http://www.miamiherald.com/new...e/story/1147739.html

New ballpark's bells and whistles: a pool, a park, a/c and a view

BY BARRY JACKSON
BJACKSON@MIAMIHERALD.COM

Now that the Florida Marlins are finally getting their own digs, what can fans expect when the retractable-roof ballpark opens in 2012?

For starters, there will be a pool, a porch and plaza with a park.

But there will also be a paucity of stadium space compared with other ballparks.

The yet-unnamed stadium will have among the smallest capacities in Major-League Baseball (37,000) and also will be built on the smallest plot of land (928,000 square feet). That area, however, does not include the adjacent plaza, which the team envisions as a miniature version of New York's Central Park.

The Marlins plan to be creative and resourceful, offering expanded food menus, for those who like stone crabs with their home runs, and allowing season-ticket holders to park their car closest to -- or facing the direction of -- the highway they will travel to drive home.

Oh, and another thing:

"We want to be the most visually exciting ballpark in the United States," said Marlins President David Samson, who says the stadium will cost $515 million to build. "It will be a modern ballpark with the expertise of [designer] Populous and the expert eye of our owner [art dealer Jeffrey Loria], who has spent his life looking at and evaluating masterpieces."

Populous, formerly HOK Sport, has designed more than 30 professional stadiums and arenas (including Land Shark Stadium, Orioles Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore and the New York Yankees and New York Mets' new ballparks). But Samson said the exterior of the Marlins' new home will not closely resemble any of the others.

"The look will be modern," Loria said at Saturday's groundbreaking. "It's different. We're not doing a retro facility. The ballpark must capture and mirror the special feeling of Miami."

An early Marlins ballpark primer, 34 months before opening day 2012:

• Expect the dome to be closed more often that not, perhaps about 60 of the 81 games games each year. It will be shut not only on rainy days but also during the hot summer months, allowing the Marlins to turn on the air conditioning.

A scientific formula -- measuring temperature, dew point, humidity, etc. -- will determine whether to shut the roof, which will take 13 minutes to close. The roof's three panels can be operated independently to produce micro-shading effects over the playing field and spectators.

• The number of seats is being limited to 37,000 not only to fuel demand for tickets, but also to create a more intimate environment. That capacity will be the third-lowest in baseball, ahead of Oakland (35,067) and Tampa Bay (36,973). But both the A's and Rays can open up additional seats to accommodate larger crowds -- something the Marlins can do at Land Shark Stadium but will not be able to do at their new ballpark.

"We want to have a very small intimate building and we want people to really understand what it is like to be in a baseball-only park," Samson said. "For us, it was about creating demand by lowering supply."

The Marlins, who expect attendance to spike in the new ballpark, have had baseball's lowest attendance the past three years and were last against this season (18,117 per game), entering this weekend's series against Philadelphia. The ballpark will have three decks, with 10,000 seats in the upper deck.

• Most ticket prices will not be set until closer to opening, but 1000 will be priced at $15.

• Season-ticket holders will be assigned parking spaces based on their ZIP Code. For example, West Broward residents who take the 836 will be assigned west garage parking spots.

"We will have educational sessions to teach people how to go from home to their seat," Samson said at a town hall meeting earlier this year. "When you pay for parking, you give people a choice where they want to go."

• There will be 5,700 parking spaces, but for some games, that probably will not be enough to accommodate everyone. Some fans might park on homeowners' lawns, as they did when they attended games at the Orange Bowl. "Parking is always a concern," Samson said, encouraging fans to consider public transportation. The two parking garages will include retail stores on the ground floor.

• Like Land Shark Stadium, the Marlins' current home, the ballpark dimensions will be pitcher-friendly: 422 feet to center field, 392 feet in the right field power alley and 384 feet in the left field power alley. The outfield wall will be closest down the right field line (335 feet). Down the left field line, the wall will be 340 feet from home plate.

The dimensions likely will result in fewer home runs than some other ballparks. But "pitching wins pennants," Samson said. The field will have natural grass, and the seats will be painted blue.

• The plaza, on four acres of land on the west side of the ballpark, will be open year round and will be "the largest of any stadium in the history of the United States," Samson said.

He envisions a park with a fountain, "an area for people to congregate during lunch, after lunch, during work, after work. It will be the signature park of Miami, with some sort of outdoor exhibit areas. I hope when we open the ballpark, it will be completed."

A team merchandise store is planned, and perhaps a restaurant.

• One of the signature features will be a half-acre retractable window wall above the left field seats, offering a view of the city.

• Inside the stadium, "Taste of Miami" food courts will sell sushi, stone crabs, croquettas and other dishes. "We will cater to the diversity of Miami," Samson said. "This is not going to be a popcorn, peanut, Cracker Jack stadium only."

• A party suite area behind the left field wall will feature a swimming pool that generally will be marketed for groups to purchase, but might be available for individual fans to use for a couple of games each season. The size of the pool and the pricing have not been determined.

"It will be a deck with chairs and umbrellas, but it will not be a beach. There won't be sand," Samson said. "It will not be like the hot tub" that Land Shark Stadium features on the right field side.

• There will be two scoreboards that offer replays, the bigger one above the right field wall and the smaller one above the left field line.

• The stadium will include a porch above right field that will be "a fascinating, fabulous place to watch a game," Samson said. 'There will be standing room seats and a bar nearby. It's not going to hang over the field like the porch at [the New York Mets' stadium], Citi Field."

There will be an area for fans to stand and watch the game from behind right field, near the right-field line, but it will be designed in a way where the view of seated fans will not be blocked.

• The ballpark will have 50 suites, likely including one in which seats can be purchased on a per-game basis.

• There will be see-through fences in right field and left field, allowing fans to gaze into both bullpens.

• Loria said he's not ready to give details about the signature water feature that will be behind center field.

• How will the Marlins' ballpark compare with some of the newer stadiums?

The Marlins won't have a miniature wiffle-ball field, one of the features of the Mets' $900 million Citi Field that opened this season, or a separate baseball field for youngsters, like the one at Milwaukee's $400 million Miller Park, which opened in 2001. A kids' park is "not in the plans but not out of the question," Samson said.

And unlike the $1.5 billion Yankee Stadium, which opened this season, the Marlins park will not have more than one million square feet of retail space, or a Monument Park featuring monuments and plaques for legendary players.

Yankee Stadium also has a Hard Rock Café and a steakhouse. Samson said the Marlins might have a restaurant or two, but there have not been any discussions with popular chains.

"Those ballparks are much bigger and the cost of labor is much higher in New York," Samson said. "The greater amenities, behind the scenes, we won't have like the New York stadiums. They have more space for storage and service areas."

But $515 million can still buy a lot, and the Marlins believe fans will not be disappointed.

"Our ballpark is so small," Samson said, "that every seat will be a good seat."