Re: (rshsdepot) Union Station - Washington, DC

["Paul S. Luchter" <luckyshow_@_mindspring.com>]

It seems that Amtrak got ripped off, the air rights over Chicago and
Washington alone might be worth far more than whatever they were given in a
bailout..

I think a baseball park with a bridge through the outfield would be
innovative
- -----Original Message-----
From: Gene Paoli <stationman_@_prodigy.net>
To: rshsdepot_@_lists.railfan.net <rshsdepot@lists.railfan.net>
Date: Tuesday, February 12, 2002 3:43 PM
Subject: Re: (rshsdepot) Union Station - Washington, DC


>Like I said, Air Rights....
>Gene Paoli
>----- Original Message -----
>From: Bernie Wagenblast <brwagenblast_@_comcast.net>
>To: RSHS Depot <rshsdepot_@_lists.railfan.net>
>Sent: Monday, February 11, 2002 9:35 PM
>Subject: (rshsdepot) Union Station - Washington, DC
>
>
>> D.C. vies for rights to prime Union Station site
>>
>> Thomas C. Hall - Staff Reporter - Washington Business Journal
>>
>> District officials are negotiating with the General Services
>Administration
>> to acquire development rights to the 15-acre site just north of Union
>> Station.
>>
>> The federal agency faces a seven-month deadline to sell the development
>> site, where District planners envision a large-scale project that would
be
>> built above the railroad tracks. Possibilities being discussed include
>> retail and commercial development, housing and transportation projects.
>>
>> "The city is very definitely interested," says Ellen McCarthy, deputy
>> director in the D.C. Office of Planning (http://www.planning.dc.gov).
>"We're
>> investigating a variety of issues involved in acquiring it."
>>
>> The site includes two large blocks on either side of H Street NE, and it
>is
>> the last infill development opportunity abutting Union Station. The site
>is
>> flanked by two new federal agency headquarters under construction -- the
>> Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to the north and the Securities
>and
>> Exchange Commission to the southeast.
>>
>> In the mid-1990s, the site had been touted as an alternative location for
>> the new Washington Convention Center, now under construction eight blocks
>to
>> the west. The site recently has been evaluated by city officials for
>future
>> sports facilities.
>>
>> It's too small for baseball, but it's something to look at for the
>> Olympics," says Bobby Goldwater, president of the D.C. Sports and
>> Entertainment Commission. "This requires a little thinking outside the
>box,
>> but it would be great for a field house, theaters or parking."
>>
>> Goldwater says the site meets the 15-acre requirement for a new baseball
>> stadium, but it is bisected by the H Street bridge over the rail
corridor.
>> The largest block on the north side is about 9 acres, the southern
portion
>> is 6 acres.
>>
>> City officials also are discussing possible projects that would make
Union
>> Station even more of a transportation hub than it is now.
>>
>> The station sits atop a rail corridor used by passenger and freight
trains
>> operated by Amtrak, Metro, Maryland Rail Commuter (MARC), Virginia
Railway
>> Express (VRE) and CSX. The air rights site behind it is two blocks east
of
>a
>> proposed link between Interstate 395 and Union Station.
>>
>> GSA spokeswoman Viki Reath says Congress in 1997 ordered the agency to
>sell
>> the rights over the 15-acre tract at "fair market value," with the
>proceeds
>> going to the Treasury. At the time, the site was owned by Amtrak, which
>> relinquished development rights to the site as part of a massive federal
>> bailout.
>>
>> Congress set a deadline of Sept. 30 for the sale, a deadline that has
both
>> federal and D.C. officials scrambling to determine its value.
>>
>> "We're having an appraisal done in the next two weeks, and that will
>> determine our basis for negotiation with GSA," says ElChino Martin, chief
>of
>> staff for Deputy Mayor Eric Price.
>>
>> GSA studies of the site indicate that 1.1 million square feet of office
>> space could be built on five levels at the site.
>>
>> But experts estimate it would cost more than $100 million just to prepare
>> the site for development.
>>
>> "The economics probably dictate that the only real buyer is the D.C.
>> government," says a developer who has reviewed plans for the site.
>>
>> "The cost of creating the platform over the tracks would be huge," he
>says,
>> as much as $300 per square foot. "There's a built-in `land cost' of over
>$60
>> per square foot before you pay GSA anything."
>>
>> The supply of large, buildable sites downtown is drying up, forcing
>> developers to think creatively. Another air-rights deal that closed
>recently
>> is a project to build several floors of office space above the Hecht's
>> department store at 12th and G streets NW.
>>
>> District officials say the proposed air rights development would provide
>an
>> important link between residential areas east of Union Station with the
>> North Capitol Street commercial corridor to the west.
>>
>> It also would augment the city's current thrust to spur new, mixed-use
>> development in NoMa, the area north of Massachusetts Avenue.
>>
>

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End of RSHSDepot Digest V1 #286
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