Miami-Dade unveils plans for downtown stadium

Miami-Dade unveils plans for downtown stadium Miami-Dade County officials on Tuesday unveiled specific plans for a downtown baseball stadium ' potentially good news for Florida Marlins fans, but a concern for shipping industry interests concerned about the potential impact on access to the Port of Miami.
   The county has been advocating a downtown baseball stadium for some time, but the latest announcement marked the first official endorsement for a specific site. The proposed new stadium would be built on what is called the Government Center site. The exact location would be on nine acres of publicly owned land roughly between Northwest Second and Northwest Third streets and just west of the Metrorail tracks adjacent to the Government Center building. That is just a block south of the Fifth and Sixth street corridor used by many truckers to go in and out of the Port of Miami, and is just a few blocks southwest of the port entrance.
   With port access already a concern for many port customers, there are concerns a new baseball stadium would further snarl traffic in the port area. The American Airlines Arena, home of the Miami Heat NBA basketball team, is immediately adjacent to the port entrance and sometimes creates traffic problems for port customers.
   Although the county has endorsed the site for what would be a county-owned stadium, the proposal would still require state assistance in the form of tax breaks. There are also potential local problems, such as the need to build a planned court building adjacent to the stadium site.
   The Marlins, who now play in northern Miami-Dade County at Dolphins Stadium, have indicated they would attempt to move the franchise to another city if a new baseball stadium with a retractable rook cannot be built and funded with state and local help.