Delayed Rays' stadium vote pleases potential Trop developers

ST. PETERSBURG — Though it might sound strange, count the potential developers of Tropicana Field among those satisfied by the Tampa Bay Rays' decision to put off a potential November stadium referendum.

The developers, Archstone and Madison Marquette, say that like local elected leaders and swaths of the city electorate, they worried about the rushed timetable ahead of a possible 2008 vote.

And though the stadium project and the possible Tropicana redevelopment are delayed indefinitely, that's a good thing, says Archstone senior vice president Ken Miller.

"We embrace this postponement," Miller said. "We now see us having more time to work with the (baseball coalition) and the city and the Rays to put this multifaceted potential redevelopment together, and more time to demonstrate the economic benefits it can bring."

Trop's price likely top issue in talks with developers

ST. PETERSBURG — Now that the city has picked a potential developer for Tropicana Field, negotiations will quickly turn to a key provision in the deal.

What is the Trop site worth?

The current offer of developers Archstone and Madison Marquette is $65-million. But that's $2-million to $3-million short of what the city wants in what would be St. Petersburg's biggest land deal ever.

The purchase price likely will be Topic A on Monday when the city and Archstone-Madison begin six weeks of talks on remaking the 86-acre site.

Failure to reach an agreement before August would doom the $1.65-billion downtown redevelopment, including the Tampa Bay Rays' plan for a $450-million waterfront ballpark.

"There's a gap we need to cover," city economic development director Dave Goodwin admits. "More money needs to be paid for the land. Or more money needs to be paid for the land sooner."

Who will the council pick? Hines or Archstone

Archstone has to be a heavy, heavy favorite, but stranger things have happened.

The City Council is expected to start their weekly meeting in a few minutes, and the Tropicana Field RFP question is pretty high up on the agenda. We know the folks from Archstone will be in the audience. We expect Hines will be represented here, too.

Keep checking back to see what happens.

UPDATE (3:05 p.m.) --- The meeting is just starting. Council member Jeff Danner is reading a proclamation recognizing St. Pete Pride. (For St. Petersburg regulars, the Pride proclamation is one of the very few, if only proclamation in the city that Mayor Rick Baker does not sign).

UPDATE (3:15 p.m.) -- Trop discussion just now getting underway. The city's lead negotiator, Rick Mussett, is on vacation. So economic development director Dave Goodwin is taking the mic. Mayor Rick Baker just also walked in.

UPDATE (3:35 p.m.) -- Council members are now launching into their questions for staff.

UPDATE (3:55 p.m.) -- City Council member Karl Nurse, praising the Archstone selection, and comparing it the failed developers of Bay Plaza: "The strength of Archstone group is like 25 times, 50 times stronger than the Bay Plaza group."

UPDATE (4:20 p.m.) -- The meeting, no offense, is turning into a pretty boring event. A camerawoman with channel 10 is sleeping the front row.

UPDATE (4:30 p.m.) -- Council selects Archstone-Madison 5-1. Herb Polson voted 'yes.' It was Leslie Curran who voted 'no.'

(City Council chairman Jamie Bennett is away on vacation, so vice chairman Jeff Danner is running the meeting).

-- Aaron Sharockman, Times Staff Writer

Ed Board: Look beyond fuzzy plans for Trop site

The business partnership that St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker has recommended negotiating with to develop the Tropicana Field site may offer an attractive blend of retail and residential expertise. But City Council members, who are being asked today to authorize negotiations with Archstone-Madison, should be wary of basing their decision on fuzzy artist renderings and big numbers. By the developer's own admission, those are subject to change.

The problem is that Baker's staff chose Archstone Smith and Madison Marquette primarily because the companies propose to build 5.4-million square feet of retail, residential and office buildings. As city administrator Rick Mussett writes: "The Archstone-Madison proposal is a more intensive urban vision for the project that takes better advantage of the development opportunities."

Put the emphasis on vision. The rub is that no one can readily predict the economic environment that will drive a project expected to take at least a decade, and Archstone senior vice president Kenneth Miller was candid enough on Wednesday to acknowledge the plan could ultimately shrink in size.

"You at least want to start with shooting for the stars," he said.

Continue reading here.

Archstone vp talks with Times editorial board

Archstone senior vice president Ken Miller is meeting with the St. Petersburg Times editorial board today starting at 1 p.m. Check back this afternoon to hear what he had to say.

