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The new Rays stadium and Historic Gas Plant development deal could be inching closer to approval. Pinellas County Commissioners met Thursday to discuss plans to contribute nearly $313 million towards a new stadium.
The County Commission met in a relatively short workshop. Kathleen Peters is the chair of the board.
“Glad the city had to do the big part, and we just got the ancillary.”
This comes after the St. Pete City Council had multiple hours-long discussions combing through the deal.
St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch joined county administration and commissioners at the workshop. Pinellas County’s investment would be $312 million. It would come from tourist development, or “bed tax” money.
Commissioner Chris Latvala questioned city administrator Rob Gerdes about the Rays’ stake in the deal.
“Assuming this gets approved Tuesday, can the Rays sell their portion of the development deal on Wednesday?
“They can transfer to a Rays affiliate or a Hines affiliate without city council approval. If they wanted to sell their interest in the redevelopment to an outside party, it would require vetting and approval by our city council.”
Rennee Flowers was concerned about office space affordability in the planned office space near the stadium
“One of the things I would like to make sure is that we’re bringing back economic development, but we’ve got to make sure that those businesses can actually afford to pay the rent.”
Commissioners also discussed the sustainability of the stadium and the timeline for the project.
The Commission is set to vote on the deal on Tuesday.
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