Feds may get the right to develop at Metro stations

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, better known as Metro, would like to have more federal workers occupying future offices near transit stations.

To pursue that goal, the Metro is negotiating an agreement with the US General Services Administration (GSA) that could lead to federal agencies relocating to sites close to Metro stations. 

Steven Goldin, director of real estate at Metro, has been working with GSA on "a process whereby the federal government could secure rights to the Metro sites in advance of large agency relocations," The Washington Post reports.

Goldin presented the idea to GSA about two years ago as a way of jump-starting development on long-vacant Metro land, the paper said. "Leases with the GSA, the largest single employer in the Washington area, are highly sought after by developers," The Post noted. Thus, the agreement, which will be considered by Metro's board of directors in December, could generate a spurt of office and mixed-use development at four stations in the District of Columbia; Fairfax County, Virginia; and Prince George's County, Maryland.

"Attracting major federal employers to any of the sites would mean the relocation of hundreds of jobs and likely enable large mixed-use developments—something long sought after in Prince George’s County and Anacostia, where three of the stations are located," The Post said.

Last August, The Post reported that Goldin, previously a private-sector developer in New Jersey, "has reinvigorated Metro’s real estate unit by renegotiating distressed deals and beginning a partnership with developers Forest City-Washington and Urban Atlantic aimed at developing nearly 40 acres of public land in New Carrollton"—a major rail stop in Maryland.

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