TAMPA, Fla. — For 16 years, Ernesto Vega has lived across the street from Hillsborough College.
It's also a short walk to Raymond James Stadium, and on Buccaneer game days, he tells me it gets busy.
"A lot of traffic. The owner parks cars here," he said.
WATCH: Questions loom in Tampa's Drew Park neighborhood over Rays stadium talk
And if the HC campus ends up as the new home for the Tampa Rays, Ernesto is all for it.
"I like it because it's close for me to go. I like baseball. I go to Tropicana a couple times. Not every time. But I like the baseball," Vega said.
We will find out more on Tuesday when the Board of Trustees here at Hillsborough College meets. They are expected to approve a non-binding memorandum to look at a proposed mixed-use development here that would include a major transformation of this campus.
The transformation wouldn't just include a baseball stadium for the Rays. The new owners have also expressed interest in creating something similar to The Battery, a mixed-use development surrounding the Braves' stadium outside Atlanta, with restaurants, hotels, office space, and more.
Staff and students at Hillsborough College are waiting to see what that would mean for the school's future.
But there are also hundreds of homes just across the street in the Drew Park neighborhood that would be affected.
I talked to the head of the Drew Park Community Advisory Committee, Maritza Astorquiza, who tells me no one has come to their group yet, but she wonders about the impact the development would have on all the residents and multi-generational business owners.
She says she hopes the Rays and developers "respect what already exists in Drew Park."
It's a place Ernesto plans to continue calling home.
"I like it here. I like it."
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