Castor expects initial Rays stadium proposal by end of Q1
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Dec 21, 2021

Tampa Mayor Jane Castor expects an initial proposal for the construction of a Major League Baseball stadium in Ybor City to be ready by the end of the first quarter of 2022.

Castor characterized ongoing conversations between the city, Hillsborough County, the Tampa Sports Authority and the Tampa Bay Rays as discussions rather than active negotiations. Those discussions, she said, have gained a sense of urgency in recent weeks as the Rays’ lease at Tropicana Field ends in 2027, and the construction of a new stadium is expected to take several years.

The former Kforce Inc. headquarters property in Ybor City, purchased by a private investment group earlier this year, is the team’s preferred site for a new stadium. Spokespeople for the Rays and the sports authority did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday.

Once the sports authority, city and county come to initial terms, the deal will be brought in front of Hillsborough County Commissioners and Tampa City Council for vetting and final approval.

“I would say we’re making progress,” Castor told the Tampa Bay Business Journal on Monday.

A new stadium in Ybor City is far from guaranteed: MLB owners, now in the depths of labor negotiations with the players’ association, have yet to vote on the Rays’ split-season concept, in which the team plays the first half of its season in Tampa Bay and the second half in Montreal. And while Castor supports a split-season team — and is optimistic a deal can be reached — she says there’s a limit to the public money she’s willing to put down.

She’s not willing, at this point, to put a dollar figure on her limit. The public entities involved are examining community redevelopment area funds, opportunity zones and the hotel bed tax as possible financing vehicles, Castor said. There are also city expenditures that aren’t directly part of the capital stack to pay for construction costs but still fund critical parts of the deal, like infrastructure and connectivity to the neighborhoods surrounding Ybor City.

“We’re going to do everything we can, within reason, to keep the Rays in the Tampa Bay area,” she said. “But ultimately, there is a bottom line.”

Ybor developer Darryl Shaw, who is pursuing the mixed-use Gas Worx and is a partner in the Kforce property, told the Business Journal last week that the stadium would open up several possibilities for Ybor and the surrounding neighborhoods from hosting professional soccer games to concerts.

“I’m really hoping they can work it out, and if it’s the split-city concept, I’m supportive of that, too,” Shaw told the Business Journal. • • •

Castor is the fifth Tampa Bay mayor in a 14-year period to attempt to hammer out a new stadium deal with the Rays. In St. Petersburg, mayors Bill Foster, Rick Baker and Rick Kriseman all took a swing at a new stadium; in 2016, Kriseman entered into a memorandum of understanding with the team to allow it to search for sites in Hillsborough County.

The Rays did home in on a site in Tampa — one that’s just blocks away from the Kforce headquarters property the team is now targeting. But negotiations with former Tampa mayor Bob Buckhorn and Hillsborough County were dead by the end of 2018; by mid-2019, team owner Stu Sternberg was pitching a brand-new concept: splitting the season between Tampa Bay and Montreal.

A traditional, full-season model is not financially viable in Tampa Bay, Sternberg has said.

If the dual-city plan does not come to fruition, it is “highly unlikely” that the Rays would stay in the region beyond 2027 when the team’s lease at Tropicana Field ends, Sternberg said in 2019.

“I don’t see it happening in St. Petersburg, and I’d be hard-pressed to say Tampa as well, given what I know,” Sternberg said of the team playing its full slate of home games in the Tampa Bay region.

What makes this go-round different? With the team leaving for Montreal before the deluge of Florida’s rainy season begins, the part-time stadium wouldn’t need a roof, which significantly lowers construction costs. That’s a major consideration, Castor said.

“Maybe it just wasn’t the right time then,” she said. “And maybe it’s this split city concept — they say it’s the future of baseball.”

When it comes to the stadium conversation, the one thing Castor will say with certainty is that she wants the Rays to have a presence in Tampa Bay, even on a part-time basis.

“I want them to stay here, without a doubt,” she said. “Look at what the Lightning and the Bucs have done for our community, and it’s not just about Major League Baseball, but the Rays organization. They have put together a world-class organization.”