Tampa Bay's year ahead: What we're watching in 2025

Hurricane recovery

This could be a make-or-break year for business owners and residents still grappling with hurricane damage.

• We'll be keeping an eye on which restaurants, shops, hotels and other businesses make it through this transition or close up shop altogether.
• We'll also be watching how widespread damage could change vulnerable communities like Gulfport, Tampa's University neighborhood and St. Petersburg's Shore Acres.

1 big question: Whether Pinellas County will get new sand to widen its battered beaches and better protect homes and businesses along the barrier islands.

• A years-long stalemate between county and federal officials has put much-needed renourishment projects on hold.
• County leaders have been designing their own project in the meantime, but without federal help, it'll be expensive.

Rays stadium

After weeks of finger-pointing and political posturing, the deal to build a $1.3 billion ballpark on the site of Tropicana Field appeared to be back on track — except for one big thing.

Friction point: Team leaders said just before Christmas that delays in the process had led to cost overruns that the team couldn't afford on its own.

• St. Petersburg and Pinellas leaders have said they won't give any more money to the team than what was already agreed on last summer.

The date to watch: March 31. That's the deadline by which the team must prove it can afford its $700 million portion of the stadium, among other conditions, per the Tampa Bay Times.

Senate shuffle

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio is likely to soon become secretary of state, leaving Gov. Ron DeSantis to fill his Senate seat.

• DeSantis' pick will represent Floridians on Capitol Hill until a special election in 2026 to determine who finishes the term.

The intrigue: The appointment will also say a lot about the term-limited governor's political future.

• DeSantis could appoint an ally to serve as a caretaker, allowing him to run for the seat without an incumbent challenger.

Immigration crackdown

President-elect Trump has vowed to start mass deportations immediately upon taking office Jan. 20, with DeSantis' support.

• Florida is home to more than a million undocumented people, and in recent years, its lawmakers have made it harder for them to live and work in the state. Trump has promised harsher policies.
• Undocumented people in Florida paid $1.8 billion in state and local taxes in 2022, per the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. And local business owners have said the state's E-Verify expansion hurt them.