The Florida Marlins are currently playing their last game in the stadium at 2267 NW 199th Street, currently known as Sun Life Stadium. The Marlins will move to a new, $600 million stadium at 1501 NW 3rd Street, the former site of the Orange Bowl, and change their moniker to the Miami Marlins for next season.

The Marlins started playing at Sun Life Stadium, then known as Joe Robbie Stadium, in 1993. In 19 seasons they’ve compiled 1,434 wins, 1,574 losses and two improbable World Series Championships in 1997 and 2003. [more]

The new Florida Marlins stadium in Little Havana is almost 70 percent complete, and set for its opening in April 2012. Almost all of the walls have been completed on the $600 million project, in addition to all 28,000 seats and the main scoreboards. The new stadium has attracted new interest in the area by investors, who have transacted several bulk deals looking to capitalize on a potentially dynamic market. The stadium is also still looking for retailers. [SFBJ]
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Some tenants won’t be able to make it into the Florida Marlins’ new stadium’s retail slots due to contract restrictions. For example, retailers that compete with naming rights sponsors, or fast-food restaurants that might jeopardize stadium concessions can’t lease at the park. The challenge will be attracting customers in the 284 days of the year the Marlins are not in town, and Jeremy Larkin, president of NAI Miami, said the firm is looking for both local and national retailers. “We are trying to get restaurants that have a broader appeal,” he said. “Our restaurants will open 365 days.” [Miami Today]
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Several Florida Marlins players took batting practice at the new Marlins stadium in Little Havana, with the first seats at the park installed, as seen in the Miami Herald video above. Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria was on hand as construction workers fielded balls hit by the players. The presence of the new stadium has led a wave of investors to look at condos in the area, which is north of Flagler Street.

The Florida Marlins and the contractors helping to build their new Miami stadium are pitching in to help Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez hang on to his title amid efforts to launch a recall against him, just as he pitched in to help the team last year by supporting more than $350 million in public funding for their construction project. Among Alvarez’s recent contributors are Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria; team president David Samson, who donated $50,000 to the mayor’s political action committee formed in September to stave off the recall push; stadium general contractor Hunt/Moss; and subcontractors charged with pouring concrete, building cabinets and wiring the Little Havana stadium for electricity. In fact, Alvarez’s most significant financial backers thus far are the Marlins and their stadium’s contractors, who have, together, given him $73,500 over the past two-and-a-half weeks. The PAC has raised a total of $207,650 so far and has spent close to $35,000 on lawyers and consultants. [Miami Herald] 

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The Florida Marlins are asking local retailers to bid for the
opportunity to become part of the retail area at the team’s new Little
Havana stadium. Officials say they are looking at long-term leases for
the development and management of a restaurant and bar, along with four
retail stores to be located on the Ballpark Plaza. The retail area at
the arena, which is slated to open for the 2012 season, is expected to
be open 365 days a year. The Real Deal
profiled
the ballpark’s impact on Little Havana in this TRD video. [SFBJ]

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In an effort to keep summer business with the Marlins’ move to a new
stadium in Little Havana, Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross is looking to
turn a 40-acre parking lot next to Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens
into a water park. The park could open in spring 2012, the same time the
new Marlins park is scheduled to open. The park, which would include
private cabanas and a “swim with the fish” pool, would be the first
major attraction of its kind in South Florida since Jungle Island opened
in 2003. [Miami
Herald]

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While many in the East Little Havana community had hoped that the new Florida Marlins stadium — which is a third of the way through its $642 million development inside the former Orange Bowl — would revitalize the area, neighborhood activists say little improvement has come. The project, which is expected to be complete in 2012 and was largely paid for with public dollars, has spurred little retail investment in the Miami neighborhood, and some city officials say that little planning was done to capitalize on the opportunity to improve the area. Current Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado voted against the stadium during the planning stages, and said that developers’ promises to bring activity to the area were hollow. “There was never a [community] plan,” Regalado said. “We’re looking at the possibility of a charter school. But other than that, it’s just words, words, words.” [Miami Herald via Palm Beach Post]

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Windmoor Project, which was unable to sell any units in the 324-unit Terrazas Riverpark Village condo west of Miami, has lost the property in a foreclosure action by lender iStar Financial. According to a report by Condo Vultures, the Terrazas River Park project, which is 2.2 miles north of the future home of the Florida Marlins in Little Havana, sold for $45 million, about $139,000 per unit in the building. The March 2006 construction loan was valued at $84.5 million. TRD Comments

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The now-shuttered Cove Construction in Miami Lakes was merely a front for a non-local company called Whaley Steel, based in Michigan, not Florida, a memo from Miami-Dade County Manager George Burgess shows. Under the terms of the Marlins’ deal with the county, the team must distribute a certain portion of work to small businesses. According to the South Florida Business Journal, Cove had stopped operating two months ago. The stadium project has otherwise outperformed goals for small business contribution in the project, according to the memo. Another company, Colasanti Specialty Services, was also allegedly being investigated after having used Cove as a subcontractor. [SFBJ] Comments

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