TAMPA — The Tampa Bay Rays are bringing their proposed stadium plans directly to the public.
What You Need To Know
The Tampa Bay Rays held the first of three public community engagement sessions to get feedback on proposed ballpark plans
At Tuesday’s meeting, the team heard from college students, staff and residents — both for and against the project.
RELATED: The Tampa Bay Rays released initial renderings of the proposed ballpark at Hillsborough College’s Dale Mabry campus
PREVIOUS STORIES on Rays stadium pursuit
The team on Tuesday night hosted the first in a series of community meetings to gather feedback on a potential new ballpark.
The new ballpark is a $2.3 billion project that would be on the Dale Mabry campus of Hillsborough College. The location sits directly across from Raymond James Stadium and adjacent to Steinbrenner Field, the spring training home of the New York Yankees.
At Tuesday’s meeting, the team heard from college students, staff and residents — both for and against the project.
Some college students had concerns about the effect of adding another stadium so close to Raymond James Stadium and Steinbrenner Field.
“There’s a lot of issues with the fact we really have, like, two or three stadiums already. The traffic is really bad,” said one student. “We have international students and student housing with the stadium. You know that the area is already, like, high-value property and it’s like slowly pushing out low income neighborhoods.”
Another student said there were issues on campus that need to be addressed, such as broken elevators.
Ken Atwate, Hillsborough College’s president, said: “The partnerships is about getting financed to do this. But think about the learning environment that we’re going to create here at the Dale Mabry campus. It will be entirely different. It will be an environment that you will love to come, as they say, live, learn, work and play.”
The Rays say the project will bring in 10 million annual visitors and more than 175 events annually. The team says it is willing to cover half the cost and hopes for public funding through Hillsborough County, and the city of Tampa to cover the rest.
The Rays have also reached out to first responders, key partners and local businesses to work on details regarding the project.
Two additional community meetings will be held next week:
Tuesday, March 10: 6:30 p.m. – 8 p.m.
Jefferson High School Auditorium
4401 W. Cypress St.
Tampa, FL 33607
Wednesday, March 11: 6:30 p.m. – 8 p.m.
The Skills Center
5107 N. 22nd St.
Tampa, FL 33610