Stadium groundwork begins

Plans for construction of a new baseball stadium for the Florida Marlins have moved forward almost immediately after a court ruling in its favor. Since the site’s previous occupant, the Orange Bowl, was demolished, Miami officials have cleaned up the land at 1600 Northwest 7th Street, and are paying Jones Lang LaSalle $500,000 for planning and financial analysis services at the site, on top of a July payment of $200,000. City manager Pete Hernandez said that the original timeline of a November groundbreaking is no longer realistic, but the city now hopes to get the site ready by early 2009.