Word has spread quick that a Tampa apartment complex may be up for sale, and Ybor City business owners and residents are considering one potential buyer: the Tampa Bay Rays.
Tampa Park Apartments is located along Nuccio Parkway and would offer great access to downtown Tampa and Ybor City. It's close to both I-275 and I-4 and any future light rail or high-speed rail lines.
Sybil Kay Andrews-Wells, co-chair of the nonprofit organization that controls Tampa Park Apartments, has hinted that she's open to selling the 21-acre property should the Tampa Bay Rays commit to build in Tampa.
An ongoing issue that has stretched beyond the sports world, the stadium debate has morphed from a Bay area debate to a national sports and business discussion.
Detractors say Tropicana Field, built in 1990, is an outdated stadium, designed and built before the rise of the destination-style modern baseball-only edifices like Baltimore's Camden Yards, Coors Field in Denver, Safeco Field in Seattle and PNC Park in Pittsburgh. In 2012, the Rays became the first team in Major League Baseball history to finish the season with at least 90 wins and finish last in attendance.
St. Petersburg officials and Mayor Bill Foster counter that the Rays have a contract with St. Petersburg that runs through 2027. Rays officials have said the team cannot remain economically viable for that long in the multi-purpose Trop, which has regularly been rated as not only one of the worst facilities in baseball, but all of sports.