Hillsborough College Shows Off First Renderings of a Rebuilt Dale Mabry Campus for Rays Stadium District

Hillsborough College unveiled six conceptual renderings Wednesday showing what its Dale Mabry campus could look like if it's rebuilt as the educational anchor of the Tampa Bay Rays' proposed stadium district, giving students and families their first real look at a project that could reshape where tens of thousands of local students take classes for decades.

The images, released in a Wednesday news release, show new classroom buildings, walkable outdoor plazas and a combined library and learning commons. College president Ken Atwater said the drawings represent "a vision for the future of Hillsborough College and the students we serve," and argued that placing the campus inside a mixed-use stadium district would give students access to internships and real-world career connections they don't have now.

The renderings are conceptual only. No construction date has been set, and the project still depends on whether the Rays' ballpark and surrounding development move forward on the college's 115-acre Dale Mabry property.

Money is already moving

Even before a shovel goes in the ground, the college's Board of Trustees took two financial steps Wednesday. Trustees approved an agreement with Tampa-based Pure Project Management to act as the college's owner's representative and project manager during construction. The firm gets $30,000 up front, with the full contract running between $1.95 million and $2.4 million if the redevelopment actually proceeds.

The board also amended its capital improvement plan to add $50 million in state Public Education Capital Outlay funds the Legislature approved this year for the project. Gov. Ron DeSantis, appearing in Tampa on Tuesday, said the state was "obviously very supportive" of the Hillsborough College site and predicted the redevelopment would open up opportunities for students.

That $50 million covers infrastructure. It does not cover moving the college itself. Officials say that once construction actually begins, Hillsborough College is expected to ask the state for more than $200 million in additional funding to relocate the campus, on top of what's already been approved.

Where the campus fits in the bigger plan

The Rays have proposed building a ballpark and a much larger mixed-use development on the college's Dale Mabry property, near Drew Park and Westshore. That broader district is organized into four sectors, and the education-focused piece, called Innovation Edge, is the one built around the reimagined Hillsborough College campus. It would sit along Lois Avenue, on the southwest end of the property.

The rest of the site is planned for the ballpark itself and other commercial, residential and retail uses. Renderings released earlier this year outlined a stadium with a translucent roof and roughly 31,000 seats, part of a district described as more than 8 million square feet of development overall.

None of it is final. The college, the Rays and Hillsborough County officials are still working through site plans, financing and a community benefits agreement, and local government approvals remain ahead. For now, Wednesday's renderings are the clearest public signal yet of what the college itself expects its own campus to look like if the deal comes together, and how much of the bill taxpayers and the state will end up covering along the way.

Trustees have not set a date for a final construction vote, and the college has not said when it might submit its relocation funding request to the state.

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