Its location along Nuccio Parkway offers great access to downtown and Ybor City, and it's close to the interstate and any future light-rail or high-speed rail line.

A woman who controls the property apparently agrees.

Sybil Kay Andrews-Wells, co-chair of the nonprofit organization that controls Tampa Park Apartments, has been quietly spreading the word that she's open to selling the 21-acre property should the Tampa Bay Rays commit to build in Tampa.

Andrews-Wells did not return the Tribune's calls this week.

But her partner in Tampa Park Apartments Inc. confirmed that she has been touting the property as a potential ballpark site.

The International Longshoremen's Association's Tampa local, which jointly controls the nonprofit apartment complex, is open to selling at the right price, said union local president James Harrell.

How much momentum her idea has is a big question, because most stadium talk in Tampa is done in hypothetical terms.

Several developers have pushed stadium ideas at the Florida State Fairgrounds, in Tampa Heights and in downtown Tampa's Channel District, but usually in secret. Politicians are careful not to openly woo the Rays to Tampa or embrace any site too fully.

Perhaps that's because St. Petersburg has threatened to sue anyone it sees violating its contract with the Rays. The team is bound by contract to play its home games through 2027 at Tropicana Field.

Hillsborough County Commission Chairman Ken Hagan spoke with Andrews-Wells several months ago about her property. At the time, she wanted the complex to be considered for baseball, but she was concerned about the welfare of the apartments' longtime residents, he said.

"I do think this is an excellent location because it would connect Ybor City and downtown," said Hagan, who has pushed for a regional solution to the Rays-St. Petersburg standoff.

Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn said he's never talked with Andrews-Wells about the site's stadium potential, but it is one of several sites around downtown Tampa that could work. He favors the Channel District for a new ballpark if the Rays and St. Petersburg ever part ways, he said.

In fact, the Channel District is a hotbed of stadium discussion because Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik has been buying up large parcels across from the Forum along with a Denver-based real estate investor.

Lightning officials have said there are no specific plans for the land.

A stadium at Tampa Park Apartments would have the support of at least two important Ybor City voices, Tom Keating of the Ybor City Chamber of Commerce and Tony LaColla, president of the Historic Ybor Neighborhood Civic Association.

LaColla sees huge potential there. Already, a housing and retail project called Encore is tidying up the area just west of Tampa Park Apartments, he said.

"I was worried that that property was going to sit there another 20 or 30 years in its current state," LaColla said. "Tampa Park Apartments would be a donut hole in the middle of massive redevelopment."

Tampa Park Apartments is run as a nonprofit that offers 1-, 2- and 3-bedroom units. Many of the rents are subsidized by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

It traces its roots to 1966, when C. Blythe Andrews, who led a nonprofit that assists people with funeral expenses, created it along with the founder of Tampa's first black labor union, Perry Harvey Sr. Both organizations still have members on the apartment complex's board, including Andrews-Wells, who is C. Blythe Andrews' granddaughter, according to a history on Tampa Park Apartments' Web site.

The Hillsborough County Property Appraiser's office pegs the property's market value at about $9.2 million.

If the Rays and government leaders ever get behind a stadium project there, they'd probably have to overcome some federal restrictions that come with Tampa Park Apartments' HUD subsidies. However, they aren't insurmountable, said Ed Turanchik, a former county commissioner.

Turanchik proposed razing the apartments as part of a big downtown redevelopment project in the mid-2000s, called Civitas. He's still skeptical about how to pay for a baseball stadium, but he admits Tampa Park Apartments is a good location.

"I think it's a very attractive site for whatever it's worth," Turanchik said. "It is close to Ybor, it has very strong parking capacity close to it and it's close to the interstate."