St. Petersburg to vote on $22.7M for Trop roof repairs. Is FEMA paying?

Yahoo

25-03-2025

The city of St. Petersburg faced a hefty price tag to repair Tropicana Field, home of the Tampa Bay Rays, after Hurricane Milton ripped apart the stadium's roof last year.
Contractors estimated it would cost $55.7 million to get the Trop game ready, including fixing substantial water damage to the interior.
The city has an insurance policy that may pay less than half of that amount. The deductible stands at $22.5 million. Replacing the roof comes to $22.7 million.
The decision on whether to repair the most visible part of the damage — the shredded roof ― has loomed over the City Council. The board was scheduled to vote on it Thursday, but that was postponed this week, prolonging the state of limbo.
One unknown: Where would the money come from? The city would pull the money from other parts of its budget to cover the roof costs, betting that it will be repaid by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
But that suddenly looks like less than a sure thing, with President Donald Trump threatening to do away with the agency. Any repayment could take awhile.
'FEMA has notified us it's an eligible project,' said City Administrator Rob Gerdes in an October council meeting. 'That doesn't mean we'll be reimbursed. FEMA will not tell you that in advance.'
As the Trop's landlord, the city is on the hook for making the dome playable again, per its agreement with the team. A plan to replace the Trop with a new stadium would have shifted the burden of paying for insurance and repairs to the Rays.
Rays President Matt Silverman said last week that insurance and other financial factors contributed to the team pulling out of that plan. That leaves the City Council with the prospect of having to shell out millions to repair a stadium that had been scheduled to be torn down in a few years.
The Rays open their 2025 season on Friday, playing all home games this year 26 miles away in Tampa. The team has stated that it intends to return to a repaired Trop next season and that it expects the city to complete necessary fixes.
Council member Copley Gerdes said that while the city is bound by its obligation, he's more concerned with stadium employees returning to work.
'For the 4,000 people that don't have a job for the next nine months, it's much more than a necessary evil. This is their livelihood,' he said.
Here's what to know on reroofing the Trop:
If approved by the City Council, the roof repairs would be the third tranche of cash allocated to the leaky stadium since the storms. Council members approved $1.7 million to prepare designs to repair Tropicana Field in December.
In October, the city approved $6 million to prevent further water damage inside the Trop.
The contractor that assessed the Trop's damages last year will return to repair the stadium if council members approve. The city has drafted an agreement for the roof repairs with AECOM Hunt, the Indianapolis-based construction management firm that built the Trop 35 years ago.
In partnership with St. Petersburg construction company Hennessy Construction Services, the firm will oversee continued disposal of the damaged Teflon-coated fiberglass roof and construct a new one made from similar white tension fabric.
Roof repairs would be wrapped up just in time for Christmas, according to the draft agreement.
In emails to city staff, the companies made a case for why they should be hired. They pointed to previous projects with similar roofs and stadiums they have developed across Florida, including for the Jacksonville Jaguars and Miami Marlins.
Council members will vote to transfer or lend money from a handful of separate coffers: $2.7 million from the city's Parking Revenue Fund; $7.6 million from the Commercial Insurance Fund; and $12.8 from the Disaster Short Term Financing 2024 Fund — a $50 million loan the city took out in December.
The city intends to replenish the parking funds using possible 'insurance proceeds,' 'potential funds received by the city from requested FEMA reimbursement' and money from its general fund, according to a draft resolution awaiting the City Council's vote.
The city received an advance insurance payment of nearly $6 million for Trop repairs, according to a March 1 memo. It is still awaiting $1.7 million in advance payments.
Staff also requested that the City Council approve $500,600 to cover project oversight, inspections and permit costs.
Council member Richie Floyd said it feels wasteful to spend millions on a stadium that will only be used for three more seasons. He wonders if a settlement with the Rays that would avoid Trop repairs might be more beneficial.