UPDATE: Miller just wrapped up more than an hour-long discussion with the editorial board. Not a lot of new information to be shared. Miller talked about partnering with the city and the community on the project, and how new retail space could kickstart the area.

Some other highlights:

• The movie theater would likely by a "niche" theater that wouldn't compete with BayWalk, Archstone officials said, and would include space for a bowling alley, lounge, and possibly other entertainment options.
• Archstone says it believes it can attract a department store to the new project.
• Archstone officials have hardly spoken with the Rays, though the two sides hope to meet shortly. "Hines was rather aligned with the Tampa Bay Rays," said Archstone's Gary Colton. "It would seem presumptiuous to insert ourselves in there."
• As we talked about in today's story, Archstone admitted that their proposal was only one possibility. In fact, they described it as "shooting for the stars." The group seemed committed to the first phase (about 800,000 square feet of retail, 500 apartments) but after that, they said the market would dictate what would happen.

Years could change what works in Trop site redevelopment

From this morning's paper:

ST. PETERSBURG — The proposal to remake Tropicana Field into an anchor for downtown's west end relies on a steady course of construction over 10 years, with each brick building on the next.

Starting at 10th Street S and moving west to the interstate, the three-phase $1.2-billion project would bring retail, then residences, then office space.

The plan is conceptual. City Council members first must agree on Thursday to pick a developer, then city voters must agree in November to build a new stadium on the waterfront.

But experts in the development industry, and those familiar with St. Petersburg, caution that the plan — if it comes to fruition — is likely to change. In fact, the proposal submitted by Archstone, one of the nation's leading apartment builders, and its partner Madison Marquette, may only be a template for the 86-acre site.

Shifting dynamics are typical of such a large scale development built over several years, developers say. What may seem like a good fit for office space today may end up working better as an apartment high-rise by 2015 or 2020.

"You have more variables to get right," said Steve Mauldin, senior vice president with Crosland, a mixed-use developer in Charlotte, N.C. "Or not get right. The difficulty of a project like this is exponential.

"It's tricky from a financing standpoint. It's tricky from an operational standpoint. It's tricky from a construction standpoint."

Hines smackdown on city

I'm guessing this letter from Hines vice president Michael Harrison to city officials Dave Goodwin and Rick Mussett will officially end the POWW contention that the Tropicana RFP process was set up for Hines to win. Harrison, of course, is responding to the city's decision to recommend Archstone-Madison for the Tropicana redevelop. In the letter below, he's referencing specific portions of that recommendations. (The final paragraph is really a doozy).

"Gentlemen:

As you no doubt will appreciate, we are extremely disappointed with your joint recommendation to the Mayor and City Council.

Archstone's plans for Trop site

Since it seems like we'll be turning our attention solely to the Archstone-Madison proposal for Tropicana Field, I wanted to share a couple of the images from the proposal. Above is the masterplan for the Trop site.

To help get you oriented, the site of the dome right now is in the lefthand corner between 16th Street and I-175.

Some of the text may be hard to read, but the tallest building Archstone proposes is 20 stories just west of 16th street. The focal point of the development however, is on the eastern edge of the site (east of Booker Creek), where developers proposed nearly 800,000 square feet of retail space.

The intersection marked "Galleria Plaza" would be the hub of the area. (That's what the smaller image is depicting).

The area east of Booker Creek is what Archstone is calling phase 1. Plans call for that area being completed first, by 2013. It would include a movie theater/entertainment complex, outdoors store, grocery chain, and other retailers.

Just in: City picks Archstone-Madison

ST. PETERSBURG — Mayor Rick Baker on Friday recommended developers Archstone and Madison Marquette to turn Tropicana Field and its sprawling parking lots into a urban village accented by an outdoor mall almost as big as International Plaza.

The $1.2-billion development, which would be the largest in the city’s history, hinges on the Tampa Bay Rays’ plan to construct a new stadium on St. Petersburg’s waterfront. The City Council also must approve the recommendation of the mayor next week.

If it passes both tests, however, the Archstone-Madison development would include 1,935 for-rent apartments and 755 for-sale condominiums and townhomes, 800,000 square feet of new office space and at least two hotels totaling 600 rooms.

The Washington D.C.-area developers beat out finalist Hines, a Houston company that had been working with the Rays on a smaller redevelopment concept. The Rays on Friday congratulated Archstone-Madison and said they were eager to work with the Washington, D.C.-area developers.

Though it was the largest proposed development, Archstone-Madison’s apparent selection comes as a surprise. For months, opponents of the Rays’ stadium and redevelopment proposal argued that the process was set up so that only the Rays-backed bid of Hines could win.

