Venue News 3.20: Marlins Reel in a Stadium

After marathon negotiations — and nearly a decade of waiting — the Florida Marlins finally got clearance to build a stadium near downtown Miami. This week, the 13 commissioners of Miami-Dade County approved the team’s proposal to build a $515 million ballpark in the city’s Little Havana neighborhood, on the site of the demolished Orange Bowl. Construction is expected to begin this summer, with the stadium opening for the 2012 season.

The Florida Marlins have won two World Series titles since their inaugural season in 1993. For team President David Samson, Monday’s late-night victory was even sweeter. The team cleared the last political hurdle in its decade-long quest to get its own ballpark in Miami when the Miami-Dade County Commission approved a deal to build a stadium near downtown. After a 9½-hour meeting, the commissioners capped off the team’s push for a retractable-roof park, which is expected to cost at least $515 million. The commission approved the stadium plan by a 9-4 vote…

…A New Jersey congressman on Monday asked the Treasury Department to step in to end the Nets’ $400 million deal with Barclays Bank, which would put the British company’s name on the team’s proposed Brooklyn arena, because it indirectly received federal bailout funds. In a letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., a Democrat, said that “it is appropriate for the U.S. to request that Barclays cancel this naming-rights agreement” because AIG paid the bank $8.5 billion out of the $170 billion the insurance giant has received in taxpayer assistance…

…The Pittsburgh Penguins hockey team is seeking gold LEED certification status for its under-construction Consol Energy Arena, the first such sporting arena in the country to receive the designation, according to the team’s front office. Penguins VP of Business and Legal Affairs Travis Williams said Monday that the arena, which has a capacity crowd for hockey games of 18,087 (the deliberate “87” ending on that figure should make sense to Penguins fans), is on schedule for completion in fall 2010…

…The public body that built and operates the Arizona Cardinals’ stadium and helped finance construction of spring-training baseball facilities in the Phoenix area is in financial trouble, partly due to the economy but also due to causes of its own making, state auditors reported this week. The Auditor General’s Office said in a performance audit that the Arizona Sports and Tourism Authority reported operating deficits in three of the past seven years and projects that costs will exceed revenues this year and the next five…

…London 2012 organizers were cleared to begin construction of an $83 million Olympic basketball arena after the project received planning permission Wednesday. The 12,000-seat arena will be the third-largest venue on the Olympic Park site in east London. The temporary structure will be used for the basketball preliminaries and quarterfinals, whereas the semifinals and final will be at the 02 Arena…

…England’s Tottenham Hotspur may save as much as £40 million ($58 million) in building costs on its new stadium because of the global financial crisis and resulting drop in the price of cement and steel, an executive at the English Premier League soccer team said. Tottenham plans to build a 60,000-seat stadium close to its current White Hart Lane home and may hold a rights offering of shares to fund the development, Finance Director Matthew Collecott said in an interview…

…The Portland, OR, City Council has voted 3-2 to give Timbers owner Merritt Paulson access to city-backed bonds that will finance the renovation of PGE Park and build a stadium for the Triple A Portland Beavers baseball team, which Paulson also owns. The projects are estimated at $88.8 million: $33.7 million for PGE Park renovations, to make it “soccer-centric,” and $55.1 million for the baseball stadium. But even with the council’s approval, there is a $15 million funding gap in the stadium plans that has yet to be filled.