St. Pete leaders to discuss future of damaged Tropicana Field at Thursday meeting
St. Pete City Council members will request a report on the damage to Tropicana Field and storm-related costs, including remediation and mitigation, at a meeting set for Thursday.
Council Member Brandi Gabbard of District Two submitted the request, and wants the report by the Nov. 21 City Council Meeting.
This comes after City Council approved about $6.5 million to start the cleanup process at its meeting last week. The money will come from the city's $22 million deductible with the Trop's insurers. St. Pete's current agreement with the Tampa Bay Rays requires the city to make repairs, but that's different in the new stadium's deal.
Crews have removed the pieces of the roof from the frame. They'll remove damaged turf, and waterproof spots like the scoreboard, seats and suites. They also want to create a drainage system. Tropicana Field doesn't have one right now.
All of this comes as city leaders approved the new $1.3 billion stadium in July. That's set to open in 2028.
When asked by Council Member Richie Floyd if there will be adequate insurance coverage to repair the facility, Rob Gerdes, St. Pete's City Administrator, said he's "confident that that's unlikely." According to Gerdes, a combination of city funds and insurance money will be used to pay for all the repairs. The city is also pursuing FEMA reimbursements.
Some city council members at last week's meeting questioned if this investment in repairs is worth it if the building will only be used for a few more years. Some also wanted to wait to vote on the millions to start cleaning up and protecting the Trop until they got more information about the stadium's future and the extent of the damage. Others said they needed to act quickly to minimize further damage.
"I'm not saying the city council is not going to approve it later on," Council Member Lisset Hanewicz of District 4 said. "I'm just saying to ask us and bring us this now with the fact that we don't know what our maximum exposure is with the Trop. We don't know what our maximum exposure is with the cost to the city in terms of storm damage, and then this is $6 million. It's just a hard pill to swallow."
Council Member Brandi Gabbard of District 2 agreed.
"We have so much need across the city, and there are not employees other than, you know, the grounds people that do have to keep the building going [at Tropicana]," Gabbard said. "But the staff there has been moved out to another location. They're not working in there. They have a place to work. But we have residents at the same time who need a place to live, and I'm torn in this struggle between how do we help our residents? At the same time, how do we spend $6 million plus on this facility that may only be used for another three years and may not even be salvageable."
Gerdes and Blaise Mazzola, the city's risk manager, added that they needed to act fast, or else it would affect the insurance claim.
"I'm also very concerned about any issue occurring with the insurance company because I think the insurance is also then important for our application for FEMA for this to be an eligible project possibly for FEMA repairs," Gerdes told City Council at the Oct. 31 meeting. "I certainly understand where you're coming from. If we got a structural report back that said that, you know, the stadium is a loss, well, you know, of course we would stop work, but I would not be here before you today asking to do this if I had any indication at this moment that there were serious, significant structural problems at the stadium. Now, it's a fluid situation. Something could change, but we're here because we believe that that's most likely, subject to other changes, the direction that we're heading."
"We have filed an insurance claim for the Tropicana Field," Mazzola said. "As a policyholder, as an insured, it is critical that we mitigate our losses. I cannot underestimate the how critical it is to protect any future damage. Our policy has duties in the policy and one of them reads take reasonable steps to protect and cover any covered property from any future damage. By doing the work that they're going to outline, we are ensuring that we are able to protect the structure from future damage. If you don't do this, it could potentially be very problematic for the claim. We could have issues with coverage. We could have issues with future problems at the facility."
According to City Architect Raul Quintana, the contractors, who've been evaluating the damage at the Trop for nearly three weeks, will tell the city's Engineering and Capital Improvement Department what they've found by the end of the week. That includes options to replace the roof, if the Trop can be re-roofed, how long it could take and details on the damage overall.
The written report will also include conclusions on the structural stability of the roof, of the superstructure of the roof, the cables, the beams, the concrete ring beam, the columns, and then each of the elements, the electrical systems, mechanical systems, plumbing systems, the architectural finishes and more, Quintana said.
If repairs aren't finished by the Rays' season, Major League Baseball said it wants them to play home games in the area, possibly at one of the many spring training sites. MLB hopes to have a plan for the Rays' next season by Christmas.
City Council will also talk about the recovery process from both hurricanes, and Florida Division of Emergency Management disaster relief funding for the storms at their 1:30 p.m. meeting on Thursday.
