This and other just recent articles below it are what I would call a post-mortem on the efforts to bring the Marlins to Portland, whatever the chance it had. Happy reading - Transic

http://www.miamiherald.com/new...e/story/1147737.html

With ground broken for Marlins ballpark, next challenge is finishing in time

BY MATTHEW HAGGMAN AND JACK DOLAN
JDOLAN@MIAMIHERALD.COM

With ground officially broken Saturday on the Florida Marlins' long-sought stadium, now comes the tricky task of completing -- both on time and on budget -- one of the largest building projects South Florida has seen in years.

There is hardly a moment to spare.

The projected completion date for the 37,000-seat stadium is March 31, 2012 -- just before Opening Day. If the Florida Marlins start the season at home the same date they did this year, there will be only six days of wiggle room.

"The schedule is tight," said Claude Delorme, the Marlins senior vice president for stadium development. "But we're comfortable with it."

Veteran stadium watchers around the country, mindful of all the things that could go wrong, give the Marlins slightly better than even odds of making their deadline.

"It sounds like 33 months is doable, unless they run into some bizarre technical difficulty," said Robert Trumpbour, a Penn State professor and author of The New Cathedrals: Politics and Media in the History of Stadium Construction.

In the past decade, most of the dozen new ballparks completed across the United States have been finished on time. The New York Mets and New York Yankees each opened new parks without a hitch this season.

But stadium construction doesn't always go smoothly.

In 2001 the Milwaukee Brewers' Miller Park opened a year late after a crane accident killed three people and delayed construction. In 2004 the San Diego Padres' Petco Park opened two years behind schedule, after the project stalled mid-construction amid a hail of lawsuits.

Miami-Dade County's track record with large-scale projects is checkered. There have been excruciating construction delays with Miami International Airport's $6.2 billion expansion. The $483 million Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts opened in 2006 -- more than two years behind schedule. A spectacular fire engulfed the scaffolding around the American Airlines Arena in 1998, though it ultimately opened on time.

Yet the Marlins have a key advantage, said one expert: They are building on the former site of the Orange Bowl, which removes the arduous task of relocating extensive below-ground infrastructure and minimizes the likelihood of encountering environmental remediation issues. The MIA expansion, by contrast, involves rebuilding an airport while operating it at the same time.

"When you build on an existing stadium site you have a huge chunk of problems that are not likely to surface," said Mark Rosentraub, a University of Michigan sports management professor, who has consulted on stadium deals.

"You are in a good weather environment, so an aggressive construction calendar is quite possible."

Marlins officials have mapped out a 33-month schedule to complete the $515 million Little Havana baseball stadium, which will be one of the smaller major league ballparks but still an enormous project in both size and scope.

For the ballpark, the Marlins are in charge of construction, as well as being on the hook for cost-overruns.

Delorme said a retractable roof adds about 10 months to a project.

"The Washington Nationals built their [open-air] stadium in 22 months," Delorme said, who added that covered stadiums have been completed in 30 months. "I always had in mind 32 to 33 months for a covered building."

Earlier this month, the ballclub started clearing and grading the stadium's 17-acre footprint, and work on the foundation is planned the first week next month. By fall, 12 super columns that will support the roof are planned to rise 150 feet into the air; roof trusses will start going up before year's end.

Once completed, the retractable-roof ballpark will stand 268 feet tall. The stadium will total nearly one million square feet of newly built space, with uses ranging from seating and suites to concession areas and Marlins offices.

By comparison, the Wachovia Financial Center, the downtown office building and second-tallest skyscraper in the state, is only slightly bigger, totaling 1.1 million square feet of space.

"This will absolutely be done on time," said David Samson, president of the Marlins. "The reason is I know who is building it, I know who designed it, and who is in charge of it. Thirty-three months is exactly the amount of time needed."

Hunt Construction Group, a veteran builder of stadiums, is heading up the effort. The Phoenix-based company, which is partnering with Fort Lauderdale's Moss & Associates in the project, previously built such admired baseball parks as Busch Stadium in St. Louis, AT&T Park in San Francisco and Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati; along with the troubled Miller Park in Wisconsin.

Populous, the Kansas City-based designer of the stadium, has done countless sports facilities around the world.

On the financial front, the stadium received a critical boost this month when Miami-Dade County closed on a $407 million bond sale that produced $300 million to go toward ballpark construction.

Still, there are challenges.

For one, the stadium financing is outlined but not complete. The baseball franchise -- which has not publicly disclosed its financial condition -- must still contribute $154 million. The county must also sell $50 million in general obligation bonds.

A lawsuit filed by car dealer Norman Braman will go up on appeal later this year, leaving the possibility that the trial court ruling that paved the way for the stadium could be reversed. That legal challenge is seeking to block use of the pending $50 million bond issue, among a host of claims.

Then there is the task of managing a project that will include more than 5,000 workers, as many as 1,200 on the site at a time.

The project includes some 80 bid packages that must be awarded to contractors who will do everything from bolting down seats and installing the scoreboard to the plumbing and mechanical work.

The winning contractors must adhere to government-imposed hiring requirements that 50 percent of jobs go to residents of Miami-Dade County and 20 percent to those from the city of Miami.

Earlier this month thousands of workers turned up on the former Orange Bowl site looking for jobs. The general contractor, Hunt/Moss, has since set up a website for workers to apply: www.huntmossjv.com

Thus far, the Marlins have granted work to just one company: American Engineering and Development Corp. in Hialeah Gardens, which is clearing the site.

There is also worry that over the course of three hurricane seasons between now and 2012, there will be lengthy weather-related delays. If so, it could result in the team accelerating construction, which is even more costly.

Samson said the team will pick up such costs, either by digging into its own pocket or filing a claim with its insurer.

"It would be exactly what people do when they get into a car accident," said Samson. "Whether you go through insurance or not, it depends if the car gets totaled or it's a scratch."

Adding to the stakes: the baseball club doesn't yet have a place to play in the event the new stadium is not ready in 2012. The team said it doesn't expect to have to clear that hurdle.

Still, the Marlins are already angling to get some extra time to finish the project by the home opener in 2012.

"We will ask to start the season on the road that year," Delorme said.

Thanks for all the articles about the new stadium in Miami, Transic. I am really happy for the Marlins and wish them all the best in south Florida. I think they will turn out to be very successful as a franchise down there.

Now, if only the A's get tired of trying to make a go of it in the Bay Area or MLB decides to balance the leagues with two more AL teams ... We need to be ready in Portland.