St. Pete Mayor Accepts $275M Bid to Redevelop Tropicana Field Area for Housing

The mayor of St. Petersburg, Florida, has accepted a $275 million bid to redevelop the Gas Plant District after the Tampa Bay Rays Major League Baseball team leaves Tropicana Field for new digs in Tampa.

Florida news outlets reported that a city councilman and others said that Mayor Ken Welch has approved the Burg Bid, submitted by Blake Investment Partners. The proposal, to be formally announced Thursday, includes some 3,600 income-restricted housing units for senior citizens, the Tampa Bay Times and Florida Politics reported.

Tropicana Field, the home of the Rays since 1990, was heavily damaged by Hurricane Milton in 2024. City leaders had just reduced property insurance coverage on The Trop, from $100 million to $25 million. The repairs to the dome’s roof and other areas ended up costing St. Pete more than $57 million, according to news reports.

The city early this year raised its policy limits to $50 million—just enough to cover the projected costs of another storm, news outlets reported. The annual premium will be an additional $125,000. Brown & Brown brokerage was involved in securing the coverage. The city continues to hold policies with Special Risk Underwriter, as well as coverage with The Princeton Excess, Surplus Lines Insurance Co., and others.

The damage from Milton also forced the Rays to play elsewhere for a season, and it sparked the team’s interest in moving to a new stadium in Tampa, partly to ease traffic woes that had plagued the St. Pete site. The team, currently in first place in the American League East division, plans to play at the Trop through 2028, when the club plans to move to a new stadium in Tampa.

A new stadium and multi-use site is expected to be built on the current Hillsborough College campus in Tampa, with construction decisions due in coming weeks, news sites have reported.

Photo: Tropicana Field and surrounding Gas Plant District in St. Pete (DepositPhotos)