And even some stadium supporters simply believed Hines would prevail simply because the company was better known.

“We wouldn’t have recommended Archstone-Madison if we weren’t comfortable with them,” said city senior development administrator Rick Mussett. “We’re looking for what’s in the city’s best long term interest. We felt Archstone had a little better vision.”

Read the recommendation here.

Setting the stage: Hines vs. Archstone

Here's a tale of the tape on each project. You can see more about the projects in an interactive display we created here.

Hines

• Retail --- 790,000 square feet
• Office --- 600,000 square feet
• Residential --- 1,591,296 square feet
• Hotel --- 125,000 square feet
• Phasing --- Six phases over six years
• Purchase price --- $60.64-million ($19.52/sq ft)

Other notes. Hines agrees to pay an additional $20/sq ft. for any construction that occurs beyond what's listed above. Hines will pay $5-million toward demolition of Tropicana Field, and would accept full responsibility if the city could provide additional existing conditions documentation. Hines not willing to guarantee tax revenues or pay for environmental remediation. Developer says project will create 3,172 net new jobs and $4.3-million in new city taxes a year at build out. Hines also wants to purchase city parcel just east of Trop site for an additional $1.57-million.

Archstone-Madison

• Retail --- 1,126,000 square feet
• Office --- 800,000 square feet
• Residential --- 3,162,850 square feet
• Hotel --- 360,000 square feet
• Phasing --- Three phases over 10 to 13 years
• Purchase price --- $65-million ($11.93/sq ft)

Other notes. Will pay $5-million toward Trop demolition. Remainder comes off purchase price. Will not pay environmental remediation. No tax revenue guarantees. Would guarantee up to 1-million square feet of retail construction as part of Phase 1. Developer says project would create 5,574 net new jobs and an additional $7.4-million a year in city taxes at buildout.

Something new for you to chew on

A somewhat easy-to-understand city matrix explaining the latest thinking on the Tropicana Field development.

Two big pieces of news to share with you guys. But I think you're going to have to wait until tomorrow out of fear that my colleagues at the Tribune read Ballpark Frankness. But I'd buy a copy of the paper tomorrow if I were you.

Or at least come back here.

Rays president asks business leaders for help sellion stadium/redevelopment plan

TAMPA — Tampa Bay Rays president Matt Silverman this morning called on business leaders to rally behind the team’s two-pronged plan to redevelop Tropicana Field and construct a new $450-million stadium in downtown St. Petersburg.

“It’s a story that the Rays can’t be left to tell ourselves,” Silverman told about 125 business leaders at a Tampa Bay Business Journal breakfast at the Centre Club in Tampa. “The silence from the business community has been noticed,” Silverman said. “Your voices must be heard.”

Silverman said the two projects in total could represent $1.2-billion in new development in downtown St. Petersburg, producing 10,000 construction jobs and thousands of new permanent jobs.

The St. Petersburg City Council is expected on Thursday to consider a first of three necessary votes to schedule a November citywide referendum on the plan.

“The political community is looking to hear the opinions of its constituents,” Silverman said. “Right now, it’s hearing primarily from people with red (anti-stadium) signs in their yard.”

(Here's the business journal's take from today's breakfast)

City response to DEP: Go to ...

The story about the DEP deed restriction changed mightily from the time I posted it on this blog yesterday afternoon until it hit papers this morning. Read the updated version here.

Trop tax analyses

As promised, here's the city's tax impact analysis on the two prospective Tropicana redevelopment proposals. There are three separate analyses.

Click here.

Rays, NAACP reach agreement on minority participation in stadium project

The Rays just announced that they have struck a deal with the St. Petersburg branch of the NAACP on minority participation in development of a new waterfront stadium. According to a Rays release, the Rays have agreed to:

• Creating opportunities for youth through scholarships, internships, job training and neighborhood development programs;
• Providing increased opportunities for African Americans, women and other minority groups within all levels of the Rays organization and through increased vendor opportunities
• Advocating for the development of a fair, affordable housing initiative and anti-discrimination plan for the redevelopment of the Tropicana Field site;
• Advocating for the development of a local hiring and minority business participation plan for the redevelopment of the Tropicana Field site; and
• Developing and implementing a local hiring and minority business participation plan for the Rays proposed waterfront ballpark.

