St. Pete mayor scraps dome redevelopment bids because they wouldn’t let him throw money at the Rays

Last year, then-St. Petersburg mayor Rick Kriseman declared two finalists in the competition to redevelop the site of the Tampa Bay Rays‘ Tropicana Field, when and if the Rays ever depart from the site. Yesterday, now-St. Petersburg mayor Ken Welch declared that the winner is … nobody:

Showing off an ax handle from his grandfather’s woodyard, Mayor Ken Welch announced

I’m sorry, back up a second, what?

Welch is a product of the Gas Plant neighborhood, a Black community that was paved over for the 86-acre site that became the ballpark for the Tampa Bay Rays. As the city’s first Black mayor, he stood Wednesday next to where his family’s woodyard once was.

That’s weird, but okay. Anyway, on with the announcement of the results of the city’s request for proposals to redevelop the site:

Mayor Ken Welch said Wednesday that two previous proposals for the 86-acre downtown location are being scrapped, with a new round of plans to be solicited beginning in mid-August.

“Our environment has changed since the original RFP was issued in July of 2020, including a pandemic that changed the way we work and affected the potential need for office space; rising housing prices and rental rates; the need for intentional equity and equitable development as highlighted by the city’s Disparity Study and Structural Racism report; and the need to embrace the Community Benefits model City Council adopted last year,” said Welch.

That’s an awful lot of buzzwords about righting social wrongs — equité! disparité! communité! — which I guess the axe handle was supposed to symbolize as well. But in addition to wanting a plan that contains affordable housing, Welch also scrapped the two finalists’ plans because neither included a new Rays stadium, which is something the new mayor very much wants at the Trop site, to the point of offering to spend maybe $600 million in public money on one. Provided, that is, that it turns out the city can come up with that much, hey, have you seen the Atlanta Braves‘ new stadium, that worked out really well, didn’t it, I certainly haven’t heard anyone say otherwise!

Vague as Welch’s offer is, it’s probably the best one that Rays owner Stuart Sternberg has on the table right now, especially with Tampa Mayor Jane Castor backing away somewhat from plans for a stadium in her city. It also raises a whole lot of questions, like “If the Rays’ problem is really that nobody wants to go to games in a place that’s hard to get to, how would it help to replace the dome that’s there now with a new dome in the exact same location?” Welch didn’t address that issue yesterday, preferring to say “innovative economic drivers” and “world-class destination” a lot, but at least one podcaster thinks he’s read through the rhetoric:

Here’s the real story. Welch couldn’t get the @RaysBaseball to commit on his deadline so he’s gonna start over and waste another 6 months while Stu plays him and Tampa to get more money. Stu will delay and keep building leverage holding St Pete and Tampa hostage. Report on that? https://t.co/PVpilIwAgE

— JP Peterson (@FanStreamJP) June 29, 2022

That’s a pretty cynical way of looking at it. Does the sincerity of an axe handle mean nothing to you, J.P.?