A major Tysons Corner landowner has offered to foot the extra cost of building a Metro tunnel under Tysons, one of the boldest bids to date to resurrect the nixed underground route.
In a letter sent Wednesday to Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, West*Group CEO Gerald Halpin offered to “join other community leaders in an effort to cover” the added price of the tunnel, an alternative to the planned aerial track.
“We do not expect this would be difficult given the widely desired preference for the tunnel,” Halpin wrote.
A West*Group spokesman declined to say Thursday what other groups would be involved in the effort.
Kaine abandoned the tunnel proposal in September after a warning from federal transit officials that building a tunnel under Tysons would risk $900 million in federal funding because of stringent cost-benefit standards. The approximate four miles of track is part of a larger $4 billion, 23-mile extension of Metrorail into Loudoun County.
West*Group, the largest landowner in Tysons and a Kaine campaign donor, already is involved in a local movement called Tysonstunnel.org, which was formed to convince officials to reconsider the tunnel.
If West*Group’s offer is even possible at this late phase of project planning, it would be unclear exactly how much they would be agreeing to pay. The exact cost of the tunnel over the aerial rail is disputed.
The American Society of Civil Engineers concluded last summer that building the first phase of the project to Wiehle Avenue would cost $2.5 billion with a tunnel and $2.25 billion without one. Tysonstunnel.org announced its independent cost estimate this week, which put the cost of the first half of the rail at about $2.4 billion with a tunnel, and said putting the entire project out to bid could reduce the price by $209 million.
Also unclear is exactly how much West*Group would stand to gain financially with a tunnel through Tysons. Land values in the area are likely to spike with the addition of a Metrorail tunnel, but less so with an above-ground rail.
Dulles Transit Partners, two private firms on track to be selected to build the rail, has not yet delivered a price proposal, which was expected a month ago.
West*Group also called for the entire rail project to be put out to competitive bidding, echoing the urgings of local officials and Tysonstunnel.org.
A spokesman for Kaine said his office had not yet received the letter and declined to comment.
