Future of MLB's Tampa Bay Rays to come into focus with key meetings on $1.3B stadium project
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — The future of the Tampa Bay Rays is about to come into clearer focus as local officials begin public discussions over a planned $1.3 billion ballpark that would be the anchor of a much larger project to transform downtown St. Petersburg with affordable housing, a Black history museum, a hotel and office and retail space.
The St. Petersburg City Council will begin a detailed look Thursday at the plans by the Rays and the Hines development company for what the city calls the Historic Gas Plant Project. The name is a nod to the 86-acre (34-hectare) tract’s history as a once-thriving Black community demolished for the Rays’ current domed Tropicana Field and earlier for an interstate highway spur.
Mayor Ken Welch is St. Petersburg’s first Black mayor and his family has roots in the Gas Plant neighborhood when the city was racially segregated. He said it’s important to keep the Rays in the area and to restore promises of economic opportunity never met for minority residents after the businesses and families were forced out decades ago.
Related articles
42 Neolithic sites found in NE China
A total of 42 sites from the Hongshan culture, an important part of the Neolithic Age, were recently2024-05-09Cluster fears over new HK virus cases
Your web browser is no longer supported. To improve your experience update it here2024-05-09- Burnside High School Photo: RNZ / Anna Sargent2024-05-09
Immigration solutions unclear, consultation needed
Demographics and immigration expert Professor Paul Spoonley. File photo Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Fa2024-05-09Man who went THREE months without a bowel movement had hardened waste stuck in his colon
We've all had weeks where our system is a bit sluggish.But, for one man, the delay in going to the b2024-05-09Doctors call for engineered stone ban
Machine cutting through an engineered stone benchtop. Photo: 123rf2024-05-09
atest comment