Posted March 28, 200718 yr Juan Martinez from the Marlins was just interviewed in spanish radio (by Jerry del Castillo) Some points of interest: - MLB is set on Downtown site, they don't like the OB site at all - Minute Maid ballpark was built on 8.25 acres. so 9 acres are adequate to build the new ballpark - If the City keeps pushing the OB, Juan thinks MLB will revert back to the Hialeah site - Juan refered to the OB as a potential Miami Arena V2
March 28, 200718 yr I have been following this saga for quite a while now. I am not here to flame but from what I have observed, MLB is dedicated to getting the right deal for the Fish to stay in SFLA. Not just any deal......but the right deal. It appears that once again the politicos are making a football of this deal. If that is the case, MLB WILL eventually run out of patience and give up on ever getting the right deal. At that point the club leaves......imho.
March 28, 200718 yr I have been following this saga for quite a while now. I am not here to flame but from what I have observed, MLB is dedicated to getting the right deal for the Fish to stay in SFLA. Not just any deal......but the right deal. It appears that once again the politicos are making a football of this deal. If that is the case, MLB WILL eventually run out of patience and give up on ever getting the right deal. At that point the club leaves......imho. you were doing fine til the last part flamer :banghead
March 28, 200718 yr I have been following this saga for quite a while now. I am not here to flame but from what I have observed, MLB is dedicated to getting the right deal for the Fish to stay in SFLA. Not just any deal......but the right deal. It appears that once again the politicos are making a football of this deal. If that is the case, MLB WILL eventually run out of patience and give up on ever getting the right deal. At that point the club leaves......imho. you were doing fine til the last part flamer :banghead  This deal will eventually get done. MLB wants it, the team wants it, and the city and county want it. Hopefully in the next month the state will decide that it wants it. Location is important, but it is secondary at this point to the funding. Once that gets worked out, where to build will work itself out as well.
March 28, 200718 yr Juan Martinez from the Marlins was just interviewed in spanish radio (by Jerry del Castillo) Some points of interest: - MLB is set on Downtown site, they don't like the OB site at all - Minute Maid ballpark was built on 8.25 acres. so 9 acres are adequate to build the new ballpark - If the City keeps pushing the OB, Juan thinks MLB will revert back to the Hialeah site - Juan refered to the OB as a potential Miami Arena V2Â Good the downtown site is by far the best. I would take the other two only if we had too.
March 28, 200718 yr Juan Martinez from the Marlins was just interviewed in spanish radio (by Jerry del Castillo) Some points of interest: - MLB is set on Downtown site, they don't like the OB site at all - Minute Maid ballpark was built on 8.25 acres. so 9 acres are adequate to build the new ballpark - If the City keeps pushing the OB, Juan thinks MLB will revert back to the Hialeah site - Juan refered to the OB as a potential Miami Arena V2Â Was anything said about how things are going in Tally?
March 28, 200718 yr Author Juan Martinez from the Marlins was just interviewed in spanish radio (by Jerry del Castillo) Some points of interest: - MLB is set on Downtown site, they don't like the OB site at all - Minute Maid ballpark was built on 8.25 acres. so 9 acres are adequate to build the new ballpark - If the City keeps pushing the OB, Juan thinks MLB will revert back to the Hialeah site - Juan refered to the OB as a potential Miami Arena V2 Was anything said about how things are going in Tally? Didn't hear. But apparently some of the politicos told Del Castillo that nothing to worry about for now
March 29, 200718 yr Juan Martinez from the Marlins was just interviewed in spanish radio (by Jerry del Castillo) Some points of interest: - MLB is set on Downtown site, they don't like the OB site at all - Minute Maid ballpark was built on 8.25 acres. so 9 acres are adequate to build the new ballpark - If the City keeps pushing the OB, Juan thinks MLB will revert back to the Hialeah site - Juan refered to the OB as a potential Miami Arena V2 Was anything said about how things are going in Tally? Didn't hear. But apparently some of the politicos told Del Castillo that nothing to worry about for now I'm worrying, I'm worrying
March 29, 200718 yr Tallahassee won't likely be the problem. Everything is going smoothly up here.  Didn't you say last week in your blog that there were two other committees that the stadium bill had to pass? Were those ever heard?
March 29, 200718 yr Tallahassee won't likely be the problem. Everything is going smoothly up here.  Didn't you say last week in your blog that there were two other committees that the stadium bill had to pass? Were those ever heard? Yes, but the bills could be called to the floor by the House and Senate leadership as well. So far, none of the bills has been placed on any agenda.
