As youall know, the Rosslyn Gateway project involves a controversial transfer of land from public ownership to private (JBG) ownership. There’s a lot not to like about the project -- in terms of difficulties for pedestrians crossing a redesigned Lee Hwy, loss of bus and slug-line parking, jamming of our street network, and a streetscape of concrete meets concrete meets asphalt. But the Georgetown Vista Association has become involved primarily because the project takes away long-established public views from our homes and gives them to a private developer.

It’s reasonable to ask whether this transfer of land ownership is even close to a fair deal for the public!

To evaluate this, one must have data on the value of the land to be transferred, plus data on the value of the various contributions that JBG will give to Arlington for the land transfer. At the most recent NRCA board meeting, I asked a JBG representative about the value of the land to be transferred. He told me that an evaluation was being performed by a third party under contract to Arlington County, and suggested I speak with Linda Collier of the Arlington Real Estate Bureau.

I did so. I provide (below this note) my information request and Ms Collier’s response of March 6.

There’s lots of ways to read Ms. Collier’s note. She confirms that an objective evaluation of the proposed land transfer will be performed. She leaves room to request the report when it's complete, and I’ll do so. However, I'm not left with strong hopes that County staff wants to release that report ... ever.

Mark Antell

PS. Sorry, I'll be out of town for our upcoming general NRCA meeting.

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RE: Rosslyn Gateway - Value of proposed land transferTuesday, March 6, 2012 1:40 PM
From: "Linda Collier" <Lcollier@arlingtonva.us>Add sender to Contacts
To: "mark antell" <antell_m@yahoo.com>
I checked around a little--as I stated, this document does not exist at this time. Because the County cannot know what will be contained in the document, we cannot review whether it would be subject to release or not once it is created. If you have any further questions, please contact me. Linda Collier

Linda Eichelbaum Collier
Department of Environmental Services
Engineering and Capital Projects Division
Real Estate Bureau
2100 Clarendon Boulevard, Suite 800
Arlington, Virginia 22201
Telephone: (703) 228-0598
Fax: (703) 228-3789
lcollier@arlingtonva.us

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From: mark antell [mailto:antell_m@yahoo.com]
Sent: Tuesday, March 06, 2012 11:08 AM
To: Linda Collier
Cc: Mark Antell
Subject: Rosslyn Gateway - Value of proposed land transfer

Hi Linda,
We spoke last week. I asked when the public might be able to review estimates of the value of public land which the Rosslyn Gateway developer was requesting be ceded by Arlington to his project. You indicated that you'd need to talk with the County attorney. This is a followup on that conversation.
Mark Antell