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By Curt Anderson

The Associated Press

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. 鈥� The playoff-bound Tampa Bay Rays put the finishing touches Tuesday on plans for a new 30,000-seat ballpark in St. Petersburg as part of a that includes affordable housing, retail, bars and restaurants, and a Black history museum.

The site is on the same 86 acres downtown where Tropicana Field now sits. That聽domed, oddly-tilted ballpark聽would be demolished once the new one is built, in time for opening day 2028, Rays co-president Brian Auld said in an interview.

The plan still needs to clear some funding and government approval hurdles but would keep the Rays in St. Petersburg for the foreseeable future despite constant talk of the team moving across the bay to Tampa or possibly to Nashville, Tennessee.

鈥淲e鈥檙e going to be here for a very long time,鈥� Auld said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e all really thrilled that for the first time since we started this, we have a clear path to make sure the Rays stay in Tampa Bay for generations to come.鈥�

The announcement for the new ballpark and surroundings came Tuesday at an event inside Tropicana Field.

鈥淚 am so excited that the Rays are here to stay 鈥� finally!鈥� said Pinellas County Commission Chairwoman Janet Long, who noted this will be the largest economic development project in the county鈥檚 history. 鈥淭his project is a home run and means so much more to us than sports.鈥�

Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred has said expansion to 32 teams could be considered after ballpark deals are in place for the Rays and Oakland Athletics, who have proposed moving to a planned stadium in Las Vegas.

The Rays have played in St. Petersburg since their inaugural season in 1998. The Trop, as the Rays鈥� current home is called, is criticized for being dank, outdated and having roof support beams that are sometimes hit by fly balls. The stadium cost $138 million when it was built in 1990 to draw a major league team to the region.

The new ballpark will cost about $1.3 billion, officials said, with roughly half of that amount coming from the Rays and half from city and county governments, co-president Matt Silverman said. The structure will have a fixed roof in rainy and hot Florida, but it will be low-profile, with doors and windows on the sides that can open to let in fresh air during cooler months.

鈥淚t will have the smallest capacity in Major League Baseball,鈥� Silverman said. 鈥淗aving that roof is necessary, but you want to create intimacy.鈥�

Pinellas County and the city of St. Petersburg will each provide about $300 million toward the ballpark. County officials say their share of the money will come from a bed tax largely funded by visitors that can be spent only on tourist-related and economic development expenses. St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch said bonds will be used to fund the city鈥檚 portion, with no new or increased property taxes.

鈥淲e looked at that $300 million as an investment that will pay dividends for the city of St. Petersburg,鈥� Welch said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 believe in roadblocks. We are starting a path of progress for our city for years to come.鈥�

The City Council and County Commission both plan meetings in October to begin making decisions on funding and other issues, especially those related to affordable housing, minority contractor participation, and money for educational and day care programs. Those meetings will continue into next year.

The Rays, second in the AL East at 92-59, clinched their fifth straight playoff berth on Sunday, but their average home attendance of 17,778 is 27th among the 30 teams.

The overall project goes beyond baseball. It has been pushed by Welch, St. Petersburg鈥檚 first Black mayor, as a way to ,聽whose mostly Black residents were forced to move in part because of construction of Tropicana Field and an interstate highway. Welch鈥檚 grandfather ran a woodyard in the community and the future mayor spent many of his younger days there.

鈥淭oday we take a significant step toward fulfilling the promises made 40 years ago,鈥� Welch said. 鈥淚鈥檝e never doubted that this day would come.鈥�

Development will include more than 6,000 new apartments and condominiums, office space, retail space, a hotel, a Black history museum and more, according to Hines, a global development company that is managing the project. The goal is to break ground in the second half of 2024.

鈥淚t鈥檚 more than just a baseball team that calls it home,鈥� Silverman said. 鈥淭he stadium question has hung over this franchise for decades. We鈥檙e creating a new neighborhood.鈥