Constructing free-standing parking garages at the new Southeast ballpark would be preferable to risking tens of millions of dollars by not producing at all, Mayor Anthony Williams said Wednesday.
The District is required to provide 1,225 parking spaces at the Anacostia waterfront stadium in time for Opening Day 2008. And D.C. Chief Financial Officer Natwar Gandhi this week warned of lost tax revenue, rising construction costs and major financial sanctions, some say totaling $80 million, if the city fails to come through.
So after months of trying to make expensive underground parking a reality, the mayor has given up.
“I think structured parking is barely adequate, but it’s where we are,” Williams said during his weekly news briefing. “We tried to maximize development on this site within the constraints we had, and we haven’t been able to. So we’re going to go at it this way and hopefully everybody will come to their senses in two, three, four years and do the right thing.”
Williams indicated he now supports “regular old, garden-variety structured parking.”
“And try to pretty it up,” he said, “put a ribbon on a pig.”
Council Member David Catania, who has long accused Gandhi of “playing games,” described the CFO’s dire warning as “pure fantasy” and continued to push for a delay until the parties can reach a reasonable solution. Under the stadium lease agreement, Catania argues, the District would be penalized no more than $2.5 million the first year and $19 million in year two.
The Lerner Group, owner of the Washington Nationals, has long sought stand-alone, aboveground garages for the ballpark. The District, meanwhile, fought for underground parking, or one of several hybrid proposals, to maximize its development opportunities on the stadium’s north end.
The two viable garage proposals would cost $36 million or $56 million, Gandhi said, and both would require an amendment to the stadium’s $611 million cost cap in addition to a zoning exemption. The more expensive option, pushed by Democratic mayoral nominee Adrian Fenty, would net reinforced garages that could support later development.
