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Troubled Tropicana finally at peace
By BRYAN GILMER © St. Petersburg Times, published May 27, 2001 ST. PETERSBURG -- In 1997, the City Council had to kick in $3.6-million to help bail the Tampa Bay Devil Rays out of the mess that a massive renovation to Tropicana Field had become. "We need to get this job done," John Wolfe, then chief assistant city attorney and now city attorney, said at the time. "That doesn't happen when you start pointing fingers, and everybody's pointing fingers right now. There's going to be plenty of time for that when the stadium's complete." With the last-minute payment, which the Devil Rays matched, the city brought in a "quick response team" to organize contractors and make sure the stadium opened in time for the NCAA regional basketball tournament and the first season of Major League Baseball. It did open, though the new rotunda leaked during the basketball tournament. Wolfe was right: Plenty of fingers -- many at the ends of the suit-clad arms of expensive lawyers -- have pointed blame since. According to the city's outside lawyer, the City Council put to rest the last significant dispute stemming from the troubled project Thursday. It agreed to pay $2.75-million to settle a lawsuit by the largest renovation contractor, Beers Construction, over delays and extra work: $600,000 left over from the 1997 bailout fund plus another $2.15-million from the city's savings. "It is in the best interest of the city largely because finality has been achieved in a six-year process of renovation," said Fred Lyon, the Winter Park attorney handling the case for the city. Two weeks ago, the council voted to pay the renovation architect, DLR Group Inc. of Tampa, formerly Lescher & Mahoney, $212,000 to settle a $1-million suit that company filed over the project. Documents in the Beers lawsuit court file paint a chaotic picture of the construction site: two sets of blueprints -- one with the wrong locations for anchor bolts for structural steel, a problem that threw the whole project out of synch. Contractors complaining of extra work and terrible coordination with other contractors. Nobody seemingly responsible for or capable of solving problems. The city could have approached the project by hiring a general contractor and holding that company responsible for hiring subcontractors and getting the job got done. It did something much more complicated instead. The city hired Tampa Bay Devil Rays Construction, a corporation the team controlled, to oversee the project. The Devil Rays, in turn, hired a consultant, Huber, Hunt & Nichols, to coordinate the project. And then the city went out and directly hired several contractors to do portions of the work, and told them to coordinate with Huber, Hunt. One problem is that Beers and Huber, Hunt are both used to being in charge of whole projects. They are industry rivals. Another was the simple fact is that it was difficult to determine who was in charge when a decision needed to be made. "Single-source responsibility frequently avoids these problems," Lyon said Thursday. "It was not an ideal arrangement." The city set up the job that way because the Devil Rays "insisted" on being the project manager as part of the deal to bring the franchise to town, Wolfe said. The club wanted control over the renovation of the place their team would play. Managing General Partner Vince Naimoli has a master's degree in engineering and experience overseeing the construction of factories, but during the renovation, he was busy putting together a brand new Major League Baseball team, so he left most of the details of the renovation to Huber, Hunt. Things seemed okay until the fall of 1997, with opening day about six months away. Then the city looked closely -- finishing the project on time seemed about as easy as untangling a plate of overcooked spaghetti. To get it done, the city not only had to pony up the emergency cash, but also agreed with the baseball team and Huber, Hunt, Nichols that the parties would not file suits against each other. That's how taxpayers came to foot the bill for the suits filed by other parties in the construction. So after two decades of effort and the expenditure of more than $170-million in tax money ($62.6-million for the renovations alone), taxpayers are left with a domed baseball stadium when outdoor and convertible-roof parks are state of the art. Tropicana Field is often maligned in the sporting press. It has all the quirks of old Fenway Park without any of the history or outdoor ambience. Baseballs strike the roof support rings several times a season despite assurances by original architects, HOK Sports, that the rings would never come into play. The city can't sue over that because the Devil Rays have certified that the stadium is fit for Major League play, Wolfe said. First Deputy Mayor Tish Elston says that when you are building your dream house, there are always some disappointments after you move in. Mayor Rick Baker, who helped broker Thursday's settlement, maintains that all the effort and money were worthwhile. "We built a stadium to attract Major League Baseball, and we got a Major League franchise," he said. Lyon says stadium projects are always difficult and expensive and over budget. He pointed to the Detroit Tigers' $100-million in cost overruns and the Milwaukee Brewers' $78-million overruns in projects to build new stadiums. The Beers settlement is fair because everybody loses a little, Lyon said. "Everyone has suffered financially on this project: the city, the Devil Rays, the architects and the contractors," he said. Elston said Thursday that a request for a Devil Rays contribution toward Thursday's settlement "will be a part of the discussion in one of our upcoming meetings." If the Devil Rays say no, there will be little the city can do, even though Beers laid much of the blame for delays on poor management by the Devil Rays and Huber, Hunt & Nichols. Naimoli summarized the problems with the renovations this way in the deposition he gave in the Beers lawsuit: "I'm not sure anyone involved is without some culpability in the project," Naimoli said. "I think probably all parties were contributing -- everyone contributed to the delay. Huber, Hunt; (architects) Lescher (and Mahoney, now known as DLR); all the contractors; perhaps the Devil Rays; perhaps the city as well. It is hard to assign blame. You know, because it was something that everyone was involved in, and all of us probably have a little piece of it."
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
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