County approves financing for Marlins stadium - Charlotte Business Journal:

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million gap in bond funding for a baseball The 9-3 vote clears the way for locking in the interesyt rate on the fixed-rate bonds and construction of the much-debated and long-awaitex stadium in Miami’s Little Havana. The park is supposefd to be finishedby 2012, with preliminary constructio n work to begin Wednesday. Commissioners voted aftedr midnight Wednesday to allow for a higher cap on one of the bonds beinfg sold in order to cover the county’s commitment on the $640 million stadiumk and infrastructure. The 7.5 percentr interest rate cap was changeto 8.2 percent on the bond tied to conventio n taxes.
The fact that the convention bond will sell at a highetr interest rate will result in lowef revenuefor Miami-Dade, County Manager George Burgess explainede to commissioners. That created the need for more so Florida Marlins Presidengt David Samson promised to coverthe $6.2 millionb funding gap. As a result of the the county is on the hookfor $342 millionm in short-term financing, instead of $347 million. "I feel comfortabls with the agreement. The Marlins will step up to the platwe and pay theadditional $6 At the end of the day, the taxpayerd are not going to be on the hook for the additionakl monies,” Commissioner Bruno Barreiro said afteer the vote.
Katy Carlos Gimenez and Sally Heymanb were thethree ‘no’ votes. The debate starter at 7 p.m., but stopped at 9 p.m. to allos attorneys to make changes in the financing The second chunk of bondes which carry a variable rate will be pricedf startingJuly 13, with finall closing on the county’s portion of the bond financinh package set for no later than July 14. Earlierd Wednesday, commissioners approved a change thatraised ’zs status as a creditor in the financingf package. Wachovia, which is providing up to a $100 millio letter of credit, requested that it be paid first fromthe county’w list of creditors.
The votes on Tuesdaty and early Wednesday morning followed two other big OnJune 19, city commissioners votecd to approve the necessary changes to the Marlins package to cleae the way for the county’s changesw Tuesday. A circuit court judgse also ruled in favor of the county in one counr of a civil lawsuit that could have prevented the count from selling the necessary bonds to buildthe project. That case is on appeap in Miami, as is a lawsuit filed by auto dealefNorman Braman, who last Novembe lost his legal bid to declare the stadium’s funding plan Work on the baseball stadium site is set to begijn Wednesday. Crews will officially break ground onJuly 18.
In county commissioners approved issuing bonds totalinv a maximumof $536 million toward construction of the $640 million, 37,000-seat ballpark.