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Post by Xpedition on May 28, 2004 14:46:25 GMT -5
I'd be very surprised if the Miccosukee Tribe doesn't finance some of the stadium (or even get their name on it).
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Post by Mike on May 29, 2004 9:53:16 GMT -5
Thanks to the posters who provide the latest and most current information. You are the best source that I have found. My biggest concerns have always been land: - We have enough land for a 40K seat stadium. If the plans are to build a 30K seat stadium, then they should allow for expansion to at least 40K. It would certainly be cheaper and more efficient to build a 40K seat stadium immediately and not much more expensive.
- That there will enough land to build accessible convienent parking.
- That we have enough land to build additional athletic buildings, facilities, and sports fields as the number of sports we offer our student athletes to compete in increases.
- That we learn from the mistakes of others - the name of the new stadium can't be bought. When someone signs a multi-year contract at $x..x/year we will name it after them or their corporation.
Thanks again on behalf of the many people who read this board daily but never post. Some other non-football land questions that you might know the answer to, or, if they are being considered. Can we both save money and create good will with the city by contributing $$ to upgrade the facilities at Tamiami park? We could play some other sports games there, use it for practice fields, and/or for IM sports for 10-12 weeks of the year? Is there additional land that would be advantageous to purchase for future growth? In 10 or 20 years land will be much more expensive. Mike
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Post by Xpedition on May 29, 2004 16:54:58 GMT -5
There is enough room for a 60k stadium where the field currently is. You build 30 k lower lever and then add 30k upper level. UF built their stadium piece-by-piece and it really doesn't take up much land at all. It also has a lot of character since each side is a little different. FIU will follow a similar model. 30k to start and add as needed. Land has ALWAYS been an issue at UP. But if you really think about it, there is still room to grow on UP. The land next to the elementary school all the way to the entrance is empty. There is plenty of room there. If you notice, what the admin is doing is getting rid of parking lots and putting up parking garages and replacing the lots with buildings. It actually makes for a pretty interesting campus. Look for no lots to exist in the future. Also, no new buildings are smaller than 4 floors at UP. There is good reason for that, it's also the reason the school isn't as big as UF's. UF builds a lot because they have a lot of land...2 floor buildings are relatively cheap and land around Gainesville is cheap and easy to find. FIU doesn't have that luxury so we have to wait a bit longer to secure funds for taller buildings in order to build on the land we do have. The new Health Building is case and point. Instead of having multiple small buildings for the schools within the Health College, The new building with the new phases (5 stories or so) houses (or will eventually house) all of the Health College as well as bio research labs. When demand calls, FIU will build a new arena, either on the current site (tear GPA down) or near 117 by the hurricane center (pure speculation, but that's how I envision it). Unless the Youth Fair moves, FIU is stuck with this plan and it isn't all that bad. Remember, there is room at BC and the Engineering Campus still. The medical school building will be housed on the corner of 107 and 8th street per a recent article I read. It'll be large but there will still be room. Another garage is going up adjacent to the one built across from the School of Computer Science. Also, rumor is another dorm is going up in the parking lot behind DM and the dorms.
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Post by FIUFanatic on May 29, 2004 18:01:13 GMT -5
Good interesting perspectives.....Land is one major element in all decision making at FIU, paricularly at UP. I've heard President Maidique said before, his willingness to "obtain" the adjacent land in Tamiami Park for FIU's growth. This would be a natural and double its size to around 600 acres, which would seem commensurate with our student population and overall growth in the same space the University currently has.
However, years have gone by, and it's almost impossible to "do away" Tamiami Parkand convert it into part of FIU, especially the many fields, parks, etc., that members of the community so much rely on for Recreational purposes. I don't think the County would go for that, and I would think the cost for the State and/or FIU would be staggering. However, the only chance FIU would have to grow (as I see it) on the UP campus would be the land currently occupied by the Youth Fair, if another piece of land is found for the Fair, when the Fair "contract" (is there a contract?) is over. That would give some extra acres in the Southeastern portion of campus, where the Fair grounds actually are located, and should be considerably cheaper, adding perhaps 50-100 much needed acres to the campus.
In the meantime, FIU has no other choice but to build up, as you stated.....It is my hope that, somehow, some land can be still found to build more dorms, housing, etc on campus.....This is paramount to a more "traditional" campus feel, which could help students achieve a balanced feel for college, and eventually help a bit in developing more resident student support for Athletics at FIU.
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Post by Xpedition on May 29, 2004 18:23:34 GMT -5
My vision has always been for the field between the stadium, the TP swimming pool, the fair entrance and the TP tennis courts to go to FIU. That field is really only used for event parking and rarely by people of the community. Even still, there is plenty of room elsewhere in the park for the rare events that are held on that field. I think a partnership with FIU and the county for that land could be reached. How, you ask? FIU is, by nature, public property. Anyone in the community can use our library and pay a nominal fee to use our facilities. I say: build a big (like dadeland metrorail big) parking garage where the parking lot is across from the stadium, dorms and adjacent to the field. This lot is to be used by the Fairgrounds whenever there are events and by FIU for the rest of the year. The rest of the field can be dual purpose. Place buildings in a semi-circle type manner and have the center open as a field for university students and members of the community to share. Pick-up games of football or whatever can be had. I know Coral Park and other schools use the field for drill practice. Leaving the center exposed will still allow for the community to use the fields. The buildings here can be mixed use (another set of University Tower dorms along with other buildings). The garage could alternatively go on the south end of the land (facing south entrance. Coral Way entrance, of the park). This would allow for there not to be a break of the campus with a huge garage. I wonder if this has been thought of by the admin.
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Post by Steve on May 29, 2004 18:29:33 GMT -5
A lot of the questions asked on this board about how the land is used and where who is putting what can be easily answered by checking out the campus master plans. They can be found at Facilities.FIU.edu .
