Tampa Bay Rays fans are two big steps closer to having a baseball stadium in Tampa.
The Tampa City Council and Hillsborough County Commission approved the Rays’ proposed stadium deal late August. In back-to-back votes, the local governments agreed to build a stadium in Tampa.
The Rays now have momentum after their deal spiraled into uncertainty earlier this year.
“We said to the community it was our dream to build our forever home right here in Tampa Bay,” Rays CEO Ken Babby said after Hillsborough passed the agreement. “That starts now.”
The funding agreement has a few conditions that need to be met before public dollars can go toward the project. They revolve around a community benefit agreement that the city, county and Rays have yet to negotiate. A few more layers of approval are needed to access county funding sources.
As celebrations continue, here are some takeaways after last week’s votes.
More agreements need to be negotiated
In a Tampa Sports Authority finance committee meeting last week, board member Andy Scaglione raised questions about the proposed deal’s community benefit commitments.
Historically with similar agreements, Scaglione said, any commitments for housing, apartments or other benefits are lumped together for a local government to vote on all at once. That’s unlike the Rays funding agreement, Scaglione said, which didn’t attach numbers on affordable housing units or other details on the accompanying development.
“Are y’all going to vote on this agreement before y’all have that?” Scaglione asked board members, who include Tampa City Council member Alan Clendenin.
“There’s going to be a lot of subsequent standing agreements negotiated as we progress with this project,” Clendenin replied. “This is just the first agreement of what will be multiple agreements.”
The conversation demonstrated how further details on the Rays’ responsibilities — with the proposed adjacent mixed-use development, transportation improvements and more — could come after last week’s legal commitment.
Babby said after Friday’s vote that the community benefits agreement still needs to be negotiated. He added that funding for the new stadium is contingent on that agreement.
“It’s what’s called a condition precedent to the funding going forward,” Babby told reporters after Hillsborough’s vote. “Not a penny from the city or the county will go into the project until that agreement is negotiated.”
The Rays last week released a proposed list of commitments the team said it could make to build affordable housing, support businesses and improve transportation at the Hillsborough College site.
At the time of the city and county votes, the Rays and local governments had not given specific numbers for those commitments.
Courts must approve some funding sources
The way the stadium deal is structured, public money can only go to the Rays if approved by the courts.
The county is bonding some of the money it’s going to use from its 6% bed tax on short-term rentals and hotels. Bonds are like a mortgage on a house — they accrue interest.
Hillsborough is set to bond a $228 million upfront contribution from the bed tax, also known as the tourist development tax.
Florida law says if a county or city wants to bond money, it has to go through the courts. The court would need to sign off on creating a new district that would keep all property taxes collected there and funnel them back into the project.
That could take another 30 to 90 days.
Also included in Hillsborough’s deal is another $360 million from its half-cent sales tax contribution. It’s from the Community Investment Tax and those funds go toward roads and other infrastructure projects.
To use the money, Hillsborough still has to set a public hearing and add the stadium to a list of infrastructure projects that can benefit from the tax. That way, its annual contribution over the next four years is earmarked.
Hillsborough commissioners would need to make these changes before October, when the next fiscal year starts, to lock in the first $90 million installment this year.
Disaster relief funds to be examined
Hillsborough is also set to use about $30 million from a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development grant.
Local governments have historically used these grants to update water and sewer systems after a hurricane. Governments have also used the funds to rebuild homes.
The federal government requires local governments that receive these grants to make a plan. Under the stadium deal, that $30 million would fund water and sewer upgrades at the proposed site.
Hillsborough still has to check with the federal government to ensure the county can use that money for the stadium. If not, the Rays would pay the difference.
Hillsborough College students set to move
Hillsborough College president Ken Atwater said Friday that he wants to start building temporary, portable trailers for students “almost immediately.”
“I can’t give you an exact time,” Atwater said, but the college will “try to be ready” to start the spring semester in the trailers.
Coined “The Nest,” the Rays and the college plan to put up a set of trailers on the northwest portion of campus. That’s where the administration building sits, and it’s still unclear how many trailers the college and team would put up.
A preliminary schedule attached to the documents the city and county approved last week says the Rays could start demolishing the campus in December. The Rays have committed to funding temporary classrooms for students at the Dale Mabry campus.
And on Wednesday last week, the college’s trustees picked a firm to develop the Dale Mabry campus’ new buildings. Hillsborough College also plans to ask for another $165 million from the state legislature for the new campus. Gov. Ron DeSantis included $50 million for “campus improvements” tied to the stadium in the state’s final budget.
Babby said on the “Pat and Aaron Show” last week that he’s confident the stadium will be ready by spring 2029.
Surrounding development has a few more layers
The Dale Mabry site is already set up to allow a sports stadium to be built, Clendenin said.
But for the accompanying mixed-use development the Rays committed to, the site’s land-use code has to change. It’s on land managed by Tampa and would have to go through the City Council, he added.
Once the council approves it, the state must then review the change and send it back to the city.
The Rays took the first step in applying for the change. A Hillsborough County City-County Planning Commission hearing is scheduled for November. It doesn’t affect the stadium, but could affect the accompanying development sought by the Rays.
The community benefits agreement that the city, county and Rays are still negotiating would have more details on how the mixed-use development could change.
The city’s current land-use map allows for government buildings, schools and other “compatible public, quasi-public and special uses” at the site, according to a planning commission document.
The new application would allow high-density commercial and residential development. The council previously denied sending that request to the state. Council member Bill Carlson then jumped into negotiations, and about a month later the council approved the stadium deal.
The council would also need to carve the site out of the Drew Park Community Redevelopment Area plan. That’s where local property tax money is funneled back into the area to address blight.
