San Diego. As one of the largest real estate firms in the world, the firm has experience with many community-based projects like office buildings, luxury apartments, and large home developments.

One well known recent achievement is the One Vanderbilt tower in New York City. The firm was also responsible for developing the University of Minnesota’s football stadium, which was the first American football stadium to receive LEED certification, college or professional.

The team’s current use agreement that functions as the lease for Tropicana Field expires at the end of the 2027 season, which means construction on their next home must begin in the coming months for the Rays to move into a new stadium on time.

The press release and full details on the project are as follows:

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Hines, a global real estate investment, development, and property manager, in partnership with the Tampa Bay Rays has presented a 7 million square feet redevelopment plan for a vibrant, mixed-use district surrounding a state-of-the-art new ballpark for the Tampa Bay Rays. The redevelopment of the Historic Gas Plant District will be one of the largest urban real estate developments in the United States over the next 15 years.

Hines and Rays development proposal features more than 5,700 multifamily units, 1.4 million square feet of office, 300,000 square feet of retail, 700 hotel rooms, 600 senior living residences, a 2,500-person entertainment venue, and various civic uses. Hines and the Rays have embraced and incorporated the City of St. Petersburg’s goals of honoring the Historic Gas Plant District legacy and creating St. Petersburg’s next great place to live, work, and play. The site would include over 20 new urban blocks and provide public benefit on over half of the land area, in addition to nine sustainability strategies that will advance the city’s priorities and position St. Petersburg as a leading city for large-scale resilience.

As co-general partners, Hines and the Rays have assembled a best-in-class team of partners, contributors, and advisors.

Gensler, one of the world’s largest and most renowned architectural and planning firms will serve as the masterplan architect, working alongside St. Petersburg-based Storyn Studio for Architecture. Washington, D.C.-based Dantes Partners, will serve as the affordable housing partner and would lead the development of more than 850 affordable and workforce housing units on-site, and together with Hines and the Rays will improve and create approximately 600 residences off-site through various homeownership grants and rental assistance programs in St. Petersburg.

Additionally, Hines and the Rays are committing $50 million to intentional equity initiatives that will support and uplift historically disadvantaged populations through a variety of restorative strategies. The project prioritizes and seeks to maximize local SBE/MBE involvement through direct spend as well as capacity building. Based upon the target threshold of 20% this represents a target SBE/MBE participation in excess of $500 million over the term of the project.