Events D.C., the city’s conventions and sports authority, is raising the price tag of planned community sports fields at the RFK Stadium campus due to the discovery of lead in the soil at the site. The Events D.C. board on Thursday approved a budget increase of roughly $3.7 million to cover lead remediation. That amount is on top of $2 million the agency already set aside for soil remediation at the project.
The costs are associated with the necessity of shipping the lead-containing soil to an out-of-region facility, said Events D.C. CEO Greg O’Dell.
The additional funding brings the total projected cost of the fields to $35.8 million. The project includes three synthetic turf, multipurpose fields — two for soccer and one for baseball or softball — plus support buildings and a pavilion where Events D.C. hopes to host gatherings and other events. The additional remediation isn’t expected to affect the project’s timeline, and Events D.C. still hopes to open the fields by late spring, O’Dell said.
The fields are just the beginning of a grand vision for the RFK campus that includes an indoor recreation and sports facility, a market hall, a new memorial to Robert F. Kennedy and more pedestrian connectivity throughout the site. Full realization of that vision is largely dependent on whether or not a new professional sports arena is built at the site — and whether Congress approves a new lease for D.C. from the National Park Service, which manages the federal land. NFL owner Daniel Snyder was recently working with D.C. and federal lawmakers to get a provision in a congressional spending bill for a new stadium at the campus.
Source – Washington Business Journal