March 29, 200718 yr Good for MLB. Orange Bowl is an absolutely horrendous site, convenient to no one. Downtown is clearly the best, and yes 9 acres is enough. The smaller the better, that means it fits more into the neighborhood like Fenway or Wrigley. The tighter it is, the more likely it impacts the surrounding community, since developers can build up right next to it.
March 29, 200718 yr I have been following this saga for quite a while now. I am not here to flame but from what I have observed, MLB is dedicated to getting the right deal for the Fish to stay in SFLA. Not just any deal......but the right deal. It appears that once again the politicos are making a football of this deal. If that is the case, MLB WILL eventually run out of patience and give up on ever getting the right deal. At that point the club leaves......imho. I thought we were done with you. You don't give up, do you?
March 29, 200718 yr Well the Marlins want a smallish staduim but 9 acres that is really small. The OB is the absolute worse site possible. I still prefer Hialeah's developmental's potential...idea to avoid prejuidicial stereotypes lets call it NW Dade location instead of Hialeah
March 30, 200718 yr Well the Marlins want a smallish staduim but 9 acres that is really small. The OB is the absolute worse site possible. I still prefer Hialeah's developmental's potential...idea to avoid prejuidicial stereotypes lets call it NW Dade location instead of Hialeah  Your best bet to develop a wrigleyville type of atmosphere around a ballpark would be in a suburban area like Hialeah. IMO  Wrigleyfield is not in Downtown Chicago and I ahve been to 4 games at Wrigley so I know what I am talking abouit. As you drive around the ballpark you are basically driving around residential areas and a few bar's and resteraunts. But mostly residential. Also some of the properties around Wrigley are very expensive and I am sure that is because of Wrigley.
March 30, 200718 yr Your best bet to develop a wrigleyville type of atmosphere around a ballpark would be in a suburban area like Hialeah. IMO Wrigleyfield is not in Downtown Chicago and I ahve been to 4 games at Wrigley so I know what I am talking abouit. As you drive around the ballpark you are basically driving around residential areas and a few bar's and resteraunts. But mostly residential. Also some of the properties around Wrigley are very expensive and I am sure that is because of Wrigley. Yes, but Wrigleyville is not a suburban location either. You cannot compare Chicago to South Florida because of the availability of rapid transit. The time I went to a game at Wrigley Field, I was able to leave the game by taking the "El" out and back to where I was staying at a friend's house (who also lived in the City). Also, property values inside the city limits of Chicago have always been high. It's a measure of proximity to the employment base (i.e., "The Loop"). Also, Wrigley is an anomaly that you cannot compare to other parks. Fenway is the same thing. The Fens is not downtown Boston. However, there is rapid transit readily available to get there ("Green Line" Kenmore Sq. station) which is able to attract folks from the Financial District, Downtown Crossing, the Prudential Center, the Back Bay, and the other areas north of the Charles (I used to work at Downtown Crossing and lived in Somerville -- each time I took the "T" to Red Sox games). Those are two features you don't have in the Hialeah site. You don't have "internal trip captures" which means the only reason people are going out there is for a game and you don't have readily available rapid transit. That means every person there is solely there for the game and other accessory activities, if developed there, and they drove there from somewhere else. As for a downtown Miami site, you estimate that you can capture perhaps from 20% to 50% of your attendance from folks that are already downtown because of work. Therefore, the "trips" (in traffic engineering parlance that is how traffic flows and patterns are calculated, not necessarily the number of cars driving in) would be incorporated into the already incoming and outgoing flow of downtown. Add to that the availability of Metrorail to the site, and you further decrease the traffic impact that you would be facing in the Hialeah site. What you would have in the Hialeah site would most likely end up emulating Dolphin Stadium. There was potential to create a "sports village" there, but when you look at the reality, it took almost 20 years and all you got is a Wal-Mart Supercenter across the street. That's probably what would happen at the Hialeah site, except Wal-Mart would be "replaced" with rows and rows of industrial and commercial warehouse space just like the Beacon Center (which is what Codina's original plan for the site was and the real reason why he asked for the UDB to be moved!).
