Miami Marlins Stadium

Less than two months from its scheduled opening and three months from opening day, the Maimi Marlins stadium is about 92 percent complete, according to the Miami Herald, and workers are scrambling to ensure they reach the finish line in time. In the first week of March, a fanfest, a high school baseball game, and two Marlins spring training games against local colleges are set to take place in the brand new downtown stadium. [more]

Construction on the parking garages for the new Florida Marlins stadium is set to begin in May with a December 2011 completion date. The $75 million project will include four parking garages, six surface lots and a retail space. Boston-based Suffolk Construction, which is in charge of the project, will be working alongside other construction crews that are building the $640 million stadium.

TRD

New Miami mayor Tomas Regalado has called out the proponents of the new Miami Marlins retractable-roof stadium, saying the project isn’t creating the local jobs its backers promised. He asked the Miami-Dade County’s inspector general to look at the hiring practices of Sunshine Coast Management and Cove Construction, claiming they had failed to hire locally for this part of the largely publicly funded project. Regalado said September payroll records for the subcontractors indicate only 73 of their 259 workers, only 28 percent, live in Miami-Dade County. The $565 million project is intended to revitalize the Little Havana neighborhood. [Miami Today]

Hundreds of construction workers and contractors staged a protest Tuesday outside the site of the new Florida Marlins stadium, which recently broke ground in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood, the Miami Herald reported. The stadium was once welcomed as a beacon of hope for the area’s small businesses and contractors who are already short on jobs, but protestors said the Marlins were not hiring enough local firms for the project. The team said they’re not only complying with the government’s requirements, but are also exceeding them in terms of local firms’ participation. The stadium is on budget and is slated to open in 2012 as planned, a Marlins representative said.
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Miami City Commissioners will vote on $135 million worth of bonds for the parking at the new Marlins stadium, a total that’s $41 million more than the project’s $94 million price tag. Commissioner Marc Sarnoff, who voted against the stadium plan earlier this year, said so-called soft costs would drive up the price, and was concerned at how much more the public was being asked to fundl. City Manager Pete Hernandez said the $41 million beyond the projected $94 million includes $15 million in reserves and millions more for design surveys, construction management and environmental consultants. [Miami Herald]

Auto dealer Norman Braman — the most visible opponent of public funding for a new stadium for the Florida Marlins — may have seen his quest quashed in court. The Third District Court of Appeal on Wednesday upheld a lower court decision that dismissed Braman’s seven claims against the project. Braman was seeking a voter referendum on the proposal to finance the $515 million stadium with $360 million of public funds, among other concessions. Polls showed voters were overwhelmingly opposed to the deal, which won approval from both the Miami city and Miami-Dade County commissions. [Miami Herald]  [more]

Norman Braman today gets another day in court, as the Third District
Court of Appeal allows oral arguments on the car dealer mogul’s bid to
halt construction of a new baseball stadium for the Florida Marlins.
The $609 million ballpark has been approved, but Braman has sued to
prevent a $50 million bond issue being used for the project without a
public vote. [more]

A dozen contractors are competing to build parking at the new Miami
Marlins stadium, and have submitted formal bids for the project.
Bidders for the $94 million, 6,000-square foot project include Des
Moines, IA-based Weitz Company; Boston-based Suffolk Construction;
Birmingham, Ala.-based Brasfield & Gorrie; Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Hunt
Construction teamed with Fort Lauderdale-based Moss Construction;
Miami-based KM/Plaza; Dallas, Tex.-based Balfour Beatty Construction
teamed with Fort Lauderdale-based James A. Cummings Inc.; Miami-based
Coastal Construction; New York-based Turner teamed with Miami-based
MCM; Parsippany, NJ-based Skanska; Dallas, Tex.-based Austin Industries;
Fort Lauderdale-based Facchina Construction of Florida; and Miami-based
JCON Group teamed with Hollywood-based John Moriarty and Associates of
Florida.

Business owners in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood are eagerly
awaiting the construction of the new Marlins baseball stadium later
this year. They hope the construction workers — 5,000 to 6,000 people
are expected to take part in the construction project — will expand
their customer base, which shrank after the demolition of the Orange
Bowl stadium last year. Thousands of construction workers came to the
area around the stadium July 8 to fill out job applications. The
stadium is slated to open in 2012, and business owners expect that to
bring even more business to the neighborhood. [more]

The new Florida Marlins stadium is already drawing plenty of people who
want to play. About 100 contractors or their representatives filled the
seats at City Hall this week to learn what the city of Miami requires
for its parking garage there. The city wants to pick a contractor by
August 3, said Gary Fabrikant, assistant director of contracts for the
city’s capital improvements department. The city plans to use a point
system to decide on the award. [more]