TAMPA, Fla. — Hundreds of business leaders with the Westshore Alliance are supporting a new ballpark in Hillsborough County. The group sent a letter of support to the Hillsborough County Commission and the Tampa City Council this week. 

If approved, the Rays’ ballpark would potentially be located in the Westshore district on Hillsborough College’s Dale Mabry campus. Tampa Bay Rays President Ken Babby shared a presentation with leaders in the Westshore Alliance last week. 

Westshore Alliance Executive Director Michael Maurino said a new stadium in the Westshore district is all about economic development.

“If that site is redeveloped, it creates the best possible scenario for return on investment,” Maurino said. 

With a new source of property tax revenue, he believes a new stadium would have a financial impact in the Westshore area and countywide.

“What is generated in Westshore from property tax value, is then dispersed throughout the city and Hillsborough County, so there’s a real policy need to put a project like the Rays stadium in Westshore, because then the growth of Westshore will fund projects all across the city of Tampa and Hillsborough County,” Maurino explained.

Anthony Saravanos is president of Greenleaf Capital, a real estate company in the Westshore district. The company has three properties in the Westshore area. He believes a stadium would bring more demand, similar to when the Midtown development and SkyCenter One were built.

“That rising tide created a benefit to all the other commercial property owners that had offices in the Westshore district,” Saravanos said. And he said that showed in the amount owners were able to charge per square foot. 

“Their rates may have been $20 and now maybe they’re in the low $30s,” Saravanos explained.

It’s one reason why Saravanos also supports a new stadium.

“A rising tide lifts all boats,” he said. 

Critics have argued that public dollars should not go towards a $2.3 billion ballpark. Maurino said a public-private partnership with the Tampa Bay Rays will pay off for the Bay area over time. Saravanos agrees.

“Progress requires a little pain,” Saravanos said.

View the letter from the Westshore Alliance below: