$135 Million for a 'World-Class' Health Club in Arlington County?
Further details emerged last week concerning a platinum-plated (gold-plated just ain't good enough for Arlington's Grand Poohbahs) health club that Arlington officials have been planning at North Tract, "land just south of the 14th Street Bridge in Arlington -- with its sweeping view of the Potomac River and monuments," as described by Annie Gowen of the Washington Post last Thursday.
Arlington voters approved a $50 million bond in November 2004, but the Post story notes the cost estimate for the first phase is now hitting $90 million. The new FY 2007-2012 Capital Improvement Plan shows an estimated cost of $66 million for the second phase. The County Manager told the Post that the final cost is estimated to cost more than $135 million. Arlington's Super Watchdog, Wayne Kubicki, told the Post, "They told the design team to give them world-class architecture, and that costs." County plans for North Tract are in the FY 2005-2010 and FY 2007-2012 Capital Improvement Plans.
According to Seth Rosen, writing in last week's Arlington Connection, wrote, "In the meantime, design and architectural design work has been halted on the North Tract project, the largest capital park undertaking in Arlington’s history." He then quotes Wayne Kubicki who said, "The county spent a whole bunch of design money for a property it didn’t own, and now seemingly is having trouble trying to buy" although Rosen cites a county official suggesting that acquiring the property through eminent domain is an option.
Can you spell SNAFU? We growled about this on September 11, which included a link to the press release in which last year's Board chairman touted a "land swap" in which a developer would pay the county $25 million. WTOP's news summary is here.