A new vision for tropsites without rays? St. Pete Commons

It’s time for St. Petersburg to take control of its future and develop plans for the Tropicana Field Site Post from 2028 onwards. A future that does not include major league baseball.

The idea of ​​losing baseball is not easy. Berg had a long history in baseball since the Saints of St. Petersburg played against the Cincinnati Reds on the north side of Miller Lake in 1908, followed by decades of spring training.

Understood. Like countless others, I was an infantryman in baseball efforts, serving on the Chamber of Commerce Stadium Committee in the late 1980s, earning a signed petition for Major League Stadium. We all participated in what was called the Pinellas Suncoast Dome and the groundbreaking of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays on the first day. As mayor, I have participated in many games, including the World Series. I even named my book on St. Petersburg history “Mangroves to the Major Leagues.”

However, when St. Petersburg first pursued major league baseball, the times were different. Many felt that the city needed to kickstart the city centre. After all, downtown St. Pete blossomed in a great way. In my view, baseball had a limited impact on its growth.

Professional sports teams can have many positive effects on the city. However, in St. Petersburg, baseball costs are too large and the benefits are too small.

The current 30-year lease for the stadium will expire in a few years. After the Rays failed to move the team to Tampa’s Ever City in 2018, St. Petersburg and Pinellas County agreed to fund the new Rays Stadium in St. Pete and flip through 86 acres of downtown land for redevelopment. Over the next few decades, the deal required more than $700 million in “total debt payments” from St. Petersburg and more than $580 million in debt service from the county, according to the city’s overview. It’s a huge amount of public money.

It’s too big. Worse, the Rays refused to name the team after St. Petersburg, despite demanding hundreds of millions of dollars from city taxpayers.

Luckily, Ray recently dropped out of the contract. Media reports say the Rays later came up with the idea for a city and county to spend $400 million to renovate the TROP and extend the lease for 10 years. Again, lots of taxpayer money for limited profits. A better option is to leave the ray at the end of the current lease, which appears to be there throughout the 2028 season.

It’s time to focus on the future of St. Petersburg and focus the Rays on your own.

Our city is home to one of the most vibrant, easy to walk in and great downtowns in the country. To redevelop 86 acres of major downtown land, you can come up with a better option than continuing to fund hundreds of millions of dollars of St. Petersburg taxpayer money to accommodate a team named after Tampa, not St. Peter’s. Given the huge, bustling Saturday morning farmers market, you might wonder if it would bring a huge profit to downtown St. Peter’s.

We can do better.

We recommend thinking it is low density. I’m not hearing people in our neighborhood say, “Hey, I wish we could pack more people, more buildings, and more traffic to downtown.” I hear the exact opposite.

Instead of a baseball stadium, why not build 30 acres west west Downtown Park (St Pete Commons) about a third of the 86 acres available. Think of the 50-acre Boston Common, amenities for the spectacular park. Water features, outdoor concerts in the park, play areas, swimming pools, bandstands, monuments, carousels, gardens, coffee stands, fountains, and more. St. Pete Commons is about three times larger than St. Pete’s Vinoy Park and five times larger than North Straub Park. Our beautiful park system was the backbone of St. Petersburg’s success. More people are coming downtown, so let’s add some green space.

St. Pete Commons will be enjoyed by residents from 100 years onwards and beyond. If we build another baseball stadium today, how long will it take for the conversation to begin again?

In addition to Commons, it will weave downtown road grids into the site to create a new pedestrian-friendly urban design with cultural assets such as business, multi-family homes, sidewalk cafes, hotels, live event venues, public facilities and the proposed Museum of African American History. The arts have fixed the downtown renaissance for the past 25 years. It is based on that.

Instead of handing over the site to another master developer, establish a 30-acre commons, reconnect the road grid, and then have city leaders, citizens and markets decide what to do with the rest of the block. You will also need to limit the height of the building across from the Commons, like when you built most of Beach Drive.

To sell blocks and pay for public improvements, fund more affordable housing across the entire city, one of Mayor Welch’s top priorities.

Importantly, it is to develop the Commons and surrounding blocks in a way that recognizes and recognizes the history of the community that once lived there, and respects the past promises of work on the site. Perhaps starting with an expanded healthcare facility, it offers good work at all economic levels. Other employers will follow.

Endgame? A 30-acre St. Pete Commons Green Space for the entire community, surrounded by work and amenities for our citizens. The development seamlessly blends into the rest of downtown and nearby neighborhoods without spending more than $1 billion in taxpayer money. It sounds very St. Pete.

Rick Baker is the former Mayor of St. Petersburg, a former second term.