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A render of the interior of the future stadium for the Tampa Bay Rays of Major League Baseball. (Image: Tampa Bay Rays)

Mortenson was announced as contractor in early July, though the Rays still needed final approval from St. Petersburg (where the team plays its home games), which came in a 5-3 vote of affirmation on 18 July.

The US-based contractor has built other professional stadiums including Truist Park for the MLB’s Atlanta Braves and Allegiant Stadium for the National Football League’s Las Vegas Raiders.

The City of St. Petersburg will contribute $287 million, Pinella County is putting in $312 million and the Rays baseball club $700 million.

A construction timeline is not yet available, but the Rays plan to be in their new stadium by MLB’s Opening Day in 2028.

Rays’ new stadium deal was years in the making, part of larger $6.5bn project

Despite being one of the more successful MLB teams in the last 20 years, the Rays have regularly been in the bottom half of attendance compared to peers.

Their current stadium, Tropicana Field – which will be demolished to make way for the new development – is an indoor dome built in 1998, and it has long been deemed inadequate for hosting professional baseball.

A modern stadium, some thought, would encourage more fans to turn out, but disagreements over the years on who would pay it, and how much it would cost, delayed the action until this year.

The stadium is one part of a much larger $6.5-billion scheme, which spans 86 acres (35 hectares) called the Gas Plant District. Hines, a privately-held real estate investment and management firm, is contributing $50 million to the project. Media reported Sweden-based contractor Skanska was selected as project manager.

The new district is planned to include 6,000 residences, including 1,200 affordable and workforce units, 1.4 million sq ft (130,064m²) of office space, 750,000 sq ft (70,000m²) of retail, a 750-room hotel and 100,000 sq ft (9,290m²) of conference space, and 14,000 parking spaces, including a garage servicing the Rays’ stadium.

The district will also include refurbished park space along Booker Creek, an entertainment venue that can hold up to 4,000 people, and new building for the Dr Carter G. Woodson African American Museum.

A render of the future Gas Plant District in St. Petersburg, Florida, US. (Image: Hines)