December 11, 2025 • 8 mins
Tampa Bay Business Journal Editor At Large Ashley Kritzer joins to discuss the pushback to Tampa’s TPD headquarters sale, Rays ballpark search update, and Changes coming to the Al Lang stadium site.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Go to the hotline to bring in Tampa Bay Business
Journal Editor at large Ashley Kreizer. You can find all
of our work and a whole lot more at Tampa
Bay Business Journal dot com and you can follow her
on Instagram too at Ashley Kreutzer and Ashley. I want
to start with the Tampa Police Department headquarters. The city
taking proposals to buy that spot on North Franklin Street.
(00:21):
But some city council members are saying, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,
what's going on there?
Speaker 2 (00:28):
So this is a really interesting one because police headquarters,
which a lot of folks know, is big blue, that
big blue building in downtown Tampa. I mean, you know,
a lot of real estate people, myself included, we walked
by it or you drive by it and go ooh, like,
is that really the highest and best use of that property.
So you can understand why the Caster administration would look
at that and say maybe we should, you know, not
(00:48):
have police headquarters on prime real estate. But there are
a lot of questions regarding the request for proposals the
administration released on Monday, and we saw some Tampa City
Council members come out pretty strongly criticizing the RFP process
and the timing of it, especially with you know, this
is the mayor's last full year in office, that it
(01:09):
does look a lot like it's geared toward being a
legacy project. So I think there's a lot of questions
that need to be answered as this moves forward.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
One of them seem to be where would a new
police headquarters set up go, how would that be paid for?
What do we know about that aspect of this potential project.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Well, unfortunately, we know nothing, and it doesn't sound like
anyone of the city does either, And that really is
the biggest question, is where's police headquarters going to go?
And is there an existing line and the budget to
pay for that, Because I mean, if you want to
break it down to a basic level, if you're selling
your house, you need to know that you can afford
to buy another one figure out where you're going to
go from there. But you know that's just you know,
(01:55):
the very basic level whereas police headquarters is going to go.
But there's also so concerns about how this looks to
the development community because Councilman Louis Fierra said one of
the most honest things I've ever heard of politician say,
he said, no developer wants to fall victim to the
City of Tampa and city council culture wars that we have.
It's a major detriment of business growth, and to see
(02:19):
someone acknowledge that in black and white is pretty eye opening.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Now, what about former police Chief Brian Dugan, who we've
had on the show many times. He seemed to say,
you know, this is something that the police department needs.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
I think that that probably is a very real dynamic
that they do, but I think we need to know
where they're going before you put their old building on
the market. That seems to be the concerns of to
have the city Council and also members of the development
community that are saying, wait a minute, you know is
this And council Member Vieira called the RSP half baked
for that reason. And he's someone who's saying the city
(02:55):
needs to hire more police officers, build and renovate more
fire stations, all of which are going to factor into
the timing of this.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
You would think, though, correct me if I'm wrong, You've
got a prime piece of real estate there. You would
probably be able to sell that and be able to
afford a new place, assuming you're not going for it
like another super prime piece of real estate.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
You know, I think that we're going to have to
let the market see if that's what happens, right, because
and you know, this is a prime piece of real estate.
But remember that the Central Business District is not Water Street,
it's not the Heights, it's not even the Channel District
at this point, right it's you know, it's really taken
a backseat to those mixed use, vibrant neighborhoods that are
around the urban core. If you've been right in the
heart of the CBD lately, you know it's not as
(03:40):
vibrant as it could be. And there's also just the
reality of the capital markets, which doesn't really it's not
the fault of this project or any one person on
the ground in Tampa, but it's just the overall reality
of this economy and the debt and equity markets.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
We're joined by Tampa Bay Business Journal Editor at large
Ashley Kritzer. All right, let's switch gears to talk about
Tampa Bay. Ray's CEO Ken Babby continues to sound optimistic.
They're going to find a spot for a new ballpark
and get that built in time. For twenty twenty nine.
What's the latest on those efforts.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
They do sound very optimistic. The Major League Baseball winner
owners meetings were in Orlando this past couple days and
our reporter Emma Bharman sat down with Ken Babby and
it's interesting. I mean, they had a bit of a
media parade for Ken Babby. He is the CEO of
the team, but interestingly it was him and not owner
Patrick Zeleupski. So it seems more and more they are
(04:32):
going to be relying on Babby as the face of
the Rays, which is interesting because you know, during the
sales process it was all about this Jacksonville home builder
Patrick Zelupski. I will say Ken Babby is a very
charismatic individual. He's someone who's very comfortable in the spotlight,
and we saw that at the initial press conference they
did with Bill Costco, Patrick Zalupski and Ken. I mean,
(04:53):
Ken is just someone who is very natural. I think
he was a talking to the media.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Yeah, he was at first the one who went to
exactly So we still don't have any inkling though as
to you know, the area or two that might be
the favorites to land the ballpark. And he said that
they're looking at both sides of the Bay. So it's
not even like they've necessarily, at least publicly narrowed it
(05:18):
down to either Tampa or Saint Pete.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Well. I mean, any real estate developer will tell you
can't give up your leverage. You can't come out and
say we've narrowed it down to one of these two.
