MLB wants the Stadium Downtown

by craig on Aug 22, 2006 7:07 AM EDT in News and Rumors

MLB thinks a stadium downtown would be best.

Reigniting hopes for baseball in downtown Miami, Major League Baseball is targeting a long-ignored patch of land south of the Miami Arena for a new Florida Marlins stadium, according to two sources familiar with the proposal.

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MLB, which is keen on keeping baseball in South Florida but has watched stadium pitches flounder for years, is eyeing a collection of parcels that include land owned by Florida East Coast Industries, the real estate and railroad company. FECI is based in St. Augustine, but Chairman and CEO Adolfo Henriques lives in Miami.

The land is bordered south to north by Northwest Fifth and Seventh streets and east to west by Miami Avenue and the Metrorail line. A land swap with FECI and the city is being considered, which would remove some of the pricey land cost from a stadium deal, a source said.

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On its face, the location appears to come with several benefits. In particular, it would put the Marlins stadium in a rapidly revitalizing downtown area, but also place it close to Interstate 95 and, potentially, three different mass transit stops. Such a formula has worked well for baseball in other cities.

Downtown again, okay.

The Hialeah deal is not dead. Officials from Miami-Dade, Hialeah and the Marlins will meet next week with the MLB powers that be in New York.

Downtown may be a more favorable location but that still doesn't address the problem of the $100 million dollar shortfall in construction cost. The problem hasn't really been a place to put the stadium. The problem has been coming up with enough money to build the thing.

The Hialeah deal is free land and presumably after the land swap the downtown location will be free land also. Either way the project is still a $100 million short.

I am really not negative on this. I have been informed that the stadium deal is further along than we know. That doesn't mean it can't fall through but all of the negotiators are playing this one close to the vest.

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