By David Nakamura and Thomas Heath
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, July 14, 2006; B01

District officials said yesterday that they have identified nearly 9,000 potential parking spaces near the site of a new baseball stadium in Southeast Washington, more than enough to handle sellout crowds of 41,000 when the ballpark opens in 2008.

Not all of the land for parking is under the city's control, and some of the spaces would be as far as 10 blocks away. The farthest parking lots would be a 15-minute walk from the ballpark, but city officials pledged that fans will find access convenient at the ballpark's premiere.

"We're confident it can be done. Yes, a lot of work has to happen, but there's an opportunity to create a great fan experience," said Stephen M. Green, the city's director of development, who is overseeing stadium issues for Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D).

The city's 1 1/2-hour presentation to reporters was partially motivated by criticism by the incoming Washington Nationals ownership group, which said it fears that the District government does not have an adequate transportation system and enough parking spaces.

To the family of Theodore N. Lerner, who is buying the franchise, these issues have been obscured during recent weeks as District officials have developed plans to create 1,225 on-site stadium parking spaces in new garages that will be surrounded by shops and condominiums, incoming team president Stan Kasten said.

The on-site garages would be used primarily by fans who hold the highest-priced tickets. But, Kasten said, about 7,000 spaces could be needed for sellout crowds.

RFK Stadium, where the Nationals are playing through next season, has 10,000 parking spaces, but there are no major lots near the new ballpark.

"It's not simply enough to build a stadium, plop it down and hope that it works," Kasten said in a recent interview. "Part of that is having the ability to get there easily and to park conveniently. That's part of what will draw people there. If they think they can't get there, they will stay away."

Despite their disagreements, both sides say the ability to move fans will be critical to the stadium's success. Lerner representatives have said that roads near the stadium are narrow and that few major thoroughfares access the ballpark district. They fear an Opening Day scenario in which roads are jammed and fans are confused about where to park.

The selection of the site for the new stadium follows a decade-long trend of shoehorning new ballparks into urban sites where parking is limited and vehicle transportation is cramped. The ballpark site, near South Capitol Street and the Navy Yard, is in a formerly industrial area. The nearest Metro station -- Navy Yard -- serves only the Green Line. And the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge, which takes traffic from South Capitol Street over the Anacostia River, is old and scheduled to undergo a decade-long rebuilding.

City officials said yesterday that plans are set to renovate two nearby bridges and upgrade the capacity at the Navy Yard Metro station. City and Metro officials said they expect about 45 percent to 50 percent of game-day crowds to use public transportation. That would represent a slight increase in the proportion of fans using Metro to get to RFK.

To handle the crowds, the Navy Yard station stands to undergo a $20 million renovation by Opening Day 2008 -- assuming Congress allocates the money in its 2007 budget. Stairs, elevators, kiosks and fare gates would be installed to increase the station's capacity of 5,000 people an hour to 15,000 an hour, which would match the output at the Stadium-Armory Station near RFK.

Transportation officials said a plan to rebuild the Frederick Douglass Bridge will not adversely affect stadium traffic because the bridge will remain open as the new bridge is being built. Ramps will be added to the nearby 11th Street Bridge, which will double its capacity, said Kathleen Penny, deputy chief engineer for the city's Department of Transportation.

RFK Stadium, for all of its drawbacks, is a transportation planner's dream: surrounded by large parking lots, a major Metro stop serving the Orange and Blue lines and several major thoroughfares that ease driving to games.

In the coming years, city leaders want to surround the new ballpark with an entertainment district featuring shops, restaurants, condominiums and office space within a few blocks. Those buildings will include new parking structures that could serve 10,000 to 12,000 cars, but they will take years to complete. Until then, the city must find temporary parking solutions.

To address the transportation issues, the District recently formed a task force with representatives from several city agencies and the Lerner group. The city and the Lerner family have hired different consultants to count parking spaces and analyze traffic flow.

An average of about 4,400 cars have parked at RFK Stadium for Nationals games over 1 1/2 seasons, with a maximum of about 7,000 for sellouts, city officials said.

City planners have developed a map that shows 25 potential parking lots, containing almost 9,000 parking spaces, near the new ballpark. Kasten said the spots are too dispersed.

"The best people can think of right now are the great number of smaller lots, typically 200 to 300 spots each, spread out quite some distance from the ballpark," Kasten said. "The ones on the very outer edge are quite far. Yes, we are concerned about that."

Furthermore, Kasten said, "many of these lots . . . are on smaller streets that are difficult to drive to and as of today aren't prepared to be utilized."

Stephen Goldsmith, chairman of the Anacostia Waterfront Corp., chartered by Williams to create development near the stadium and waterfront, said officials are trying to determine how people would react to parking at different distances.

"It's not just how far they have to walk, but it's how convenient the connection is to the stadium and the [entertainment] district," Goldsmith said. "It's how quickly you can get to your seat from your car or from the local restaurant or wherever you are before the game."

Complicating matters is that not all of the parking identified by the city is available. The map includes empty lots, vacant land, office buildings with parking garages and privately owned property.

About one-third of those parking spaces are available to the city immediately, Green said. Another third are controlled by the District and could be made available by April 2008 if the city took action, such as temporarily paving over planned development projects that have not begun. The rest of the parking spaces are owned by private companies or federal agencies that have expressed a willingness to make at least some parking available on their properties because they could make significant amounts of money, Green said.

"We've spent the last month or two trying to call attention to this because it will require every bit of the 21 months we have left to get a coherent plan in place for our opener," Kasten said. "At the moment, all I have are hopes that it will get done in time. But you know those hopes will never be realized unless everyone turns their attention to it today."