The new Marlins ballpark will open its doors in less than four months, but the "promised plethora of nearby dining, drinking and retail establishments that would serve sports fans and help revitalize the impoverished neighborhood around it remains little more than a dream," according to Viglucci & Mazzei of the MIAMI HERALD. The city administration’s effort to "fill 53,000 square feet of commercial space in the publicly owned parking garages flanking the stadium has barely gotten off the ground." Nearly three years after the Marlins and Miami signed an agreement to build the garages, "not one lease has been signed, and a real-estate broker hired only recently under emergency provisions to lease the spaces told the city commission that she can’t offer prospective tenants lease terms or documents because none have been drawn up." Initial efforts to "gauge interest from restaurant and retail operators suggest the hoped-for entertainment and retail stadium 'district' faces even taller hurdles than bureaucratic foot-dragging -- including poor neighborhood demographics, doubts about the site’s ability to draw customers outside game days, and design issues that could make restaurant build-outs costlier than normal." At the start, the "only place game-goers will be able to buy a hotdog or beer will be inside the stadium, where the Marlins control all the concessions -- and keep virtually all revenue they generate." Broker Jeremy Larkin, who "informally worked with the parking agency to identify potential tenants" said that "numerous local and national retail and restaurant operators have spurned feelers from the city." He added that the operators "cited low incomes in the surrounding neighborhood, which includes two large public housing projects across the street, and uncertainty about the site’s ability to draw customers from beyond the immediate area" (MIAMI HERALD, 12/10).
