Where St. Petersburg City Council members stand on the Rays deal

Two vocally critical St. Petersburg City Council members seized the microphone early at a meeting last week to discuss the proposed redevelopment around Tropicana Field known as the Historic Gas Plant District.

But what started off as a heated interrogation settled into a measured back and forth as council members took turns peppering the Tampa Bay Rays, development partner Hines and Mayor Ken Welch’s administration with questions and observations. It was the first time council members had gotten to sound off as a group after months of closed-door negotiations.

While far from disclosing where council members stand on the project, the discussion did highlight what aspects they are prioritizing, with a seeming consensus being that tentative agreements between the city, the Rays and Hines don’t do enough to guarantee that promised affordable housing gets built. Below are some of the highlights.

The council is scheduled to meet again June 13 for a workshop specifically on a new Rays stadium, which comes with about a dozen legal agreements.

Brandi Gabbard

Gabbard began her comments Thursday thanking city staff for bringing “what you believe to be the best deal that we can get for the city at this time.” She asked why details for a child care, day care or similar facility were vague and why a grocery store isn’t part of the minimum development pledged with so many new homes being built.

“I feel like if it is not in that minimum, then it’s really just lip service,” she said.

Gabbard also asked why a hotel with a conference center and event space can’t come online at the same time as the ballpark for Opening Day 2028. City Administrator Rob Gerdes said that was one of the areas where “we are relying on our partner’s self-interest.” Michael Harrison, a senior managing director at Hines, said developers would need more time to hire an operator and build the hotel and convention space.

“It’s something that I would like us to continue to have a conversation about,” Gabbard said.

John Muhammad

Muhammad has said he objects to the sale of 65 public acres of land around the stadium to the Rays and Hines partnership. He also has criticized the administration for ignoring recommendations from a citizens panel aimed at ensuring affordable housing promised by the development group actually gets built.

He asked if the city could negotiate profit sharing. As the future stadium agreements are currently drafted, the Rays would keep all revenues from naming rights, broadcasting rights, concessions, ticket sales and parking revenues. They alone would be responsible for stadium renovations and construction cost overruns. Currently, the city gets a cut of the naming rights and ticket sales, but is also subsidizing renovations and operations at the Trop.

Muhammad further asked what the cost in tax dollars for the project would be per household. Assistant City Administrator Tom Greene didn’t have that figure handy, but said by population, it would cost $2,600 per resident. Muhammad also expressed concern about keeping property tax dollars downtown to fund the project instead of being available for spending elsewhere in the city.

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Ed Montanari

Montanari has defended the deal publicly to critics. He asked how legally safe it would be to require the Rays and Hines to give a certain amount of work to minority-owned businesses ahead of a U.S. Supreme Court decision on such provisions and if that would trigger a default of contract. A lawyer for the city, Michael Dema, said the case won’t affect this deal.

Montanari also asked about a 7% annual growth projection in downtown property values the deal assumes in order for the city to pay its share of the cost.

“Is that conservative?” Montanari asked.

“Yes, it could be higher,” Greene said.

Deborah Figgs-Sanders

Figgs-Sanders, the council chairperson, served on the citizens’ committee that reviewed the project based on how much benefit it will provide the community and made recommendations to improve it.

“Some of the most important ones that we asked for didn’t make it,” she said, including more stringent guarantees that the number of affordable homes promised are built. “We’re looking to create this perfect world where you can live and work and play within 20 minutes, those same hospitality staff that are working in those hotels, I want them to be able to live there as well.”

She said she was also concerned the deal doesn’t guarantee more work for apprentices. She also asked why the Woodson African American Museum of Florida, which would receive a $10 million donation from the Rays and Hines through the deal, should have to fundraise more to make it a reality.

Copley Gerdes

Council member Gerdes, who is the nephew of City Administrator Rob Gerdes, a point person for the city in the negotiations, has voiced support for the deal. He said he wanted to see the council have a say on whether affordable housing benefits should be changed in the future if needed and more clarity around using apprentices for more construction work.

He also asked that the Rays and Hines’ contributions for off-site housing should be raised.

Copley Gerdes said after meeting with descendants of the Gas Plant, he wanted to see 16th Street built up. “This is going to mean the world to that community,” he said.

Richie Floyd

One of the more outspoken critics of the deal, Floyd took issue with language that would allow “excusable development delays” as judged solely by Welch, allow Hines to pick and choose which parcels to buy or reject and let the company off the hook for building affordable housing off-site if other public subsidies aren’t available.

“That’s frustrating for me because it seems like this deal guarantees us affordable housing but from what I’m hearing, that’s not the case at all,” Floyd said.

Lisset Hanewicz

Another vocal skeptic, Hanewicz’s questions were similar to a cross-examination at a trial. The former prosecutor made the case that the city is not getting enough out of the deal financially, there are too many outs for the Rays and Hines, and what that partnership has pledged is not adequately guaranteed.

While the agreement would be inked with an entity called the Historic Gas Plant District Partnership, she pointed out that it doesn’t disclose who is part of the partnership. So she said the city has no way to judge its ability to deliver on the promises it has made.

Gina Driscoll

Driscoll, whose district includes Tropicana Field and who once sought to position herself as a swing vote, now appears to be in support.

On the topic of off-site affordable housing the team has pledged, Driscoll said she was “not thrilled at the numbers we’re at right now” and “not super excited” about the financial penalties if the development team fails to deliver, but was upbeat overall.

“I’m really impressed by how far we’ve come,” she said after the meeting. “I think we’re in a pretty good place right now.”