St. Pete City Council approves funding to replace Tropicana Field roof

City leaders approve funding to fix Tropicana roof

FOX 13’s Kailey Tracy reports on the St. Petersburg City Council approving $22.5 million to fix the roof of Tropicana Field.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The St. Petersburg City Council approved about $23 million on Thursday for a new roof at Tropicana Field.

It's just part of the estimated $56 million it'll cost to repair all of Hurricane Milton's damage to the stadium. In a 7-1 vote, the council agreed to pay $23 million to replace the domed roof that was destroyed during the storm, but it didn't come without concern.

Of the approved funds, $2.5 million is from the parking revenue fund. City staff said when the city gets reimbursed by insurance and/or FEMA, those resources will replenish the expenses of internal funds and repay any loans they have.

Trop repair discussions

What they're saying:

"We hear from the public that we should not be moving forward," Council Member Brandi Gabbard said. "We shouldn’t be repairing the Trop, because the [new stadium] deal fell apart, and to me, they’re two very different things. I mean, they are with the same entities, yes. It is the same site, but this is our contractual obligation that frankly we all inherited."

"So, I don't like it any more than anybody else that we're looking at spending $23 million today on just the roof, recognizing that there is going to be other costs that are going to come to us. I'd much rather be spending that money on hurricane recovery and helping residents in our most affected neighborhoods," Gabbard said.

Council members expressed a lack of trust with the Tampa Bay Rays, but explained they don’t really have a choice when it comes to the Trop repairs.

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"We are legally bound by an agreement and the agreement requires us to fix the stadium," Vice-Chair Lisset Hanewicz said.

Big picture view:

The city’s architect, Raul Quintana, said the new roof will be thicker, stronger and able to withstand 165 mile per hour winds.

"It’s a significantly higher wind reaction than what it was back when it was originally installed," Quintana said.

It will be fabricated in Germany and assembled in China, which brought up concerns about tariffs after President Donald Trump’s announcement regarding tariffs on Wednesday. Quintana said they’ve built in a $100,000 contingency specifically for tariffs.

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"Just yesterday, these numbers went up, I think 25% for all EU countries, 34% for China. Is $100,000 enough … we don't really know how that's all going to shake out, but we're dealing with materials coming from two different countries," Gabbard said.

"I thought $100,000, with our current environment right now, I didn't know if that was going to be enough," Council Member Deborah Figgs-Sanders said.

Dig deeper:

Quintana said they have a lot of work to do to understand how tariffs may affect the project. He has asked subcontractors for a breakdown of their costs, so city staff can understand how tariffs may affect them.

Quintana said they had to study the acoustical properties and the lighting properties of the new roof to make sure it wouldn’t affect the playability. After a lot of analysis and field-testing by the MLB, the Rays and the city, the MLB and the Rays chose white over beige. Both were acceptable, city staff said, but the white was slightly less money and will save crews about a week when it comes to installation.

What's next:

In June, crews will start to put netting up and prepare for roof installation. The roof will be air-freighted here in four separate bundles. The first will arrive in St. Pete from China in August. They hope to have all the work done by December 2025. Once the roof replacement is completed, crews can start working on interior repairs and turf installation. All stadium repairs are still on track to be done by Opening Day 2026, city staff said.

MORE: St. Pete developer touts offer to fix the Trop, buy Gas Plant land after Rays back out of stadium deal

Tropicana Field settlement?

What they're saying:

Council members also brought up the question about a possible settlement with the Rays over Tropicana Field. City Administrator Rob Gerdes said city staff had several discussions with the Rays about coming to a different type of resolution, like a settlement, but that was when the new stadium deal was on the table and money from a settlement would go towards that new stadium.

The Rays also now want the repairs made, city staff said.

"If we're going to make some type of financial agreement, we're going to make a payment to the Tampa Bay Rays, we wanted that to go to a new stadium," Gerdes said. "Obviously, we see now that, you know, they're not going forward with the new stadium."

"Our position is, for us to pay them a financial payment to walk away and forego insurance reimbursement and FEMA reimbursement just doesn't make financial sense for the city," Gerdes said.

Council Member Richie Floyd, the sole no vote, said he wanted to see numbers to back that up.

"I recognize that we might not get a straight answer from the Rays, but I do think that I could be brought comfort by seeing some range, like with the variables attached to as well," Floyd said. "I just have not seen that yet, and that's where my hangup is. We've had speakers come out and speculate that this might be the most financially prudent thing to do, but I haven't seen numbers at all, and that's what the problem is for me."

Floyd also said he’d be open to talking about a possible lease extension at the Trop with all of the improvements being made.

"If the venue’s going to continue to exist, and we can make baseball work in that venue, I mean, I would be open to that discussion, is all I'm saying, as long as it makes financial sense. So, I wanted to encourage you, even though it might be difficult, because the relationship's a little frayed, to pursue that if this is the path we go down," Floyd said.

Why you should care:

The Trop’s lease is up at the end of 2028. City staff said they’ve had very early conversations with Visit St. Pete Clearwater and a sports and event consultant about what the stadium could be used for after that.

City Council will now vote on four interior repair packages that contractors and city staff are currently working to put together. Those will include metal panel repair and replacement, sports lighting, low-voltage/audio/visual and architectural/mechanical/baseball-specific items like drywall, flooring, cabinetry and installing the new turf. City staff said they hope to have all the packages before City Council by the summer.

Tropicana Field's damage from Milton

Dig deeper:

On Wednesday, city staff showed the damage to the Major League Baseball stadium during a walk-through of the facility.

The roof of Tropicana Field was badly damaged during Hurricane Milton.

Staff members said they are hopeful that they will finish installing the roof by the end of the year and have Tropicana Field ready for the Tampa Bay Rays by Opening Day 2026.

"By getting started when we start, it builds us the leeway and the opportunity to get it done in time," said Herendeen.

Some work can be done in the meantime, but much of the repairs will have to take place once the roof is on and tested for waterproofing. Until then, the second deck, outfield seats and dugouts have been sealed by waterproof tarps and concourses have temporary doors.

"There are some things that are not in the way of the roof replacement construction, or B, that won't be damaged because of [a new] storm," said Quintana.

The Source: Information for this article comes from the St. Pete City Council meeting and a previous report by FOX 13.

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