St. Pete developers divided on Tampa Bay Rays/Hines deal
By Breanne Williams
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: May 8, 2024

For nearly 20 years, members of the development community have driven past 86 acres of largely undeveloped land in downtown St. Petersburg that is home to Tropicana Field and wondered when the time would finally come to activate the sea of parking lots.

On Thursday, city council, acting as Committee of the Whole, will take a major step toward approving a possible transformation of the site when it reviews the development agreement between the city and the Tampa Bay Rays and Hines at a public workshop.

Thursday’s meeting will focus on the Historic Gas Plant redevelopment. A meeting on May 23 will analyze the agreement to build a new stadium. This will be the first time the city council will weigh in on the development agreement, and developers believe several key factors should be considered in the meeting.

Will Conroy, Backstreets Capital

The proposal from the Rays/Hines group shows the project will take nearly 30 years to complete. Conroy said he hopes the meeting on Thursday will bring the city one step closer to a vote on this generational project.

“To use a bad pun, it’s time to step off first base,” Conroy said. “There’s an old phrase that you can’t steal second with your foot on first. At some point, you have to go. We’re ready to go; we’re ready to take the next step.”

He said the business community needs to be vocal about this being a “really good deal.” He said it’s not perfect, but no deal ever is, and it’s time to make this one a reality.

For any project of this size, council should recognize that things are bound to change in the next 30 years, Conroy said. As decades pass, he said the project will more than likely change multiple times, so what council should focus on is the fact that they are picking a partner and not necessarily a development plan.

Conroy is part of the team developing The Central — formerly Orange Station — which has shifted its plan a few times since the deal was awarded in 2019. The development is two blocks from Tropicana Field, and Conroy said when they first began envisioning their plans for the site, they never could have predicted a global pandemic or the population influx into the area.

What the city should think about for the Gas Plant is whether they have faith in their partner. In his opinion, he said there is no team better positioned to develop the Historic Gas Plant District than the Rays/Hines group.

“It’s hard to overstate that this has the potential to be one of the biggest developments in the history of the state of Florida,” Conroy said. “The scale and scope of this is tremendous, which is why I think Hines is the most important part.”

Bowen Arnold, DDA Development

Arnold and Conroy were part of Sugar Hill Community Partners — one of the other groups that bid to redevelop the Gas Plant. Arnold is also part of the team developing The Central, which is in the adjacent Edge district.

He said they love the Rays/Hines partnership. While they may have been a finalist against them in the request for proposals to develop the site, he believes the Rays/Hines partnership “is an impressive team.”

“We don’t think the city can do this themselves; picking a quality partner is critical, and we think they have the right partner,” Arnold said. “People can haggle about square footage and the number of affordable units, but now is the time to get this done.”

He said he believes the Rays/Hines development plan will complement The Central and some other projects underway in the Edge district, like the Edge Collective, which is directly across the street from the Historic Gas Plant District.

Jonathan Daou, Eastman Equities

Daou has developed much of the Edge district and believes it will benefit from having thousands of apartments and a new stadium built in the adjacent Historic Gas Plant District. He said the development plan, which will combine retail, office space, apartments and a hotel, is a positive mix.

However, Daou said he believes the deal offers far more to the Rays/Hines team than the city.

“Many in the business community are saying this is a great deal for Rays/Hines and a bad deal for the city,” Daou said. “All in all, I can’t help feeling like I’d benefit financially from this deal happening, but my moral and general real estate understanding is I’m against corporate charity.”

If the council approves the development agreement, Daou hopes they add a condition that the deal be voted on in November. That will give the Rays/Hines team several months to pitch the plan in detail to residents. If a referendum passes, the deal moves forward. If it fails, the team must return to the negotiating table with the city until they can reach an agreement taxpayers are willing to support.

He said the finances required for the deal and the reality of the current market should be some of the main topics discussed on Thursday. Many projects in St. Pete are “stalling in the ground” right now, according to Daou, meaning delays could be on the horizon. He said the city’s willingness to take on significant debt for the deal — for the stadium and the adjacent mixed-use development — is concerning, especially if other avenues exist.

Daou also believes it’s not too late for the city to consider entering a public/private partnership to buy the Rays. He said it would be a win-win for the city and he believes several in the business community would come together to make the deal happen.

“The city of St. Pete should be talking about purchasing the Rays for half of what they’ll be paying to keep the Rays here if they go through with this deal,” Daou said. “And they’ll still have their land, which is worth a significant amount more than it was appraised for. I think that lets everyone win.”

Blake Whitney Thompson, Blake Investment Partners

Thompson is a veteran developer in St. Petersburg who will soon be undertaking a massive redevelopment project at the Jim & Heather Gills YMCA less than 2 miles from the Trop.

He said the Historic Gas Plant District redevelopment is a once-in-a-lifetime project and could be the most meaningful real estate transaction in western Florida in the last 100 years or for the next 100 years.

“I respect and appreciate how seriously our city council is taking this process as there are no second chances,” Thompson said. “I certainly support keeping the Rays in St. Pete, and while I am not familiar with the financial details of the transaction, I feel like the Rays have changed our community for the better.”