ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — St. Pete's Tropicana Field will soon get a major facelift. Rays fans are rejoicing, saying they've waited years for this news.
"We've got a great team. Just not a great stadium," said Alex Hernandez, a Rays fan from Riverview.
The Historic Gas Plant redevelopment will welcome a new stadium, housing, retail, and office space. Construction is set to start next year.
"The one concern is if they don't open until 2028, and they are building right here on this parking lot, where am I going to park at?" Hernandez asked.
We took that question to Hines & Tampa Bay Rays, the developers behind the project.
"It's really like a giant jigsaw puzzle. We're building new parking facilities that will be dedicated to the ballpark and available for public use when it's not in play for baseball. That'll free up the area that we need to begin construction on the ballpark and phase 1 for the development," said Michael Harrison, the Senior Managing Director of Hines.
While the team is still working on how many spots will open during construction, there will be 14,000 parking spaces once completed.
But parking is just one concern that comes along with construction.
Pinellas County Administrator Barry Burton doesn't see construction as a huge issue.
"There's certainly going to be disruption when you have that type of construction, but if I go down there now, you know you're doing detours and stuff because of construction already," Burton said.
Whit Blanton with Forward Pinellas explains detours are easier to plan in St. Pete.
"The good news is, I think, St. Petersburg, in general, has really good traffic movement and flow because it's a grid street network," Blanton said.
Once the project is done, that could mean more pedestrians and bikers. That's another priority as St. Pete looks ahead to its growth.
"Notably making Eighth and Ninth Street and Third and Fourth Street safer in terms of north-south movement through the area. We'll continue to have plenty of capacity on those roads, but we're looking at converting them from one-way streets in the downtown area to two-way streets," Blanton said.
But the big question is how will people get there, and will they be willing to use public transit like the Sunrunner?
"There are plans that are in development to look at some ways of better connecting it," Blanton explained.
In the coming months, plans will be fine-tuned and set in stone. But first, opportunities for Rays fans to pitch their ideas.
"My hope is that a ferry will be utilized to maybe come. I come from Riverview or Bandon. Or maybe some incentive for using the Selmon," Hernandez proposed.
