Week of November 6, 2008
| Norman Braman motion asks for full disclosure on Marlins' stadium garage cost By Risa PolanskyAttorneys for Norman Braman have filed a court motion seeking financial details on a garage at a Marlins ballpark site and to question City of Miami officials based on "newly discovered evidence." In ruling that the stadium could serve a public purpose, the judge in the case lacked relevant information that the city had, says Mr. Braman, who is suing the team and local government. The city had estimates that the garage could cost tens of millions more than officials said in court but never made it known, Mr. Braman's motion filed last week says. But City Manager Pete Hernandez says "the city provided all available information to them when they asked for information, period." The motion says the parking projections only came to light months later in a Miami Today article. Circuit Judge Jeri Beth Cohen ruled in September that plans for the $515 million ballpark could serve a "paramount public purpose." But the ruling referred to "incomplete, one-sided" information, the new motion says. Assistant City Attorney Henry Hunnefeld told the court in July that a garage with a "likely cost" of $94 million would generate close to $200 million over 35 years. The city was not a party in the count, but Mr. Hunnefeld spoke at the trial. He did not note Miami Parking Authority estimates of a year ago that a garage could cost $150 million and lose the city more than $8 million annually, or June 2008 projections by consultant Jones Lang LaSalle estimating costs of $135 million for 6,000 garage spots. The judge never saw those numbers and used $94 million and the claim the garage could turn a profit in ruling "that the project met the test of paramount public purpose," Mr. Braman said, making the higher estimates relevant.
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