Washington, baseball agree on stadium lease deal

By David Lawder

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Washington completed negotiations
with Major League Baseball on Friday for a 30-year lease on a
new stadium expected to cost the city $535 million, but the
deal faces a contentious vote in the City Council.

Mayor Anthony Williams said the deal for the Washington
Nationals’ future 41,000-seat home includes an additional $20
million upfront contribution from baseball to help cover cost
overruns.

“This lease moves us one step closer to building a
beautiful, state-of-the-art ballpark along the Anacostia
River,” Williams said in a statement. “We’ve negotiated a good
deal for the city and persuaded Major League Baseball to
concede on many fronts.”

Williams earlier this week defended the project as the
catalyst for a $2 billion-$3 billion redevelopment of a rundown
neighborhood south of the U.S. Capitol building near the
Washington Navy Yard.

Although land, construction materials and labor costs for
the project have been rising, Williams insisted the city would
not exceed a $535 million borrowing cap approved nearly a year
ago by a 7-6 City Council vote.

He disputed estimates showing the project as envisioned
last year would now cost over $700 million, but acknowledged
some items had been dropped to cut costs, including expansion
of a nearby Metro rail station and street reconstruction around
the ballpark.

The agreement was still heavily criticized.

“This is now an even worse deal than the bad deal that
seven members of the council voted for last year,” said Adrian
Fenty, a council member opposed to building a new stadium.

Fenty, who is running for mayor next year in a race that
will not include Williams, said he favored continued use of the
44-year old Robert F. Kennedy Stadium, where the Nationals are
expected to continue playing until the new stadium is ready in
2008.

The council will hold a hearing Tuesday on the lease deal
and are expected to vote on it on December 20 — one day short
of the first anniversary of a vote that clinched the former
Montreal Expos’ transfer to Washington.

Vincent Morris, Williams’ spokesman, said the mayor would
spend the next 10 days drumming up support for the project
among wavering council members.

The Nationals will pay the city about $5.5 million a year
in rent, but the payments will rise if attendance grows. The
city will get two-thirds of non-game-day revenue at a parking
garage next to the ballpark and at least 8,000 tickets a year
to distribute to low-income residents.

Deutsche Bank has agreed to purchase about $256 million in
stadium notes to help fund the project, with the remainder
expected to be financed through city revenue bonds.