“The advocacy and promotion of civil rights, equal education, and increased economic opportunity for St. Petersburg’s African American and minority community is an essential ingredient in the NAACP’s drive towards achieving the vision of a vibrant and growing community,” said Oretha Pope Jr., Economic Development Chairperson of the St. Petersburg Branch of the NAACP.   “We recognize that this unique partnership between the Rays and NAACP can strengthen both organizations, our neighborhoods, and our City.”

The Rays, meanwhile, said have engaged the Ariel Business Group, a Tampa Bay area consulting firm led by Thomas Huggins, to help develop this comprehensive program to include local residents and minority and women-owned business enterprises in all opportunity areas in the design, construction and operations of the proposed waterfront ballpark.

“The construction of a new $450 million waterfront ballpark will create enormous economic opportunity through the creation of 5,000 – 6,000 construction jobs and hundreds of other professional and service jobs and contracting opportunities,” said Matt Silverman, Rays President.  “The Rays are committed to allocating necessary resources and developing a comprehensive program to link the minority communities within the City to this great opportunity.”

Psst! We're talking about the stadium on TroxBlog

Howard Troxler here, sneaking into Aaron's blog. (Hi, Aaron.) We're having a live chat over on TroxBlog and the stadium has come up in our conversation, in case you're interested. The chat transcript will stay up afterward, too.

Here's the link.

The original Tropicana Field

Click for larger photo

Tropicana Field might have looked like this.

The St. Petersburg Times has unearthed a preliminary design for Tropicana Field that included outdoor seating with a tent roof to shield both the field and fans from the weather.

The black-and-white picture above was taken by Times photographer Fraser Hale in early 1983. (You should be able to click on the photo to make it larger). In the distance is the old Bayfront Arena. On the right is Interstate 175. A fabric roof stretches over a boomerang shaped baseball stadium, anchored to the upper deck on one end, and at the ground on the other. Fountains shoot up from center field.

That stadium, of course, was never built.

The plan, the work of the Pinellas Sports Authority, was shelved after city and county leaders pressed for a multipurpose dome to attract activities other than baseball.

The Tampa Bay Rays now want to level that dome for a stadium, shown at right, very much like the one local leaders first contemplated. The Rays had never seen the 1983 picture before, they say.

"People were really impressed with it," recalled former sports authority chairman Cecil Engelbert, one of the few living people still associated with the original design. "It would have sure been attractive."

If the Rays get their way, we still may get to see it.

Council follows mayor's lead; Negotiations to begin with two Tropicana developers

The City Council is kicking up its morning meeting right now. Later today, talk will turn to the Tropicana Field redevelopment, and Mayor Rick Baker's recommendation to start month-long negotiations with two of the three potential developers. In are Archstone-Madison and Hines; out is Williams Quarter.

Will the council go along? Or will they go a different way?

We'll be here to let you know.

UPDATE 11:40 a.m. -- The council voted 7-1 (Herb Polson voted no) to authorize negotiations with Hines and Archstone-Madison. Williams Quarter has submitted a letter to the city bowing out gracefully.

UPDATE 11:30 a.m. -- The council voted 7-1 (Wengay Newton voted no) to send a letter to the Rays asking the team to communicate its financial proposal to the council on or before May 16. Authorizing negotiations with developers Hines and Archstone-Madison is up next.

UPDATE 11:15 a.m. -- The council just agreed to add this clause to prospective negotiations (they still have to approve that negotiations begin). Whereas, it is the intent of the City Council that the Final Disposition Agreement fo rthe redevelopment of Tropicana Field ensures that the City incurs no financial risk in excess of guaranteed revenues generated by the Agreement; that the selected developer provide a financial guarantee to insure the development project will be completed within a defined time frame state in the Agreement; and, that the City does not bcome liable for unforeseen or underestimated costs.

The council is now talking about asking the Rays to provide their financial proposal by May 16, two weeks for tomorrow.

UPDATE 11 a.m. -- The council is now debating whether to add a clause to prospective negotiations that would guarantee the city incur no financial risk in excess of guaranteed revenues generated by the redevelopment. Mainly, it's attempting to address any potential enviromental issues on the site.

UPDATE 10 a.m. -- We're still waiting for the Tropicana redevelopment discusison to begin, but we just heard from a member of St. Pete Preserve Our Wallets and Waterfront. Last month, POWW said it would support a public referendum as long as residents had all the facts. Today, steering committee member Willi Rudowsky asked council members to stop the city from going forward with negotiations on Thursday. She said there were too many unanswered questions to begin negotiating with potential Tropicana developers.