Natwar M. Gandhi, the District’s chief financial officer, yesterday stood behind his $161.4million estimate for land acquisition, environmental remediation and infrastructure costs for the Washington Nationals’ planned ballpark site in Southeast. That paved the way for city negotiators to begin placing formal bids on the 14-acre parcel later this year.
But even as Mr. Gandhi again endorsed his report of March30 on the stadium site near the Anacostia waterfront, several D.C. Council members remained firmly unconvinced, leaving those pending land talks as a key litmus test on Mr. Gandhi’s findings.
“Once again, the chief fictional officer is perpetrating a fraud on District taxpayers,” said D.C. Council member David A. Catania, at-large independent and firm opponent of the ballpark project. He said he thinks the $77.1million pegged for land acquisition is off by as much as $100million. “He has become more absurd by the day. I really don’t think he’s capable of conducting a study on this in a truthful and honest fashion.”
Mr. Gandhi’s re-endorsement of his site cost estimate stems from a closed-door council meeting April6, during which the legislative body asked him to review the methodology of his earlier report. The cost estimate barely cleared a $165million cap on the site cost established by the council last year, and several members, including Mr. Catania, said they thought the land acquisition costs were too low given the city’s explosive real estate market.
After reviewing the findings, which were compiled with the aid of accounting firm Deloitte & Touche, Mr. Gandhi said he has taken into full account market-rate property values, potential costs from eminent-domain proceedings and environmental remediation expenses, and then added a buffer of contingency costs beyond that.
“[The council] can assume whatever they want, but this is my best estimate,” Mr. Gandhi said, rejecting suggestions that he purposely worked to stay under the cost cap. “I have a track record here of absolute integrity. That matters more to me than anything else. I’m the one who said last fall the mayor’s original [$435 million] cost estimate was too low.”
The total stadium cost, including borrowing expenses, now is pegged at about $607million, Mr. Gandhi said.
D.C. Council Chairman Linda W. Cropp said through a spokesman she is accepting Mr. Gandhi’s report, and Mayor Anthony A. Williams called it a “vindication.”
“We’ve carefully studied this complex project and believe that we are pursuing a plan that offers the lowest cost to District businesses while insuring the city gets a beautiful new stadium for our Washington Nationals,” Mr. Williams said.
But other council members said a bad aftertaste from the process lingers.
“I don’t understand how [Mr. Gandhi] can stand by this number,” said Adrian M. Fenty, Ward 4 Democrat. “But at a certain point, even if you disagree, you have to live with what he says. He’s an independent CFO, and I think the process has sort of run its course.”
Meanwhile, the city’s Office of Property Management continues to conduct its own independent appraisals of the property, with those numbers instead of Mr. Gandhi’s forming the basis of negotiations with individual property owners.
Mr. Gandhi said it is quite likely that individual transactions, whether by sale or eminent-domain proceeding, will vary significantly from property values estimated in his report. But he said the aggregate cost of the land should meet his target figure or come in below it.
The city, through its relocation contract with Major League Baseball, needs to acquire and rezone the land by Dec.31.
Already, one potentially major complication has arisen through a lawsuit from District businessman Robert Siegel, who owns 11 properties on the site and alleges the Gandhi estimate greenlighting the stadium site was conducted in bad faith. Mr. Catania said he would aid Mr. Siegel in his lawsuit.
In other stadium developments, Mr. Williams is expected to send the council legislation to incorporate a loan from German financial giant Deutsche Bank into the ballpark financing plan. Mr. Gandhi certified and recommended the loan earlier this month.
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