(rshsdepot) Union Station - Washington, DC

[I95BERNIEW_@_aol.com]

From today's Washington Post.
 
Bernie Wagenblast
 
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 
 New Life Above the Union Station  Tracks


By Dana Hedgpeth  
District-based developer John E. ``Chip`` Akridge III has closed on a deal to 
 buy 15 acres of air rights above the railroad tracks at Union Station with 
plans  to build a $1 billion mixed-use project.  
Akridge paid $10 million to the General Services Administration, which owned  
the air rights. It is the first time the agency, the federal government`s  
property manager, has sold air rights. Executives at Akridge and the Government  
Acountability Office said they worked on the complicated deal with Amtrak for 
 four years.  
Akridge`s tentative plans call for about 3 million square feet of offices,  
restaurants, shops, condos, apartments and a hotel. The buildings will be on a  
concrete platform, supported by columns, about 20 feet above the tracks.  
An atrium will connect Union Station with H Street NE and the surrounding  
neighborhood, where new housing and stores have been built. The project will be  
similar to projects above railroad tracks in Chicago, New York and 
Philadelphia.  
It will be called Burnham Place after the architect of Union Station, Daniel  
H. Burnham. Akridge executives said they plan to market housing in the 
project  to politicians and aides who want to live near the Capitol and the office 
space  to trade associations, law firms, accountants and consultants.  
Completion is years away.  
Akridge`s project must go through planning and design, then get zoning and  
other approvals. Construction of the concrete platform is likely to begin in  
late 2008, executives said, and take about three years. The rest of the project 
 would be built after that.  
``It`s a once-in-100-year opportunity to be able to develop a site within two 
 blocks of the U.S. Capitol,`` said Joe Svatos, senior vice president at 
Akridge. 

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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org

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