But I mean, I think they have to look at
Tropic Cana Field just given the existing plans that for
that property. I mean, that's something they've said as they
acquired all of the previous you know, the twenty years
of previous iterations and stadium plans. So they have to
(05:41):
look at all of those, and often the path of
least resistance is the most attractive. And this idea of
saying at the Troup, I don't think that's completely off
the drawing board. But I mean, of course we also
have the HCC site here in Tampa at Del Mabris
and boy Scout or Columbus whatever street that turns into
at that inner So I believe them that they are
(06:02):
still evaluating multiple sites. It's just their timeline that's difficult
to believe. Opening day twenty twenty nine that would indicate
they're farther down the road on any site than they're
letting on.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
We're joined by Tampa Bay Business Journal Editor at large
Ashley Chrinzer. You can check out all of her work
and a whole lot more at Tampa Bay Business Journal
dot com. Finally, we get to some big changes that
could become at al Lang Stadium.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Well, they're not as big as the initial changes that
were proposed at American Welsh's administration had proposed demolishing a
LANG and putting a performing arts center in its place,
And now that's not the conceptual plan that's out there.
Some members of city Council were given a presentation of
(06:46):
these very preliminary designs, design plans, and it would include
a LANG and maybe even make it a spring training facility.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
Yeah, so maybe you could have spring training for the
Rays there, which could be especially important if they were
to leave, you know, that particular area they go to
the other side of the bay. Perhaps maybe you have
that as a draw. But that talk about you know,
we were talking earlier about North Franklin Street and the Tampa
(07:16):
Police Department headquarters being prime real estate. I mean, the
Alaning Stadium doesn't get much better.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Than that. It really is, And I mean that's some
way to look at it. If you move to the
team's Tampa and then they have their spring training in
Saint Petersburg. Spring training for the race currently is in
Port Charlotte. I mean it could also be leverage where
the city is saying, hey, we're going to work with
you on a state of the art spring training facility
and your new stadium if you commit, if you go
all in on Saint Petersburg, which would be a little
(07:40):
difficult to believe, you know, after twenty years of looking
all over the Bay for a new stadium to end
up back where they started. But seems like it's all
in on the table, all right.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Tampa Bay Business Journal Editor at large Ashley Kreutzer again,
you can find all of her reporting and a ton
more at Tampa Bay Business Journal, and you can follow
her on Instagram as well at Ashley Kretzer. Ashley really
appreciate it time this morning. We'll talk to you next week.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Thanks for having me. It's a Ryan Gorman Show five
to nine every weekday morning on news radio WFLA.
Go to the hotline to bring in Tampa Bay Business
Journal Editor at large Ashley Kreizer. You can find all
of our work and a whole lot more at Tampa
Bay Business Journal dot com and you can follow her
on Instagram too at Ashley Kreutzer and Ashley. I want
to start with the Tampa Police Department headquarters. The city
taking proposals to buy that spot on North Franklin Street.
(00:21):
But some city council members are saying, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,
what's going on there?
Speaker 2 (00:28):
So this is a really interesting one because police headquarters,
which a lot of folks know, is big blue, that
big blue building in downtown Tampa. I mean, you know,
a lot of real estate people, myself included, we walked
by it or you drive by it and go ooh, like,
is that really the highest and best use of that property.
So you can understand why the Caster administration would look
at that and say maybe we should, you know, not
(00:48):
have police headquarters on prime real estate. But there are
a lot of questions regarding the request for proposals the
administration released on Monday, and we saw some Tampa City
Council members come out pretty strongly criticizing the RFP process
and the timing of it, especially with you know, this
is the mayor's last full year in office, that it
(01:09):
does look a lot like it's geared toward being a
legacy project. So I think there's a lot of questions
that need to be answered as this moves forward.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
One of them seem to be where would a new
police headquarters set up go, how would that be paid for?
What do we know about that aspect of this potential project.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Well, unfortunately, we know nothing, and it doesn't sound like
anyone of the city does either, And that really is
the biggest question, is where's police headquarters going to go?
And is there an existing line and the budget to
pay for that, Because I mean, if you want to
break it down to a basic level, if you're selling
your house, you need to know that you can afford
to buy another one figure out where you're going to
go from there. But you know that's just you know,
(01:55):
the very basic level whereas police headquarters is going to go.
But there's also so concerns about how this looks to
the development community because Councilman Louis Fierra said one of
the most honest things I've ever heard of politician say,
he said, no developer wants to fall victim to the
City of Tampa and city council culture wars that we have.
