And near Jose Marti Park, last known Cuba-owned land in the US.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/b...s-ballpark_165326111

The proposed stadium site will be 14 acres, good enough for a small end of ballpark sites. Comparably, Target Field sits on 8.5 acres; Fenway Park on 9 acres. A good comparison to the proposed Rays site would be Pittsburgh’s PNC Park, whose stadium site is 14.7 acres. Parking will be limited though, so it might just be a walk-and-bring-your-own-chair thing. Closed roof, undetermined if fixed or retractable. Also undetermined is the amount of public financing. The rape of Miami and Cobb County, Georgia is still fresh in these parts.

Here's what Bueller's (Bueller...Bueller...?) view of the complex might look like, http://www.skyscrapercity.com/...php?t=545346&page=76

Personally, too modern for me. I'd like to see more Ybor City architectural tones there. And for the opening day gimmick, a Cuban sandwich and a mojito for every attendee.

Interesting. I'm sure it'll improve Tampa's traffic patterns.

The City of St Petersburg richly deserves this

Looking at the artist's rendering: Regional Rail station? Light Rail? It's a streetcar that no one rides. That water taxi stop? That's a drydock in an active shipyard. So there will be no where to park, and no way to get there except walking or skydiving.

And it'll still mess up traffic.

What a waste of money.

I hope they can arrange the $ to build it. Just use real grass for the field, please. None of that hideous artificial turf.

The Giants built their stadium on a 12.5 acre plot butted up against the bay, all private funds. The only dollars voted on was to fund and improve the light rail outside the stadium and to change the area zoning, as it was a dockside warehouse prior. Baseball stadiums are better off in tighter neighborhoods with some character, Ybor is a great spot and stands to reap the benefits.

Don't pretend to know the specifics of the deal but, as a life long baseball fan, I can't imagine that this is going to improve the economics of the team. Florida should have stayed a Spring training site.

https://www.draysbay.com/2018/...nouncement-ybor-city

Right now I work for the Hillsborough County Clerk of Courts. If I'm still working for them in 5 years, I might be able to park downtown for free and take a shuttle or trolley to the stadium. Of course, everyone in my office probably has the same idea.

quote:

Originally posted by dogmush:
Looking at the artist's rendering: Regional Rail station? Light Rail? It's a streetcar that no one rides. That water taxi stop? That's a drydock in an active shipyard. So there will be no where to park, and no way to get there except walking or skydiving.

And it'll still mess up traffic.

What a waste of money.

The plans show a parking deck...

I was telling the girlfriend about this and we are kind of bummed.

We travel to St. Pete at least once (and if we can afford it) twice a year to see the Rays play the Orioles.

We are Rays fans even though they traded our favorite players, and enjoy St. Petersburg.

We stay at the Staybridge Suites right across the street and take the foot bridge over to the stadium.

I like Tampa, and have always wanted to live in the region but the last few times we were there Traffic and parking has been crazy.

We are still hoping to get down this years to catch a Lightning or Storm game.

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Tampa's traffic patterns

It should stay the same. They are planning on air-dropping fans.

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City of St Petersburg

They should be fine. They will have 83 acres prime for development. And with the added bonus of not being called Home of the Rays.

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no where to park

At this moment they are in conversations with Amazon for their drone-delivery Prime service. An added attraction.

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real grass for the field

Some ideas being floated around is for a hybrid MJ turf. It might be distracting for some players, though.

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everyone in my office probably has the same idea

Oh yeah!

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a parking deck

But that's only for Matchbox die-cast cars. Their owners comprise the huge majority of Rays' fans.

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Orioles *** catch a Lightning or Storm game

Now there's a baseball park that looks and feels like a baseball park. And not as a museum.

Storm's gone. Ceased operations in December.

There are a lot of issues that need to be resolved before it finally happens. But, hey, it's Tampa! We've done worse. We've done better. And if the baseball thing doesn't work out, we can always call it "The New Home of the Lightning!"

If you've watched a Marlins game lately, the stadium is practically empty. And with Stanton leaving, it probably wont get any better.

Yeesh. Traffic problems looming on-site, within the neighborhood and in that section of the city, a hotel/condo tower right next to an elevated section of highway, apartments essentially set up to catch noise efficiently from the elevated highway, large low-use-type areas covered in regimented palm trees that are apparently growing out of holes in concrete (I understand albedo and water supply, but that's just ugly)...ugh. All in all, it's a design that leaves you wondering if much better use could have been made of the space available. The stadium itself is large, but it leaves enough room to have given the site designer options.

quote:

Originally posted by MRBTX:
If you've watched a Marlins game lately, the stadium is practically empty. And with Stanton leaving, it probably wont get any better.

Which is an incredible shame given how gorgeous that ballpark is. Not my favorite MLB ballpark, but easily in the top five. I really enjoy road tripping to Miami for a couple games a year.

As to the Rays new ballpark, it can't be any worse than the absolutely horrible park they play in now. I've been all over the country and visited a whole bunch of MLB stadiums during my journeys, and I can say without hesitation, 'The Trop' is by far the worst stadium I've ever been to. For that matter, I've been to minor league stadiums that were better designed.

Reports surfaced yesterday regarding the inspiration for the design of the new park.

This,



I can definitely see how that will work with fly balls to dead center, but I think it leaves spraying the ball all over the field out of the equation.

Or in a cost-cutting move, the only players on the field will be the catcher, pitcher, SS, 2nd baseman and CFer. And then a bunch of pitchers and relievers concomitant with the only-twice-through-the-order pitching strategy.

http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/...sculpture-of-a-bird/

Do like the idea of incorporating Ybor City bricks into the design. As long as they clean them first.

Also, owner Sternberg said they are looking for an "ultra modern" design to make it a "minimalist, iconic, porous facility." That means no roof. Which will make it incredibly porous during the mild, dry summer season we have here. Sounds like a plan.

However, Sternberg added "[I]f the stadium is done correctly, it's going to be iconic yet you won't even know it's there." Silly me, I thought attendance was the problem...

quote:

Originally posted by dave7378:
Don't pretend to know the specifics of the deal but, as a life long baseball fan, I can't imagine that this is going to improve the economics of the team. Florida should have stayed a Spring training site.

Exactly! It didn’t help when Steinbrenner moved his Yankees training field right across the street from Ray Jay (The Bucs football stadium). Created a rift between wannabe Rays fans and Yankees fans. A shame to see a home game for the Rays turn into a Yankees fan fest!

Traffic is still gonna be a real mess. There is NO easy, unconvoluted way to get to the Ybor area, especially now if you got a game on.

quote:

Originally posted by RHINOWSO:
Interesting. I'm sure it'll improve Tampa's traffic patterns.

As a resident of the northwestern edge of the county, I can’t imagine just how much of a pain it is going to be to get over there.

I share the same opinion as others on here. I think it will be a novelty item for the first 2-3 years to see the stadium. After that I think attendance levels will be right where they are now. I’m not a baseball guy so I doubt I’ll ever get over there unless free tickets present themselves. I’ve only been to the Trop once in the 11 years I’ve been down here.