{"id":386731,"date":"2026-09-01T02:28:43","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T02:28:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/386731\/"},"modified":"2026-09-01T02:28:43","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T02:28:43","slug":"rays-plan-champions-quarter-around-new-tampa-stadium-but-key-details-remain-unclear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/386731\/","title":{"rendered":"Rays plan ‘Champions Quarter’ around new Tampa stadium, but key details remain unclear"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Tampa Bay Rays’ stadium deal <\/a>will bring more than a new ballpark to the Hillsborough College campus.<\/p>\n

The team is planning an entire mixed-use development around the stadium, an area the Rays plan to call “Champions Quarter,” with a vision that includes office space, shops, housing and entertainment.<\/p>\n

But exactly what that development will look like, how much it will cost and when it will be completed remain open questions.<\/p>\n

Economic development expert John Boyd said mixed-use development surrounding professional sports venues has become increasingly important to teams.<\/p>\n

“Franchises now view the mixed-use real estate as fundamental to their business model. It’s no longer just the ticket sales and merchandise and TV deals,” Boyd said.<\/p>\n

The Rays estimate the mixed-use development could generate $23.6 billion in direct economic impact over 30 years, plus another $15 billion in indirect impact.<\/p>\n

The development is also important to the public financing plan for the stadium district. Although public dollars won’t fund the mixed-use space, the city and county are banking on a share of future property-tax growth from the broader district, meaning the amount of taxable development built around the stadium matters.<\/p>\n

But the final agreement approved Friday does not spell out a minimum amount of mixed-use development, minimum taxable value or deadline for completion.<\/p>\n

“The mixed-use was purposefully left out of the deal approved last week to give greater flexibility for financing options for the Rays as well as permitting and zoning flexibility,” Boyd said.<\/p>\n

For some Hillsborough College students already on the campus, the prospect of new development is exciting.<\/p>\n

“It’s a lot of business opportunities, new jobs for sure, bring a new, make this area more alive,” student Chase Nichols said. “For sure restaurants, stores, maybe a new gym, honestly that’d be pretty cool.”<\/p>\n

Others hope the development leaves room for local businesses.<\/p>\n

“Maybe we could have some local businesses show up and have pop-ups so we can have actual spotlights on people that matter, instead of more corporations, more garbage, honestly,” said student Shai Kleiner, who opposes the stadium deal entirely.<\/p>\n

As for when Champions Quarter could begin taking shape, relocation of Hillsborough College buildings will start immediately. Boyd said he expects the district development plan to be fast-tracked as well, with significant development in place by the stadium’s planned opening in 2029.<\/p>\n

“Will the total build-out be complete? Maybe not, but I would expect significant mixed-use development to be in place,” Boyd said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Tampa Bay Rays’ stadium deal will bring more than a new ballpark to the Hillsborough College campus.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":386732,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[90087,22641,23181,135,137,136],"class_list":["post-386731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-boyd","tag-hillsborough-college","tag-rays","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386731","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=386731"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386731\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/386732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=386731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=386731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=386731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}