It’s official, the Tampa Bay Rays are building a new stadium and entertainment district. After getting approval from the city earlier in July, the county commissioners were the last obstacle for the Rays’ new stadium. This week, commissioners voted 5-2 in favor of contributing $312.5 million of tourism tax dollars to the project.
At a previous meeting, some commissioners expressed concern at the overall cost of the project. The Rays new stadium and entertainment district is expected to cost $1.37 billion.
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The city of St. Petersburg is contributing $287.5 million and the Rays themselves will contribute $700 million. However, the economic boom to the St. Petersburg area outweighed most commissioners concerns about the cost.
According to Fox 13 News, one commissioner explained that, “the economic development opportunity was too great to pass up.”
“We're shooting for a unanimous vote because this makes so much sense for our county and our city moving forward in terms of economic benefit, in terms of keeping the rays here," said St. Petersburg mayor, Ken Welch prior to the vote.
Welch has worked with the Rays every step of the way as they developed this plan. Not only will the new stadium and entertainment district bring in more tourist money to the area, but it will also create tens of thousands of jobs. And, as a part of this deal, the Rays have agreed to build affordable housing around the entertainment district.
Newly released renderings of the stadium and entertainment district show a fully enclosed stadium with a lighted ceiling. Surrounding the stadium is lots of greenspace with a creek running through the park, several pedestrian bridges and several brand new buildings for museums, restaurants and apartments.
