Virginia baseball tabs site at Dulles

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Virginia baseball boosters made perhaps their boldest case yet for the Montreal Expos yesterday.

The group formally proposed a $360 million stadium near Dulles International Airport that would be joined by a man-made lake and a massive commercial development with office space, a hotel, retail shops and housing.

At a press conference, prospective team owner William Collins was bold in assessing how a team at the Dulles site would be marketed. And in a slight nod to the remoteness of the site, Collins said he didn't plan to market the team extensively to fans in the District, Montgomery and Prince George's counties and Southern Maryland.

"We've always looked south and west of the [Potomac]," Collins said. "Nothing has really changed there. In this area, you do not want to cross any bridges."

Yesterday was the sort of press conference the Virginia Baseball Stadium Authority intended to hold last year in Pentagon City. Instead of the stiff opposition from landowners and Arlington County officials, the authority had the full support of the Loudoun County government, as well as a pending con-

tract to buy part of the needed land near the Dulles Toll Road and Route 28.

The revised vision of baseball in Virginia will go against a decade-long trend of urban-centered ballparks and build a new town center in which a ballpark is the centerpiece.

"We have the political will to get this done. We are absolutely ready to go," authority chairman Keith Frederick said before a crowd of several hundred area supporters and youth baseball players. "Our message to Major League Baseball is very simple. We have your new fans here, and we have your new stadium deal here."

MLB executives intend to select the Expos' new home this summer. But the issue that has dogged the Dulles baseball plans since they became known last month -- the site's accessibility to central Washington -- remains as problematic as ever.

The authority yesterday also released preliminary findings from a traffic study confirming what area drivers know all too well -- western Fairfax and Loudoun counties, while home to an array of corporations, can be difficult to reach during the afternoon and evening rush hour.