The Washington Nationals are in talks with Metro to lease the agency’s Southeast bus garage in a deal that could preserve 350 parking spots for the stadium’s opening season.
Parking at the new ballpark is projected to be a nightmare as the team has struggled to piece together enough nearby parking spaces to meet the needs of just its season ticket holders.
Metro approved the sale of its 2.2-acre Southeast bus garage, which sits a block from the stadium, to Akridge Development Co. for $69.3 million in September.
The Nationals had planned to set up 350 temporary parking spots on the property because Akdridge was not scheduled to begin construction on the site for a year.
But the Akridge sale was put on hold in October when competitor Monument Realty, which owns several blocks surrounding the garage, filed a federal lawsuit arguing that Metro’s decision was “arbitrary, capricious, irrational, and without basis in the law.”
Monument Realty officials said Metro and the District promised them first dibs on the site and that an escalator clause they included in their $60 million bid should have automatically raised their bid to $250,000 more than any other competitor’s.
A judge is expected to decide this week whether to drop the case or continue to block the sale until the case is closed, Monument Realty Executive Vice President Russell Hines said.
Metro officials were planning to use the money from the sale to finance part of a new, $130 million bus garage in Southwest, along with a transit police training facility.
Metro announced this month it will relocate the 114 buses from the Southeast garage to other bus garages in the region in time for the beginning of the baseball season.
The District has offered to foot the $1.4 million bill for the temporary move, citing the safety concerns associated with operating the buses in such close proximity to the 41,000-seat stadium.
Metro is now in talks with the Nationals over the leasing of the bus garage and the adjacent parking lot, a Metro spokesman said.