'Until we have that discussion that clearly says, this is what it would take to settle, and this is what it'll take to rebuild the stadium, I'm not voting for anything,' Floyd said.
FEMA has provided more than $36 million to St. Petersburg following hurricanes Debby, Helene and Milton for debris removal.
The city is still awaiting at least $30 million more in federal aid toward debris removal, which may now be cut. Trump last week issued an executive order to shift responsibility for disaster preparations from the federal agency to state and local governments.
Despite the ongoing overhaul of the federal government and spending freezes, city leaders are hopeful that funding under the disaster agency's Public Assistance Program will come through.
Floyd said banking on FEMA amid federal shakeups is a 'sketchy proposition.' He also expressed doubt about whether stadium repairs are the best use of the agency's hurricane relief dollars.
'Especially when people who have sustained damage on their homes and their livelihoods are getting denial letters or being funded pennies on the dollar,' he said. 'The fact that they would give money to a baseball stadium is just more obscene.'
Copley Gerdes said if the city does receive federal aid for Trop repairs, he's not expecting to see that money anytime soon.
'I'm acting like we're not getting a FEMA reimbursement,' he said. 'We've got to find ways to make sure that we continue to operate the city at a high level while being fiscally responsible and planning for the future.
'I'm planning for the worst and hoping for the best,' he added.
According to FEMA's regulations, a public facility is eligible for aid if a state or local government 'owns or has legal responsibility for maintaining' the building. The venue must also be open to the public.
In an emailed statement, a FEMA spokesperson confirmed the Trop would be eligible for reimbursement, although how much the city could receive has not been determined.
FEMA has not given the city a deadline for repairs, according to the statement.
It wouldn't be the first time in recent memory that FEMA has stepped in to repair a sports venue.
Officials in New Orleans deemed the NFL Saints' stadium, the Superdome, as a 'refuge of last resort' during Hurricane Katrina when the storm tore away most of the roof in 2005. More than 20,000 people had been crammed into the venue at the time.
In all, the federal disaster agency spent $172 million on shelter costs and stadium repairs.
When Hurricane Ike blew through Houston a few years later, several stadiums were damaged, including Reliant Park, home to the NFL's Houston Texans. Similar to repairs facing the Trop, Reliant Park was granted $3.5 million to replace 10 of the stadium's fabric roof panels.
In 2021, the agency dispersed $18.4 million to repair Roberto Clemente Stadium in Puerto Rico following Hurricane María.
Nearly $1.2 million of the Puerto Rico stadium's federal aid dollars were earmarked for mitigation against future storms.
The Trop was constructed in 1990, before Hurricane Andrew spurred stricter building codes across the state. The roof, shredded by Milton's 101 mph gusts, was supposed to be able to withstand 110 mph winds, Gov. Ron DeSantis said after the storm.
If FEMA does allocate money for Trop repairs, it is unclear whether mitigation against future storms will be mandated.
The agency has not yet determined what building code requirements will be imposed on the Trop, according to FEMA.
If the agency does not reimburse the city, it will have to rely on a recently downgraded insurance policy and city funds to cover those expenses.
In March 2024, the city opted to reduce its insurance coverage on Tropicana Field from $100 million to $25 million. The decision saved $275,000 in premium payments and was made based on models predicting that damages from a major storm would not likely exceed $39 million.
Under the policy, the city must pay the $22.5 million deductible before it can seek an insurance payout.
There is 'no correlation' between the deductible and the estimated roof repair costs, said Copley Gerdes, chairperson of the city's Budget, Finance and Taxation Committee.
'The numbers just happen to be similar,' he said.
If the city votes to spend $22.7 million on the roof, at least 'part of that would be an insurable reimbursement,' he said.
Samantha Bequer, a city spokesperson, wrote in an emailed statement the city has not yet met its insurance deductible for Tropicana Field.
'The claim is ongoing and we continue to work with our policy provider throughout the claim process,' she said.
It's unclear how much the city has spent on remediation that would go toward its deductible.
'That's yet to be determined,' Copley Gerdes said. 'But I think we're very close.'
Times staff writer Colleen Wright contributed to this report.