STORYLAND STUDIOS ANNOUNCE PLANS TO TRANSFORM FLORIDA LAND INTO AMERICA’S LARGEST SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT DESTINATION
Trinity Florida site, designed to redefine North Tampa community as Florida’s ‘Sports Coast’, revealed in massive multi-use lifestyle development project announced at IAAPA 2024 Expo in Orlando.
Plans for the nation’s largest sports entertainment community development were announced at the 2024 IAAPA conference in Orlando. It’s a place designed for thousands of fans, teams and families to cheer, compete and make legendary memories on nearly 800+ acres in Florida’s Pasco, County. Known simply as “Trinity”, the project will blend sports entertainment, arts, and health focused facilities and amenities into a sustainable lifestyle community themed and designed by Storyland Studios. The project design was announced today at the IAAPA Expo, an annual conference of attraction professionals, experience craftsman and suppliers with members in more than 100 countries.
Storyland Studios has envisioned indoor and outdoor sports stadiums, arenas, complexes, professional fields and recreational spaces that compliment a mixed-use landscape complete with hotels, retail centers, an arts and theatre district, restaurants, medical centers, and residential developments in an area six-and-a-half times the size of Orlando’s Disney Springs. While still in pre-development, “Trinity” will be the largest community land development project in the United States.
“A story is waiting to be shared here by athletes, coaches, teams and the families that will gather on these acres from across the country,” said Matt Ferguson, Storyland Studios Chief Innovation Officer. “Professional, collegiate, amateur and community athletes will have world-class facilities in which to compete, train, work and play here in pursuit of their dreams, with all the support facilities necessary to see those dreams become everlasting personal and shared family memories.”
The project’s development team at Trinity Development Initiative, Inc. (TDI), has been inspired with the help of Storyland Studios’ designers to imagine the assembled land transformed into a city center supporting the ‘Sports Coast’ identity of North Tampa through sports entertainment, art and cultural events, and a health-centered lifestyle community with attention to helping shape the body, mind and soul of the total athlete and those that support them.
“This community loves sports and the arts, and yet, it is difficult to engage in those pursuits with most of the professional and amateur facilities and venues located well outside of our area,” said Johnny Scott, CEO of TDI. “We want to give this community – one of the fastest growing in America – the very best in sports entertainment, with all the convenience of great shops, restaurants, hotels, and all the lifestyle amenities to help them live their best life here and now. Whether they are working here, competing here or finding ways to connect into the community here, this will be a destination were athletes, artists, and dreamers — and the families that support them — will always find themselves at home.”
A professional soccer stadium, an ice arena complex with five sheets of regulation and practice ice, a 7,500-seat regulation baseball stadium and amateur multi-field training complex, a basketball arena and a variety of collegiate and amateur sports venues will attract teams and spectators from around the country to Trinity for tournaments, events and games year-round. An outdoor adventure park for trail and off-road sports along with a performing arts center that will attract touring and regional art events will add to the draw and memory-making opportunities planned for Trinity.
“It’s rare to find a vision that is so intentional on serving the community that it calls home and calling others from across the country to an experience,” said Mel McGowan, Storyland Studios’ Chief Creative Officer. “The opportunity that this community has through the Trinity project to impact the region, nation and world with a place that will yield unforgettable experiences is truly transforming. We know that sports, the arts and healthy lifestyles can be inspirational, but the integration of place, design and intentionality that can point people toward a change moment in their lives derived from those elements is exceptional landscape indeed.”
The development aspires to be an example of intentional land remediation, energy and water sustainability, and an integrated county partner in providing solutions to the surrounding infrastructure of the community that build up the county and region while making little demand on existing infrastructure.
“It is important for this project fund the necessary roads, and water infrastructure, power and responsible land usage through landscaping and resource utilization design to make this development a gift to our neighbors while we attract the world to enjoy it,” said Scott. “We aspire to be carbon neutral in generating our own power, freshwater protectant in managing both fresh and wastewater resources, and good stewards of the myriad resources that have long been afforded to our beautiful county and state. This place is a gift and we intend to protect that and regift it again, and again.”
About Storyland Studios
Storyland Studios is a full-service experience design firm with offices in the US and Europe. We imagine, design, and create immersive experiences and environments that lift the Spirit. Storyland Studios team Members and Executive Leadership include alumni from The Walt Disney Company, Walt Disney lmagineering, Pixar Animation Studios, Universal Studios, and LEGOLAND® – all passionate about creating immersive storytelling experiences that shape culture and connect with people on an emotional level. storylandstudios.com
About IAAPA
IAAPA is a diverse and dynamic community of global attractions professionals. As the largest international trade association for permanently located attractions, IAAPA unifies the attractions community, connects people to learn and grow together, and strives to promote the highest professional standards for excellence and safety around the world.
Founded in 1918, IAAPA represents leading industry attractions and supplier companies, consultants, and individual members from more than 100 countries. Members include professionals from amusement parks, theme parks, attractions, water parks, resorts, family entertainment centers, zoos, aquariums, science centers, museums, cruise lines, manufacturers, and suppliers.
The association’s global headquarters and North America office are in Orlando, Florida, U.S. IAAPA also maintains offices in Brussels, Belgium; Hong Kong, China; Shanghai, China; and, Mexico City, Mexico. Visit IAAPA.org or connect through IAAPA’s social media channels.
About Trinity Development Initiative
Trinity Development Initiative, Inc. is a land development and management corporation located in Trinity, Florida currently developing the nation’s largest sports and entertainment lifestyle community just North of Tampa.
www.trinitydevelopmentinitiative.com.
Media Contacts:
Nathan Smith, Marketing Manager of Storyland Studios
(951) 735-4587
nathan@storylandstudios.com
Chris Jefferson, COO Trinity Development Initiative, Inc Media Contact
(970) 889-2009
cjefferson@trinitydevelopmentinitiative.com