ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (WFLA) — The St. Petersburg City Council voted unanimously Thursday evening to terminate its stadium deal with the Tampa Bay Rays and developer, Hines.

The unanimous vote comes months after the baseball franchise announced it would be withdrawing from the $6.5 billion project — $1.3 billion allocated for the new stadium– in March.

Principal owner Stuart Sternberg said in a statement that a “series of events” occurred in October leading to the decision, such as severe damage to the stadium’s roof and financing delays.

The project as a whole would have redeveloped the Historic Gas Plant District, offering thousands of homes, office spaces, parks and more.

Ahead of the vote, council member Lisset Hanewicz, representing District 4, voiced opposition to the agreement.

“I was not a fan of both the terms of the agreement in the economic sense and in the legal terms, and this termination agreement is an example of that period, end of story; because at the end of the day, when you have a termination agreement that you have to now negotiate to terminate an agreement that had a termination clause, like the stadium agreement, that terminated automatically on March 31,” Hanewicz said. “This agreement that we’re terminating through this approval should have been terminated then.”

Council member Richie Floyd, representing District 8, added that the final decision allows the city to explore other options for the Tropicana Field site.

“I think we have an opportunity now that we wouldn’t have had if we were to go forward with this one, in which we have a lot more finances to move forward with the things that we need in this city,” Floyd said. “The things that we’re going to get in this deal that were positive, we can still do, and maybe even more of.”

Following the vote, Mayor Kenneth Welch released a statement calling the termination, “the most important step.” His full statement is below.

“This time last year we celebrated the culmination of years of research, collaboration, debate, and negotiation with the signing of agreements between the City of St. Petersburg, Pinellas County, Hines Development, and the Tampa Bay Rays on the development of the Historic Gas Plant District. It was an achievement that had been pursued for nearly two decades. We know, however, that after the celebration, the circumstances changed, and the Rays eventually informed the City that they would not move forward with their commitment on this project.

While the Rays’ decision is terribly disappointing, our mission was to adapt and refocus on our primary objective – the progress of our city. And part of that mission is accomplished by today’s City Council vote. At this moment, the most important step for our City is coming to closure on this agreement so that we can begin to move forward on developing portions of the Historic Gas Plant District. Our initial focus will be on housing, our commitment to the Woodson Museum, and the advancement of a workforce development ecosystem. We are also working with the County on a feasibility study for a right-sized convention center on a portion of the Historic Gas Plant property.

The most important element of this is that the development rights of this area, previously held by the Rays since 1995, are now in the hands of the City. This puts us in the strongest position to assure that the future development of the Historic Gas Plant District meets the needs of St. Petersburg and honors the promises of equitable development. Today is another step toward that goal and we look forward to City Council’s continued partnership in this journey.

-Mayor Kenneth T. Welch, City of St. Petersburg

Council members also voted unanimously on a measure to allow the Rays to keep using four separate pieces of nearby city-owned land for parking, storage, operation for an exterior marquee and special events.

The stadium is undergoing roofing construction from damage caused by Hurricane Helene.

According to officials, construction of the stadium’s roof is expected to be completed by April 2026.