It's a major detriment of business growth, and to see
(02:19):
someone acknowledge that in black and white is pretty eye opening.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Now, what about former police Chief Brian Dugan, who we've
had on the show many times. He seemed to say,
you know, this is something that the police department needs.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
I think that that probably is a very real dynamic
that they do, but I think we need to know
where they're going before you put their old building on
the market. That seems to be the concerns of to
have the city Council and also members of the development
community that are saying, wait a minute, you know is
this And council Member Vieira called the RSP half baked
for that reason. And he's someone who's saying the city
(02:55):
needs to hire more police officers, build and renovate more
fire stations, all of which are going to factor into
the timing of this.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
You would think, though, correct me if I'm wrong, You've
got a prime piece of real estate there. You would
probably be able to sell that and be able to
afford a new place, assuming you're not going for it
like another super prime piece of real estate.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
You know, I think that we're going to have to
let the market see if that's what happens, right, because
and you know, this is a prime piece of real estate.
But remember that the Central Business District is not Water Street,
it's not the Heights, it's not even the Channel District
at this point, right it's you know, it's really taken
a backseat to those mixed use, vibrant neighborhoods that are
around the urban core. If you've been right in the
heart of the CBD lately, you know it's not as
(03:40):
vibrant as it could be. And there's also just the
reality of the capital markets, which doesn't really it's not
the fault of this project or any one person on
the ground in Tampa, but it's just the overall reality
of this economy and the debt and equity markets.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
We're joined by Tampa Bay Business Journal Editor at large
Ashley Kritzer. All right, let's switch gears to talk about
Tampa Bay. Ray's CEO Ken Babby continues to sound optimistic.
They're going to find a spot for a new ballpark
and get that built in time. For twenty twenty nine.
What's the latest on those efforts.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
They do sound very optimistic. The Major League Baseball winner
owners meetings were in Orlando this past couple days and
our reporter Emma Bharman sat down with Ken Babby and
it's interesting. I mean, they had a bit of a
media parade for Ken Babby. He is the CEO of
the team, but interestingly it was him and not owner
Patrick Zeleupski. So it seems more and more they are
(04:32):
going to be relying on Babby as the face of
the Rays, which is interesting because you know, during the
sales process it was all about this Jacksonville home builder
Patrick Zelupski. I will say Ken Babby is a very
charismatic individual. He's someone who's very comfortable in the spotlight,
and we saw that at the initial press conference they
did with Bill Costco, Patrick Zalupski and Ken. I mean,
(04:53):
Ken is just someone who is very natural. I think
he was a talking to the media.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Yeah, he was at first the one who went to
exactly So we still don't have any inkling though as
to you know, the area or two that might be
the favorites to land the ballpark. And he said that
they're looking at both sides of the Bay. So it's
not even like they've necessarily, at least publicly narrowed it
(05:18):
down to either Tampa or Saint Pete.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Well. I mean, any real estate developer will tell you
can't give up your leverage. You can't come out and
say we've narrowed it down to one of these two.
But I mean, I think they have to look at
Tropic Cana Field just given the existing plans that for
that property. I mean, that's something they've said as they
acquired all of the previous you know, the twenty years
of previous iterations and stadium plans. So they have to
(05:41):
look at all of those, and often the path of
least resistance is the most attractive. And this idea of
saying at the Troup, I don't think that's completely off
the drawing board. But I mean, of course we also
have the HCC site here in Tampa at Del Mabris
and boy Scout or Columbus whatever street that turns into
at that inner So I believe them that they are
(06:02):
still evaluating multiple sites. It's just their timeline that's difficult
to believe. Opening day twenty twenty nine that would indicate
they're farther down the road on any site than they're
letting on.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
We're joined by Tampa Bay Business Journal Editor at large
Ashley Chrinzer. You can check out all of her work
and a whole lot more at Tampa Bay Business Journal
dot com. Finally, we get to some big changes that
could become at al Lang Stadium.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Well, they're not as big as the initial changes that
were proposed at American Welsh's administration had proposed demolishing a
LANG and putting a performing arts center in its place,
And now that's not the conceptual plan that's out there.
Some members of city Council were given a presentation of
(06:46):
these very preliminary designs, design plans, and it would include
a LANG and maybe even make it a spring training facility.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
Yeah, so maybe you could have spring training for the
Rays there, which could be especially important if they were
to leave, you know, that particular area they go to
the other side of the bay. Perhaps maybe you have
that as a draw. But that talk about you know,
we were talking earlier about North Franklin Street and the Tampa
(07:16):
Police Department headquarters being prime real estate. I mean, the
Alaning Stadium doesn't get much better.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Than that. It really is, And I mean that's some
way to look at it. If you move to the
team's Tampa and then they have their spring training in
Saint Petersburg. Spring training for the race currently is in
Port Charlotte. I mean it could also be leverage where
the city is saying, hey, we're going to work with
you on a state of the art spring training facility
and your new stadium if you commit, if you go
all in on Saint Petersburg, which would be a little
(07:40):
difficult to believe, you know, after twenty years of looking
all over the Bay for a new stadium to end
up back where they started. But seems like it's all
in on the table, all right.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Tampa Bay Business Journal Editor at large Ashley Kreutzer again,
you can find all of her reporting and a ton
more at Tampa Bay Business Journal, and you can follow
her on Instagram as well at Ashley Kretzer. Ashley really
appreciate it time this morning. We'll talk to you next week.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Thanks for having me. It's a Ryan Gorman Show five
to nine every weekday morning on news radio WFLA.
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