Several ideas have floated about constructing a new arena next to 117th, however if you view the plans, you can see that there is a Metrorail line that is supposed to eventually go through there.
More dorms as supposed to be build sometime this coming year in the parking lot behind DM and PC, along with the Art Museum between the Performing Arts Center and the MARC Building. In the future, the lot between the Performing Arts Center and the stadium will also become a parking garage. It is somewhat refreshing to see that there is a set plan and that the administration is not just building blindly.
As for Tamiami Park, I have heard some rumors sometime ago that the state board of education actually ownes Tamiami Park and leases it to the county. I have never found anything to back this up myself though. I have also heard that FIU is purchasing some land in Sweethingyer to develop a transit greenway between UP and the Engeneering Campus.
That Greenway would include Movie Theaters, restaurants, shops, and other things you would find in a typical college town. Additionally, it would have more dorms (or private appartments, whichever is more profitable). The overall goal is to bring the main campus and engeneering campuses together and create a college town feeling around FIU.
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Post by FIUFootballer on May 30, 2004 8:47:30 GMT -5
Per that Master Plan, more dorms are also slated to go up in the Education bulding parking lot. The Graduate School of Business will be going up next to the Education Building.
Although this Master Plan is as of 2000, given its updated every 5 years, I'm curious to see how will it change next year...maybe it will reflect the new football stadium's design since this plan still has the current stadium as is.
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Post by Steve on May 30, 2004 13:00:48 GMT -5
They do update the master plan more frequently than every 5 years... they change it to properly reflect the university's 5 year work plan as well as to reflect the progress on the buildings. An example of this would be the art museum... The original plan put it in the spot you find it on the master plan, but the shape was just a large square. When the designs were approved, the sqare changed to reflect the new design. The same goes for the rec center under construction.
On thing that I have noticed about the master plan is that it does not reflect projects that are built by the smaller divisions of the university. An example of this is the WPAC building. Several years back, they added a small addition to the building that includes more practice rooms. This addition is not reflected in the 5 year plan because it was built using money from the school of music. This situation would hold true with reguards to athletic buildings too since for the most part, they are built with athletic funds.
A prime example of that is the new locker rooms and offices over by the racketball and tennis courts. That building never showed up on the master plan until it was actually there.
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Post by Steve on Jun 6, 2004 22:59:10 GMT -5
Many people here seem to know something about the new stadium, but I have seen and heard nothing about how the stadium will look. Since it has been said that construction will be happening as soon as the season ends, I was just wondering if anyone has heard anything about the design of the stadium or seen any renderings or images of it.
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Post by FIJIGabe on Jun 15, 2004 19:31:47 GMT -5
i talked to some other sources in athletics (same level as before, seeing as there is still a lot of confusion). here's what i was told:
(1) there is still no decision on where to move the track, but it definitely will be moved. the principle site remains the soccer field (since they can create a dual-purpose facility for soccer and track), however, the site near the elementary school is still being tossed around.
(2) the football stadium MUST be built on the currently existing football stadium grounds. the county will not let the school expand the stadium south of the current grounds, and the University doesn't have space to the north. Thus, the only way the University can expand it's seating capability is to remove the track, and build the grandstand on those grounds. my only questions is this: if you begin construction of the grandstands on the track, where is the track team going to have it's meets and such? move them off campus for a while? that will definitely hurt the team.
oh well, those are decisions for the FIU "Powers-that-be."
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Post by FIJIGabe on Jun 15, 2004 19:43:24 GMT -5
oh, and i forgot to mention... don't count on the Miccosuki (i know i butchered that) to be shelling out TOO much more cash... they've spent well over $30k in advertising for FIU Athletics over the past 2 years (the sign in the baseball stadium alone was $15k, along with each of the other advertisers, which raised $60k of the necessary $62k for the scoreboard). they may shell out some more cash, but they won't bankroll the entire venture... however, it would be nice to sell the naming rights.
"FIU Football at Miccosuki Field"
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Post by Xpedition on Jun 15, 2004 22:16:15 GMT -5
You're spelling it like it was Japanese, it's Miccosukee. The track will be the first thing to be built...wherever it shall go. Then they'll rip out the current track and construction will commence at FIU Stadium. BTW...the new dorms (850 beds) have gone through the bidding process and seem ready to go. Nothing has been posted when construction will start but I'm guessing Spring 05, if not sooner.
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Post by MaXx on Jun 15, 2004 23:50:31 GMT -5
Thanks for all the inside info guys. Whenever you find out more please do post. ;D
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Post by ARod on Jun 29, 2004 19:23:49 GMT -5
I heard on one of Coach Strock's radio show's that they were attempting to have the City of Miami help in financing the stadium. Now wait just a minute before all of you go flying off the handle about the city's handling of the Marlins stadium. This would benefit the City of Miami in a couple of ways: The local high schools would continue to be able to play at the stadium (which would benefit the city) The city would be able to put in a bid to host events like the high school playoffs (which are currently played in "The Swamp" in Gainesville) to make even more money (which would benefit the city) Heck and if the Sun Belt Conference is successful in attracting more teams for a playoff, we could even possibly play as host to that event (which would benefit the city by tourism) And we could hold other events like soccer matches, outdoor concerts, etc. (which would again benefit the city) What are your thoughts?
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Post by Xpedition on Jun 29, 2004 20:04:03 GMT -5
City of Miami has nothing to do with it. It would have to be Miami-Dade County and I wouldn't be surprised at all to see some tax dollars go to the stadium. The county's sales tax could be suspended for the stadium allowing FIU to keep millions which would help finance the stadium (this is the same request the Marlins are asking the State). Other means are likely, even without voter support being necessary.
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