Battle Brews for Control of Stadium Project

Parking Fight Highlights Strain as Team Fears City Will Bungle Job

The Washington Nationals ownership group fears that the District government is in danger of botching the construction of a new baseball stadium and has moved quickly to assert its influence on the $611 million publicly funded project.

After a series of meetings with D.C. officials, the family of Theodore N. Lerner has determined that the city is pursuing a strategy that could delay the ballpark's scheduled opening in April 2008, team president-to-be Stan Kasten said. That would harm the team's fortunes on the field and the city's effort to redevelop the neighborhood along the Anacostia River in Southeast, Kasten added.

"The only people who had ever built or operated a stadium, or built a building, were us," Kasten said of a recent meeting with city leaders. "And we are trying as hard as we can to help them avoid mistakes. . . . We need to have this project done on time. We need to have it done on budget. It needs not to be a massive construction zone when it opens."

In Atlanta, Kasten, longtime president of the Ted Turner-owned Braves and NBA Hawks, was the force behind stadiums for both teams -- Turner Field and Philips Arena, respectively.

The most contentious issue between the Lerners and D.C. officials is whether to build garages with 1,225 parking spaces aboveground or put them underground to make way for an entertainment district featuring shops, restaurants, condos and office space.

City leaders, hoping to maximize the potential tax revenue from development outside the stadium, are seeking underground parking garages, which are more costly and time-consuming to build.

The Lerners, who stand to profit from sales inside the ballpark, are pushing for aboveground garages to be sure spaces are available for luxury suite patrons and holders of high-priced tickets. The Lerners paid $450 million to buy the Nationals from Major League Baseball and could lose millions if the stadium and parking lots are not open on time.

Making the standoff more complicated is that the District leaders and government agencies involved in the project have failed to reach consensus on how to finance the underground parking structures and development above it. This has led to a growing uncertainty over who is in charge and has emboldened the Lerners to try to call the shots, some city leaders said.

"Right now there are too many voices, and getting one voice will be very difficult," said D.C. Council member Sharon Ambrose (D-Ward 6), who represents the area where the stadium will be built. "I can't tell you how upset I am about this. I really think we could be squandering a good opportunity. My worst nightmare when I close my eyes is the vision of a stadium rising in a sea of parking lots."

In an effort to improve communication, Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) recently created the Office of Baseball, which includes representatives from his administration, the D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission, the Anacostia Waterfront Corp., the D.C. Council and the Lerner group.

The new office is led by Stephen Goldsmith, a former mayor of Indianapolis who also chairs the Anacostia Waterfront Corp., chartered by Williams to oversee development along the river. Goldsmith and the developers that his organization has hired to work on the ballpark entertainment district have lobbied heavily for underground parking.

At a meeting last week, however, the Lerners firmly rejected Goldsmith's various compromise proposals. According to city officials, one proposal was to build two levels of parking underground and mask the remaining aboveground parking structures with condos and office space. Another was to build one taller parking structure aboveground instead of two smaller ones, which would leave some space for mixed-use development.