The backstory<\/p>\n
The proposal, presented by design firm ASD SKY, suggests a significant transformation of Al Lang Stadium. This shift comes as part of a broader initiative to reimagine the city’s waterfront as a vibrant arts center.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
The firm, after extensive discussions with stakeholders, including the Tampa Bay Rowdies, unveiled plans for a 36,000-square-foot addition. The proposed three-story expansion would feature new locker rooms, year-round concessions, potential retail space and a rooftop restaurant and bar, enhancing the stadium’s appeal and functionality.<\/p>\n
John Curran of ASD SKY emphasized the Rowdies’ commitment to remaining in St. Petersburg.<\/p>\n
“The team as of this moment does want to remain in St. Petersburg,” Curran said.<\/p>\n
The Rowdies’ lease is set to expire next year, making the expansion plans timely and crucial for the team’s future in the city.<\/p>\n
Big picture view<\/p>\n
One of the renderings even includes a baseball diamond, positioning Al Lang Stadium as a potential spring training site if the Tampa Bay Rays decide to relocate.<\/p>\n
“If the city wanted to keep Al Lang [Stadium] for baseball, you could do that,” Curran said.<\/p>\n
City council members expressed general support for the expansion plan, recognizing its potential as a revenue generator.<\/p>\n
“I do see this as being a revenue generator. I think this is great,” Corey Givens, a council member, said.<\/p>\n
What’s next<\/p>\n
The estimated cost for the stadium improvements stands at $49.2 million. However, the feasibility of achieving this, alongside the designs for the arts center, remains uncertain.<\/p>\n
Council Member Deborah Figg Sanders highlighted the importance of understanding the financial implications.<\/p>\n
“If we don’t know how much that’s gonna cost, or get us some type of guesstimate as to what that may cost taxpayers dollars, I think that’ll have a whole lot of impact on the design of what it is that we’re looking to do,” Sanders said.<\/p>\n
Council members asked the firm to expand community outreach before their next presentation.<\/p>\n
The Source<\/p>\n
Information for this story was gathered from the ASD SKY design firm and the St. Petersburg City Council.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Brief The City of St. Petersburg is no longer looking at demolishing Al Lang Stadium, instead considering…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":73516,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[22387,41960,41961,41959,23181,20253,202,204,203,199,201,200,22385],"class_list":["post-73515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-al-lang-stadium","tag-expansion-plan","tag-expansion-plans","tag-john-curran","tag-rays","tag-spring-training","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news","tag-tampa-bay-rowdies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73515","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=73515"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73515\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}