ST. Petersburg – The members of the municipal council voted on Thursday to approve the replacement of the Tropicana Field roof shredded by Hurricane Milton last year.
The city will spend $ 22.5 million on a new fiberglass roof coated in teflon, composed of the same material as the original. This is about half of the total cost estimated to repair the stadium, counted in November at $ 55.7 million.
The vote represents a major step towards the preparation of the dome of the return of the Rays of Tampa Bay in Saint Petersburg in time for the 2026 season. The team uses a temporary house in Steinbrenner Field in Tampa.
As the owner of the overflow, the city is required to make the too playable again, according to its agreement with the team. The members of the Council said they had recognized the city’s contractual obligation. The shelves should play home games in the dome next year Throughout the 2028 season.
“I prefer to spend this money from the restoration of hurricanes and help residents in our most affected neighborhoods,” said Brandi Gabbard, member of the Council, “but that is our obligation.”
The members of the council voted 7-1 to replace the roof of the too much. Richie Floyd voted no. He said he would have liked to see the city presenting the figures for a regulation with the Rays would have cost the repairs. The city could have bought the Rays to play their last three seasons too much.
The council voted in November to replace the roof, but the president of the Rays, Brian Auld, said that the team preferred a regulation. Auld said the team doubts that the repairs would be carried out in time and at cost and should offer a backup plan to play elsewhere. The council then recalled his vote and rejected this funding. The rays then changed their position and approved the fixing of too much.
“We are delighted to see the municipal council taking this important step towards the preparation of the tropicana land for Major League Baseball in time for the opening day of 2026,” said Auld in a statement on Thursday. “We congratulate in particular the city, the rays and the MLB staff for their cooperation efforts to bring us to this point.”
After the owner of Rays, Stuart Sternberg, announced last month that the team would not go ahead with an agreement of $ 1.3 billion to build a new stadium, which would have demolished the too much, the team proposed the city and the land of the Pinellas county in 200 million dollars each for the renovations in exchange for playing too much for 10 years. The city and the county rejected this idea.
Floyd called on a starting point for negotiations on Thursday, because it would never support so much expenses.
“What we are doing today is to vote to approve something at a limited price attached to it today, but still with a range of variables to come,” he said.
The city administrator, Rob Gerdes, said that the City had had multiple discussions on this subject, but said that any regulation would have lost reimbursements from the City of Insurance and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
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“Simply doesn’t make a financial meaning for the city,” he said.
The council must still vote on repairs not linked to roof, such as metal panels, sports lighting, visual audio equipment and dry partitions, floor covering and cabinets. These votes should appear before the Council this summer.
The board member, Lisset Hanewicz, asked if these costs had increased since they were estimated last year.
“We always think we are in the range,” said the architect of the city Raul Quintana. “We think it will stay there.”
Hanewicz said that the county commissioner Vince Nowicki suggested that the county could stick to tourist dollars for renovations. Gerdes said the city will hold the county funding, but would speak to the director of the county Barry Burton.
“I find that the strange administration of the city did not even come and ask us to participate,” said Nowicki.
Under the agreement approved on Thursday, the entrepreneur who evaluated the damages too much last year will return to repair the stadium. Aecom Hunt, the Indianapolis -based construction management company, is also the same company that built too much 35 years ago.
The company will associate with the construction company of Saint Petersburg, Hennessy Construction Services to build a new roof made from white fabric. Major League Baseball preferred a white roof, which is cheaper than a beige roof and will take less time to install.
The new roof will be designed for current building codes and could withstand 165 MPH winds.
The equipment is manufactured in Germany and will be assembled in China, then transported by plane to Saint Petersburg in four expeditions. Earlier this week, President Trump announced a 10% rate on all countries, including 34% on China and 20% on the European Union.
The agreement includes a possibility of $ 100,000 to cover the proposed prices, although some members of the Council have doubted that it is sufficient.
The price of the roof does not include an acoustic lining. The head of special projects, Beth Herendeen, said that it was not necessary with the installation of a new audio system and that the league agreed with this.
The roof repairs would end just in time for Christmas, and the replacement of the lawn would continue until February, according to the deadlines of the entrepreneurs. There is a room for maneuver for shipping delays and weather delays.
Board members voted to transfer or lend $ 2.5 million from the city’s parking income fund, $ 7.6 million in the commercial insurance fund and $ 12.8 against a loan of $ 50 million that the city contracted in December.
Voting also included an additional $ 500,600 to cover project monitoring, inspections and license fees.
