Steve Goldin, director of real estate for Metro, celebrated his one-year anniversary at the agency by releasing a long-awaited bid request for the New Carrolton Metro Station in Prince George’s County.
Goldin told The Washington Examiner this week the relationships he’s built over the last year with the Federal Transit Administration have allowed him to use New Carrollton as a test site for a financing idea of his: the chosen development team will have the option to share the development’s profits with Metro in exchange for a lower rate on the ground lease.
The developer doesn’t have to go that route, but if the alternative financing is chosen and is successful for both parties, the FTA will use the model in its future developments, Goldin said.
Goldin said this trial will be the first of many new ideas he would like to bring from the private development world to the public one. But he says he’s also not afraid to own up to mistakes.
“Metro is like a pilot agency at least with it’s real estate program,” Goldin said. “We can try [ideas] with their approval and if it’s successful the FTA runs with it. But with risk … there will be failures.”
