ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The team of 200 at Tropicana Field isn’t the one usually in the dugout.
“This has been a monumental effort on behalf of a whole lot of people,” Raul Quintana, the City of St. Pete’s architect, said.
This crew, though – soon doubling its roster – will get the Tampa Bay Rays back on the field after Hurricane Milton’s 105 mph winds severely damaged the stadium.
What we know:
“Drywall is being hung,” Beth Herendeen, St. Pete’s managing director of City Development Administration, said. “Seats are being painted. The catwalk electric is being installed. The new stadium sound system will be installed this month and tested in January, so we’re looking forward to that.”
“If you’re familiar with the 360 walkway and the Viva deck, which is in left field, that flooring is going to be installed this month. New backstop netting is going to be installed this month. So, a lot’s happening in December. The new turf will come in mid-January,” Herendeen said.
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She said some rain got into the clubhouse in July and August too, so they’re also installing new carpeting and new lockers in February.
“We checked every single system in this building. Some are being replaced. Most weren’t damaged to the extent that we were thinking that they would have been, but we tested everything. The cabling, for the most part, got tested and will be replaced. There’s a lot of broadcast equipment that needs to be replaced. The HVAC system, for example, was fine,” Quintana said.
“It was an exhaustive effort to determine exactly what was damaged, what needed to be replaced, who was going to do that work. Really, hats off to the construction management team, AECOM Hunt and Hennessy, all the subcontractors that they’ve employed,” he said.
“Because it was raining in here for quite a while, we certainly did have some environmental impacts, some mold, some mildew, but we have been working with Greenfield Environmental locally, and the Rays have an industrial hygienist. I also want to give a shout-out to BMS CAT, who was our remediation and protection company,” Herendeen said.
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“They’ve been here this whole time when it rains, getting the water up, drying things out, doing all of those things so that the impact didn’t build on itself,” she said.
Dig deeper:
Crews had to finish installing the 24 roof panels, that weigh almost 5,000 pounds each, before they could work on repairs inside. They started roof repairs in August and laid the last panel on Nov. 20 ahead of schedule. The goal was to finish the roof by the end of the year.
“It was definitely a wonderful milestone day. There’s even a photograph when the last panel was going up. There was sort of that last ray of sunshine coming in that day, and that’s a photograph that we’ve shared with each other. So, it was definitely a sense of accomplishment, a sense that, you know, I think just we knew we could do it, but that was sort of okay, ‘we can do this.’ So, the hard work and the determination had paid off,” Herendeen said.
The new roof is stronger, and can withstand wind speeds of about 150-165 mph. The panels are actually tan, but the Florida sun will bleach them white, just like the Trop’s original roof.
“I am completely confident that it would have withstood, you know, under the Milton,” Quintana said. “I mean, by that time, the [old] panels were already 30 years old, 35 years old and it happened,” he said.
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The material was fabricated in Germany, assembled in China, then air freighted to the United States, but not without a week delay.
“We had to deal with a volcano at one point that was not allowing us to fly out of China,” Quintana said.
They’d built in a 30-day continency, though, so they were able to stay on track.
“At this moment in time, we have no concern about being open or ready for Opening Day, April 6, and we hope we keep it that way,” Herendeen said.
“Having a quiet storm season, we are so fortunate, and we don’t discount that,” she said.
The Rays are also redoing the suites and enhancing the main video board as well, like adding new graphics.
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What they’re saying:
“Everything has been done with a lot of thought, a lot of effort, done correctly, working collaboratively with the Tampa Bay Rays, with Major League Baseball. As Beth said, we’ve got weekly meetings that they’re all on board on, and it hasn’t been easy,” Quintana said.
“I mean, there’s been a lot of back and forth and a lot of pushing and shoving and, you know, giving and taking here, but we held a pretty firm line. Our mission was to bring the stadium back to the standards of Major League Baseball, so it could conduct the baseball game and only replace that which was damaged by the hurricane,” he said.
City Council approved nearly $60 million for Tropicana Field remediation and repairs. The city is legally obligated to make repairs to the stadium.
The Source: This article was written with information provided by the City of St. Pete.