March 30, 200718 yr Your best bet to develop a wrigleyville type of atmosphere around a ballpark would be in a suburban area like Hialeah. IMO Wrigleyfield is not in Downtown Chicago and I ahve been to 4 games at Wrigley so I know what I am talking abouit. As you drive around the ballpark you are basically driving around residential areas and a few bar's and resteraunts. But mostly residential. Also some of the properties around Wrigley are very expensive and I am sure that is because of Wrigley. Yes, but Wrigleyville is not a suburban location either. You cannot compare Chicago to South Florida because of the availability of rapid transit. The time I went to a game at Wrigley Field, I was able to leave the game by taking the "El" out and back to where I was staying at a friend's house (who also lived in the City). Also, property values inside the city limits of Chicago have always been high. It's a measure of proximity to the employment base (i.e., "The Loop"). Also, Wrigley is an anomaly that you cannot compare to other parks. Fenway is the same thing. The Fens is not downtown Boston. However, there is rapid transit readily available to get there ("Green Line" Kenmore Sq. station) which is able to attract folks from the Financial District, Downtown Crossing, the Prudential Center, the Back Bay, and the other areas north of the Charles (I used to work at Downtown Crossing and lived in Somerville -- each time I took the "T" to Red Sox games). Those are two features you don't have in the Hialeah site. You don't have "internal trip captures" which means the only reason people are going out there is for a game and you don't have readily available rapid transit. That means every person there is solely there for the game and other accessory activities, if developed there, and they drove there from somewhere else. As for a downtown Miami site, you estimate that you can capture perhaps from 20% to 50% of your attendance from folks that are already downtown because of work. Therefore, the "trips" (in traffic engineering parlance that is how traffic flows and patterns are calculated, not necessarily the number of cars driving in) would be incorporated into the already incoming and outgoing flow of downtown. Add to that the availability of Metrorail to the site, and you further decrease the traffic impact that you would be facing in the Hialeah site. What you would have in the Hialeah site would most likely end up emulating Dolphin Stadium. There was potential to create a "sports village" there, but when you look at the reality, it took almost 20 years and all you got is a Wal-Mart Supercenter across the street. That's probably what would happen at the Hialeah site, except Wal-Mart would be "replaced" with rows and rows of industrial and commercial warehouse space just like the Beacon Center (which is what Codina's original plan for the site was and the real reason why he asked for the UDB to be moved!).   No one lives in downtown boston. Back bay is sort of like the downtown, and fenway is a 5 min walk. Lets not compare fenway to wrigley. I lived in back bay for 2 years and walked to fenway, dont make it seem like its on the out skirts of the city.
March 30, 200718 yr the return of longhorn rule he wont give up but he should we wont be moving any time soon. money will come to us this year and site
March 30, 200718 yr No one lives in downtown boston. Back bay is sort of like the downtown, and fenway is a 5 min walk. Lets not compare fenway to wrigley. I lived in back bay for 2 years and walked to fenway, dont make it seem like its on the out skirts of the city. I'm not comparing Fenway and Wrigley. I'm saying that you can't say that Fenway and Wrigley are "suburban" ballparks like that other guy was alluding to when he said that you can create a "Wrigleyville" at the Hialeah site. My point was in saying that neither Fenway or Wrigley were "Downtown Parks" like, say Jacobs Field or Coors Field or Minute Maid Park. Actually, if you want to compare sites, the OB site would be more analogous to Wrigleyville or "The Fens". That is a site that is just off of downtown but not considered "downtown".
March 31, 200718 yr The problem as I see it with the downtown site is not the size of the parcel for the actual stadium but the fact that all parking will be off-premise private or public lots which is revenue that the stadium or the team won't control. The OB site minus the OB would have much more on premise parking because the footprint of the ballpark will be smaller. The OB site also fulfills a lot of the needs (and gets rid of a lot of problems) for the politicians. As fan my preference is certainly downtown but I can see why the politicos are pushing for the OB. I don't think it will be as bad some you think. And I think it's better than Hialeah Heights.
March 31, 200718 yr From what I've heard, the downtown site has a lot of underground infrastructure challenges. Â Digging that stuff up and relocating it is problematic and expensive.
April 1, 200718 yr OB site suck nothing to do around there and the area is a dump. Stick to downtown site or the Hialeah one then
April 1, 200718 yr From what I've heard, the downtown site has a lot of underground infrastructure challenges. Â Digging that stuff up and relocating it is problematic and expensive. I could fully see that. The OB is however just horrible. It is such an unattractive area as it is and the access is just brutal
April 1, 200718 yr - If the City keeps pushing the OB, Juan thinks MLB will revert back to the Hialeah site  Keep pushing the OB site!!!!!!! LOL
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