Legal Issues with the Current Parking Proposal

I want to take a few minutes to emphasize in detail all of the legal actions that must be resolved in order for the proposal submitted by WDC Baseball Partners to move forward. As I mentioned before, I want to emphasize that in order for the District to have the best chance to avoid contractual penalties under the District’s agreements with baseball, all of these steps must be completed by August 1, to begin design and engineering so that construction may begin by Labor Day.

Initially, the Council must not only approve this legislation, but also approve certain aspects of the definitive agreements with WDC Baseball Partners.

Additional inspections have uncovered asbestos in the building formerly owned by the Architect of the Capitol. Although the structure was built to be asbestos-free, refrigeration units were brought in and asbestos was found in the insulation. The removal of this additional asbestos will cost approximately $3 million, which increased environmental remediation costs further to approximately $14.4 million. These higher costs will be paid from the project contingency fund.