St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch has finally made official what has always been the most likely course of action regarding the redevelopment of the Tropicana Field site: he’s going to choose his own developer, and he’s going to do it with the Rays involvement.
Early in 2020, former Mayor Rick Kriseman made an attempt at finding a developer for the Rays stadium site, which occupies nearly 25% of the downtown footprint. It was an appropriate course of action for the City, but one met by several roadblocks, including the question as to whether a new baseball stadium would be included.