Plans presented to a committee Thursday include a three-story addition with a restaurant and bar overlooking the pitch. The 36,000-square-foot elevated building would also house a new locker room, offices, concessions, retail space and viewing areas.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe team, as of this point, does want to remain in St. Petersburg,\u201d said Beth Herendeen, managing director of city development. \u201cAnd that\u2019s what I think we want \u2013 for the team to stay in St. Petersburg.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The discussion stems from an update<\/a> on a potential Center for the Arts, first discussed in 2020<\/a>, that would encompass the Dali Museum, Mahaffey Theater and nearly everything else along the downtown waterfront, from 1st Avenue to 5th Avenue South. Accommodating and bolstering the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg is one of many focal points.\u00a0<\/p>\n Herendeen noted that the massive, nascent project was \u201cre-energized\u201d in 2024 when the city hired contextual design firm ASD | Sky to conduct planning and community outreach services. However, the \u201chigh-level visioning plan\u201d continues evolving and would cost an estimated $293 million.\u00a0<\/p>\n The history<\/p>\n In early April, after former Rays<\/a> owner Stuart Sternberg exited a new stadium deal, Commissioner Chris Latvala said he would be \u201copen to turning Al Lang back into a baseball stadium\u201d using tourist development tax dollars. The baseball team owns the Tampa Bay Rowdies.<\/p>\n Latvala noted that St. Petersburg hosted spring training for nearly a century, and \u201cthere\u2019s no doubt\u201d it supports tourism. County Administrator Barry Burton pledged to facilitate those efforts \u201cif the opportunity presents itself.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Jason Mathis, CEO of St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership, subsequently told the Catalyst that the Rowdies \u201cshould be there forever, as long as it makes sense.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI think it could also be a fantastic spring training place,\u201d Mathis added. \u201cIt\u2019s a special place in a unique location, and you should find a way to maximize that space.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n A site plan exchanges a soccer pitch for a baseball diamond.<\/p>\n City council members adamantly disagreed with plans<\/a> to demolish Al Lang. In early July, Herendeen told the downtown partnership that the stadium\u2019s forecast called for improvements, rather than a wrecking ball.\u00a0<\/p>\n ASD | Sky consultant John Curran noted the \u201cnostalgic sentiment\u201d surrounding Al Lang. \u201cMaybe in the future, we might actually look at what it would take to renovate Al Lang and accommodate the needs of that facility, as well,\u201d he said at the meeting.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n Sternberg sold the Rays in late September. Spring training and expansion discussions began long before the two teams and city stakeholders welcomed new ownership<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n The future?<\/p>\n The future came sooner than expected. Curran said his firm strategically placed the three-story addition to accommodate spring training. A site plan shows the soccer pitch replaced by a baseball diamond, with the new facility overlooking the left field wall and fronting 1st Street South. <\/p>\n A new concourse would connect to the existing stadium. Curran also highlighted additional green space and an elevated berm along Bayshore Drive that would create viewing areas for the Grand Prix.\u00a0<\/p>\n Space diagrams highlight the addition\u2019s street-level retail space, a new sports therapy room and other player areas. The second floor would feature team offices and new concessions.<\/p>\n The third floor includes a rooftop restaurant and bar that would remain open year-round. Documents also list a covered outdoor dining area and an outdoor amenity.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIf a person is up on this concourse level, they could easily see the soccer game very nicely,\u201d Curran said. \u201cThe third floor is more of a sort of VIP restaurant experience, potentially.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Councilmember Corey Givens Jr. said that regardless of the sport it hosts, he wants to preserve Al Lang \u201cas much as we can.\u201d He called the expansion a \u201crevenue generator.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got to think about how we can get creative \u2026 ways to generate multiple streams of income,\u201d Givens continued. \u201cI definitely saw what you did here, and I\u2019m very impressed.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The addition\u2019s second and third levels would overlook the field.<\/p>\n Al Lang likely lacks the space for a full spring training facility, which requires several practice areas. The meeting agenda includes notes from a meeting with the Rowdies, and states that the stadium \u201cpresents potential as a future spring training location \u2013 should the Rays depart.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere is notable interest in this idea, though no formal discussions.\u201d<\/p>\n Rowdies officials have long eyed a move from the USL Championship to soccer\u2019s top tier, which was previously limited to Major League Soccer (MLS). However, the USL plans to launch<\/a> a Division One league for the 2027-2028 season.\u00a0<\/p>\n City documents note that a \u201cDivision 1 soccer facility requires a minimum seating capacity of 15,000, and \u201cmajor strategic decisions are difficult to finalize at this stage.\u201d Herendeen said the proposed facility could work for the Rowdies\u00a0long-term and host \u201cother uses.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSo, they were pleased with the outcome.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The city spent over $3 million repairing the storm-damaged stadium<\/a>, and the Rowdies are under contract to play at Al Lang through 2026<\/a>. President Ryan Helfrick, who has called Mayor Ken Welch\u2019s administration \u201cgreat partners,\u201d said in August that he \u201cwould like to get back to a point where we\u2019re hosting other events at Al Lang, as well.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Councilmember Gina Driscoll expressed concern that the addition would eliminate views of the waterfront.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In July, St. Petersburg officials ruled out demolishing Al Lang Stadium. Pinellas County Commissioners signaled a willingness to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":73754,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-73753","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\/73753","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=73753"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73753\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Al-Lang-Baseball-1024x553.jpg\")
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