By David Nakamura
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, October 12, 2007

Monument Realty filed a federal lawsuit against Metro yesterday to stop the sale of the transit agency's land near the Washington Nationals baseball stadium, escalating a dispute that threatens to create transportation problems when the ballpark opens next spring.

In a 49-page complaint, attorneys for the development company ask the U.S. District Court to invalidate the Metro board's decision Sept. 27 to sell a 2.2-acre bus garage site just north of the stadium to Akridge Co. for $69 million.

Instead, Monument argues, it deserves the property because it has been working with Metro and the District government for three years as "master developer" of the area near the ballpark, with the implicit understanding that Metro would sell the land to Monument.

Metro's decision to sell to Akridge is "arbitrary, capricious, irrational, and without basis in the law," the complaint states. If the court does not invalidate the sale to Akridge, Monument is seeking $100 million from Metro in compensatory damages, according to the lawsuit.

The fight over the property could have significant ramifications for transportation planning at the $611 million stadium complex, which is publicly funded and scheduled to open in April near South Capitol Street and the Navy Yard in Southeast.

Monument is working with Metro to expand the capacity of the Navy Yard Station, the transit stop closest to the stadium, from 5,000 passengers an hour to 15,000.

District and Nationals officials expect half the crowd at the 41,000-seat ballpark to ride Metro, but Monument officials have threatened in a letter to Metro to slow work on the project -- which is already several weeks behind schedule -- if Monument is not awarded the bus garage site.

Metro officials said they would not comment on pending litigation. But, asked whether the lawsuit would create additional delays, Lisa Farbstein, a Metro spokeswoman, said: "We have every reason to expect Monument will fulfill the contract and meet the deadlines."

The Nationals have 1,325 parking spots on the stadium complex, but officials are having difficulty securing an additional 5,000 parking spots they need beyond the ballpark. Team officials hope to use the bus garage site as a temporary lot for 350 vehicles a game during the first season, but that plan could be disrupted if ownership of the property is tied up in a court battle.

Metro officials had said previously that they conducted a standard bidding competition for the bus site and that Akridge offered the most money among the three firms that entered.

But Monument officials, who offered $60 million, said they included a clause that stipulated the company would pay $250,000 above a higher bid. Metro has said such clauses were expressly disallowed.

Bids "of this type are common practice in the real estate industry and neither [Metro] nor any other bidders were or should have been surprised," Monument's lawsuit states.

Staff writer Lena Sun contributed to this report.