CUMBERLAND — Beau Lunceford isn’t a baseball fan, but his favorite place to meet a new date is where the Atlanta Braves play.
His dates are familiar with it: The Battery Atlanta, an entertainment district the Braves built along with a stadium six years ago in the suburbs. For a cold and wet December evening during baseball’s offseason, it was bustling.
Lunceford, 32, started with a craft beer at Punch Bowl Social. He and his date could stay for bowling, karaoke, cornhole or billiards at the two-story hangout, or go eat at any of the 20 surrounding restaurants. If the vibe was right, they could ride the mechanical bull at a beer-branded country bar called PBR Atlanta.
“I get to learn who somebody is by bringing them to this one spot,” which, as Lunceford put it, “also has baseball.”
That’s what the Braves were going for: a destination, game day or not. In the more than 250 days without baseball, they hoped to draw sports-agnostic visitors like Lunceford. It’s similar to what the Tampa Bay Rays are pitching, too, as they negotiate with the city of St. Petersburg and Pinellas County for a new ballpark.
At the Battery, there’s something for everyone: restaurants, entertainment and retail on the bottom; high-end apartments, hotel rooms and offices on top, all fanning out toward Truist Park, the Braves’ home. The district attracted 10 million visitors two years ago, a county official said. And the crowds keep coming.
The Battery is a model for what St. Petersburg city leaders, the Rays and development partner Hines say is possible by replacing Tropicana Field and redeveloping the vast expanse of surface parking around it. The surrounding development would create a year-round destination they say will sweeten the public’s return for covering half the cost of a $1.3 billion stadium and selling more than 60 acres of public…
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