Hillsborough College president says Rays' stadium plan is a big win for all

Imagine you are the president of a college with more than 48,000 students spread out across five campuses. Your budget is more than $290 million and you employ 2,200.

The main campus is off the main thoroughfare of the main city in the community you represent. It’s a couple of miles away from one of the top shopping centers in the state and across from a football stadium that’s hosted both the Super Bowl and The Rolling Stones.

Now imagine the owner of the local Major League Baseball team reaches out one day with an idea. Let our team, the owner says, build a baseball stadium and major mixed-use development on the land of your biggest campus— near all those places — and then help you build a new state-of-the art educational district on a portion of that property.

What would you do?

Kenneth Atwater, president of Hillsborough College since 2010, faced just that scenario not too long ago. His response: “Tell me what your visions are and tell me how the college fits into the vision.”

When he heard the vision, he embraced it.

The plan is a proposal from the new owners of the Tampa Bay Rays to build a mixed-use development with a baseball stadium as its anchor the college’s Dale Mabry Highway campus in Tampa. It will include hotels, retail space, multifamily, sports and health related buildings and commercial buildings, as well as parking structures. 

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The team’s previous owners had been looking for a site to build a ballpark for years, considering Ybor City, St. Petersburg, even Montreal. But no official, at least publicly, had mentioned the 113-acre campus across the street from Raymond James Stadium and next to George Steinbrenner Field, the Spring Training home of the New York Yankees.

Yet it makes sense, says Atwater. The area is already a sports destination, fans know how to get there and it is accessible from across the region. It is already in a commercial district and the college’s property would fit all the Rays wanted.

And, more importantly to Atwater, the project “creates new pathways for learning, workforce development, internships and career-connected education that directly benefit our students, faculty and staff.”

“By reimagining the Dale Mabry campus,” he said in a statement when the plan was announced publicly, “within a dynamic, mixed-use district, we are enhancing the educational experience while strengthening our role as an economic and civic anchor for the community.”

The college and team are negotiating details of the plan while Tampa and Hillsborough County discuss the financing and the Rays try to sell the concept to the public. Gov. Ron DeSantis supports the plan and will convey the state-owned land to the college to make the project work.

Atwater spoke to the Business Observer after a visit from the governor Feb. 3 about how the proposal will work for the college, his initial thoughts and what happens next if it all come together. Edited excerpts: 

If everything comes out as planned, how does Hillsborough College fit into the project?

They've identified zones for development. We're called the Innovation Zone and that zone is all about learning. So, the campus, if you think about it, will start at Allied Health building on one side (just off of Tampa Bay Avenue) and comes all the way (to the southwest corner of the property) to Lois Avenue. This whole block, which is approximately a little larger than the size that we currently use for our buildings now, will be used for development of the college. It'll just be a little more compact. Think of Midtown Tampa. Think of Water Street Tampa. It will be taller buildings, a little more compact. In fact, we'll have more square footage for educational than we currently have. With the mixed-use development and the partnership we're doing with the Rays, they are creating an environment that I say is true live, learn, work and play. Once you see the vision, the zone where we will be and our design, we will fit within the core of this mixed, complex development.

Why is this spot better than others discussed over the years?

It's better because you've got sports complexes right here. And what's going to happen is that the Bucs will benefit, the Yankees will benefit because their fans will stay in the (planned development’s) hotel. They will have a place to come eat. They don't have to leave the area. You're creating a mixed-use environment for sports and a campus. That's why the economic impact will be so great. Because once the season's over with the Rays and they're not here, this place is still going to be jumping. It is a good concept and why we at the college jumped at the opportunity to be a part of.

What did you think about their plan when the Rays first approached you with the idea?

My first initial thought was, 'Tell me what your visions are and tell me how the college fits in the vision, because we have no desire to move from this location. We're here because we're convenient and accessible for our students. We want to maintain that.' So, when they started telling me what they wanted to do, I immediately thought, Wow, if we're part of this, we're going to be a destination and people will always be seeing Hillsborough College when they come to this destination. And when they see us, they learn about us, and they see opportunities. We do everything we can to get people on this site. Think about it. If we got another entity that's going to automatically draw them for another reason, we'll get spillover.

How will the development affect the educational mission of the college?

We will maintain an environment where we can deliver a quality education. For example, we want businesses located near us that will be complementary to our teaching and learning. We won't put a bar right next to our library. Those are the type of things that we worked out that the Rays have been just super about. Because they want us to be successful.

Is there a time frame and how do you balance the construction with the college’s educational responsibilities?

Yes, we're working on a time frame so that the Rays can open their ballpark for the 2029 season. We are working on a transition plan and once we have completed that, which we hope to complete before the summer, we’ll be glad to share the plan.

Will it be a smooth transition?

Smooth? No. It will be inconvenient. People will be displaced and that's what we're telling our faculty and our students. You have to look at the end goal, at what we're going to accomplish, and see how going into temporary quarters, of moving some programs someplace else temporarily, may be an inconvenience for a while, but the outcome is going to be great for the next generation.