{"id":71375,"date":"2025-12-04T18:25:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T18:25:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/71375\/"},"modified":"2025-12-04T18:25:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T18:25:09","slug":"trop-interior-repairs-are-full-speed-ahead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/71375\/","title":{"rendered":"Trop interior repairs are \u2018full speed ahead\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

A storm-damaged Tropicana Field has progressed from critical to stable condition over the past seven months. The smell of mold is gone<\/a>, a new roof is in place and repairs are ahead of schedule.\u00a0<\/p>\n

St. Petersburg officials led a media tour Wednesday of a ballpark that again resembles the home of the Tampa Bay Rays<\/a>.\u00a0 The roof\u2019s installation has allowed hundreds of contractors to restore electrical systems, lighting and address some environmental concerns.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Beth Herendeen, director of city development, said the interior work, including seating, playing field, clubhouse, concourse and press box repairs, is \u201cfull speed ahead.\u201d The once-daunting project could also come in under the $59 million budget.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cAt this moment in time, we have no concern about being ready for opening day April 6,\u201d Herendeen said. \u201cAnd we hope to keep it that way.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

City Architect Raul Quintana said roughly 200 workers scatter throughout the stadium daily. That number will \u201cpick up\u201d as the focus turns to installing the Trop\u2019s new sound system, playing field and video boards.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Contractors installed the 24th and final roof panel Nov. 20. Hurricane Milton substantially damaged the stadium in early October 2024, forcing the Rays to spend their 2025 season at Tampa\u2019s Steinbrenner Field.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Crews installed the white panels first.<\/p>\n

Some sections of the Trop\u2019s roof remain tan in color, as the sun will naturally bleach it white by opening day. While crews have not completely sealed the dome, Herendeen said drying the stadium following summer rains has allowed myriad interior repairs to begin \u201cin earnest.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause it was raining in here for quite a while, we certainly did have some environmental impacts \u2013 some mold, some mildew, but we have been working with Greenfield Environmental, locally, and the Rays have an industrial hygienist,\u201d Herendeen said. \u201cI also want to give a shout-out to BMS CAT, who was our remediation and protection company. They\u2019ve been here this whole time when it rains, getting the water up and drying things out.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Herendeen said the city, contractually obligated to repair the stadium according to Major League Baseball standards, was fortunate to have a quiet storm season. Officials had a 30-day weather-related contingency window, \u201cand we are very happy we did not have to use it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Most of the Trop\u2019s outdoor-rated light fixtures \u201csurvived\u201d the storm, Quintana said. Others \u201cwere bent and needed to be aimed properly.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Contractors will install a new stadium sound system this month before testing in January. Most seats suffered minimal damage and are now receiving a fresh coat of paint.\u00a0<\/p>\n

City and Rays officials continue meeting weekly to discuss the project. Herendeen noted there was some \u201cback and forth\u201d over who was responsible for what repairs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would just talk it through and come to a compromise,\u201d she added. \u201cWe reached a compromise on, I think, everything.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A concession area at the Budweiser Porch once featured wooden flooring and technology that allowed checkout-free purchases.<\/p>\n

Rays CEO Ken Babby recently pledged<\/a> that the Trop \u201cwould look better than it ever has\u201d when fans return in April. Herendeen said team improvements and city storm repairs are happening concurrently.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Rays decided to upgrade the Trop\u2019s suites and seats behind home plate. An outdoor-rated, ultra-high definition video board<\/a> installed in 2023 mostly withstood the elements. \u201cWe were just going to fix it,\u201d Heerendeen said. \u201cThey are enhancing that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fans can also look forward to the return of an innovative new playing surface<\/a> installed in 2024 that simulates striped natural grass. The Rays also became Major League Baseball\u2019s first franchise to use a new Safeshell material that exchanges clay for crushed walnut shells to prevent injuries.<\/p>\n

City officials enlisted the same manufacturer, Shaw Sports, to install the new artificial field in January. \u201cMy understanding is it\u2019s the same exact product, the same exact design,\u201d Quintana said. \u201cWe\u2019re not going to deviate from anything.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Herendeen said the recent ownership did not affect the repair process as most of the team\u2019s front office remained intact. Fans will see a revamped stingray exhibit and Budweiser deck, which once featured checkout-free concession technology but is currently gutted.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A team vendor installed the new tech, and Herendeen believes the company will reinstall the system. \u201cThe Rays have some things that they\u2019re doing extra, but we\u2019re expecting our substantial completion to be in early March,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Florida Aquarium continues housing live rays that will eventually return home to their enclosure at the Trop.<\/p>\n

Mayor Ken Welch believes the Rays will need to extend their Trop lease<\/a> beyond 2028. He said the 35-year-old stadium could host the team for an additional \u201cfive, seven years, whatever makes sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quintana said the city is repairing the Trop to meet current, more stringent building codes. The stadium could \u201cabsolutely\u201d host baseball well into the 2030s.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has been a monumental effort on behalf of a whole lot of people,\u201d Quintana said. \u201cWe\u2019re confident that this is going to get done, and it\u2019s going to get done right.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A storm-damaged Tropicana Field has progressed from critical to stable condition over the past seven months. The smell…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71376,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-71375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71375","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=71375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71375\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}