{"id":380875,"date":"2026-08-25T18:16:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T18:16:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/380875\/"},"modified":"2026-08-25T18:16:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T18:16:14","slug":"rays-release-development-agreement-for-2-36b-tampa-ballpark-ahead-of-key-votes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/380875\/","title":{"rendered":"Rays Release Development Agreement for $2.36B Tampa Ballpark Ahead of Key Votes"},"content":{"rendered":"

A development and funding agreement released to Tampa and Hillsborough County officials outlines how a new $2.36\u2011billion ballpark on a 21.5\u2011acre site would be financed, built and turned over for use, according to the document reviewed by ENR<\/a> and a team statement confirming its release.<\/p>\n

The Rays delivered the 134\u2011page agreement on Aug. 21, ahead of votes scheduled for Tampa City Council on Thursday, Aug. 27, and the Hillsborough County Commission on Friday, Aug. 28. CEO Ken Babby said in a statement that the parties now have \u201cdefinitive documents that will serve as the framework\u201d for the ballpark, a redeveloped Hillsborough College campus and a privately financed surrounding district. Tampa Mayor Jane Castor called the agreement \u201ca historic step forward for Tampa\u201d and the region in a social media post.<\/p>\n

The document names the city, the county and StadCo\u2014a subsidiary of Florida Baseball Partners LLC, which also owns Rays Baseball Club LLC, the team\u2019s operating entity\u2014as parties. It commits up to $876 million in combined public funding toward project costs, with StadCo responsible for the balance, an investment the team has estimated at about $1.37 billion, along with all cost overruns.<\/p>\n

The city’s share is capped at $80 million, paid in four $20-million installments from January 2027 through October 2029. The county’s $796-million share comes from several sources: $228 million in tourist development tax bonds plus a $40-million reserve payment; another $35 million in bonds planned for 2031; four annual $90-million community investment tax payments through 2029; a one\u2011time $103-million county fund payment; and $30 million in Community Development Block Grant\u2013Disaster Recovery money earmarked for stormwater work.<\/p>\n

The agreement also references a $150-million minimum loan StadCo must draw from an MLB infrastructure financing facility, along with additional credit lines and an owner\u2011equity commitment. An exhibit identifies Patrick Zalupski as the HoldCo principal member expected to fund part of StadCo\u2019s equity contribution. Zalupski, a Florida real estate developer, leads the ownership group that purchased the Rays from longtime principal owner Stuart Sternberg in late 2025. Babby has continued as CEO under the new ownership.<\/p>\n

The ballpark site sits within a roughly 115\u2011acre parcel owned by Hillsborough College<\/a>, identified in the agreement as a Florida College System institution and known publicly as Hillsborough Community College\u2019s Dale Mabry campus. Under a companion ground lease, the college would lease the land to StadCo until the county takes title through a separate conveyance. The agreement designates the college as the sole permitting authority for the project, a role typically handled by a municipal building department.<\/p>\n

The agreement also references two backing documents signed alongside it: a commitment from Florida Baseball Partners to cover StadCo\u2019s obligations if it cannot, and a separate agreement requiring the team to play home games at the new venue. The Rays\u2019 use agreement at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, their current home, expires after the 2028 season.<\/p>\n

The Rays\u2019 statement accompanying the document release said site work is slated to begin next month, with substantial completion targeted for March 31, 2029. StadCo is responsible for design and construction, with AECOM Hunt<\/a> and Turner Construction<\/a> selected as the construction team.<\/p>\n

StadCo has 36 months to secure funding, or the deal automatically terminates. All project components\u2014construction contracts, budget and financing\u2014must be fully in place within 48 months, or the agreement ends at that point as well. Those timelines do not begin until Tampa City Council and the Hillsborough County Commission cast the votes scheduled for this week.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A development and funding agreement released to Tampa and Hillsborough County officials outlines how a new $2.36\u2011billion ballpark…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":380876,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[54633,84332,73440,103734,135,137,136,152852],"class_list":["post-380875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-aecom","tag-hunt-construction","tag-sports-construction","tag-stadium-construction","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-turner-construction"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=380875"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380875\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/380876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=380875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=380875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=380875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}