The builder got picked before the money did. On Monday, August 17, a selection committee drawn from the Tampa Bay Rays, the City of Tampa and Hillsborough County ranked a joint venture of AECOM Hunt, Turner Construction and HORUS Construction Services first for construction-manager-at-risk on the proposed $2.3 billion ballpark. Tampa City Council and the Hillsborough County Commission still haven’t voted on the financing package that pays for it.
Why the CMAR selection came first
Schedule. The Rays’ lease at Tropicana Field runs out after the 2028 season, which means the new park has to open in March 2029, which means work has to start next month. A CMAR contract lets the team put a builder on preconstruction while the public financing is still being negotiated, rather than losing a season waiting for a vote. It’s a common enough sequence on stadium work. It also puts the JV in the position of spending real preconstruction money against a deal that could still fall apart.
The team has committed more than $1.2 billion of its own capital. The 122-acre site sits on state-owned land at Hillsborough College’s Dale Mabry campus in Drew Park, directly across N. Dale Mabry Highway from Raymond James Stadium.
The JV’s stadium record
AECOM Hunt built Tropicana Field in the first place and replaced its roof after Hurricane Milton tore it off, so it knows the client and the market. It’s paired with Turner on SoFi Stadium, Mercedes-Benz Stadium and Citi Field. HORUS is the Tampa piece: a local firm with offices in St. Petersburg, Gainesville and Orlando working in civil and government, aviation and healthcare. Four teams responded to the request for qualifications the Rays issued in July.
One reporting caveat worth stating. HORUS as the third JV member appears in Construction Dive’s account; WUSF, Bay News 9 and WFLA name only AECOM Hunt and Turner. Capacity figures also conflict, at 31,000 in one report and “at least 28,000” in another.
What contractors should watch
The trade packages haven’t been let. A CMAR selection this early usually means subcontractor prequalification opens within weeks, and on a compressed schedule the structural steel and precast buy is the one that governs. Tampa’s subcontractor market is already absorbing a heavy run of institutional and aviation work.
The broader pattern here is a familiar one in 2026: large redevelopment programmes moving on schedule pressure while their public funding sits unresolved. Detroit’s Renaissance Center redevelopment is running the same play from the other direction, with the Michigan legislature clearing its brownfield cap before demolition planning got serious. Tampa is doing it in reverse, and the risk sits with whoever mobilizes first.