Stadium Removed from Fairgrounds Proposal

Despite the interest four years ago for a possible baseball stadium at the Florida State Fairgrounds, new project plans for Fairground development does not include baseball, according to the Tampa Tribune's Michael Sasso:

One thing missing from Republic Land Development’s proposal is a baseball stadium for the Tampa Bay Rays. When the company first proposed redeveloping the fairgrounds four years ago, it envisioned a new Rays stadium there, but it has since backed away from those plans.

A committee of the Florida State Fair Authority, the board that oversees the fairgrounds, met Wednesday to evaluate Republic Land’s offer to build a sports, hotel and entertainment complex on its grounds. The developer would use 123 of the fairgrounds’ roughly 330 acres, leaving intact the annual fair’s core area, the MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheater and Cracker Country.
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Reston, Va.-based Republic Land Development surfaced as long ago as 2009, when it began meeting with fairgrounds officials. Its plan largely sat dormant for more than two years as the fair authority considered whether it wanted to redevelop the fairgrounds.

Republic Land’s initial idea to build a Rays stadium became a “lightning rod” in the community, so the developer eventually dropped it, company senior vice president Stacy Hornstein said Wednesday.