In December, the Fairfax County Park Authority signed a 30-year lease agreement with a private entity, West County Field House LLC, to develop and run a 150,000-square-foot field house in Chantilly.
It was to be constructed near Westfield High and next to the new Cub Run Rec Center. And it would contain facilities for a variety of sports — including indoor track and field — as well as large-scale events such as conventions and graduations.
But in a surprising turn of events, the partnership agreement has been dissolved. Those involved were unable to obtain the commercial financing the project required — and now, whether this sorely needed and highly anticipated facility will ever become a reality here is anyone's guess.
"RIGHT NOW, there's no other partner waiting in the wings," said Park Authority spokeswoman Judy Pedersen. "We're not proceeding with this project at this time. And we're taking a look at the entire issue of private/public partnerships to see if there's a great lesson to be learned here, and will this impact another project or other private/public partnerships that we have in the works?"
When county residents passed the 1998 park bond for the rec center — which is slated to open in January — it didn't contain enough money for all the recreational options citizens had told the Park Authority they wanted here. So a public/private partnership was considered.
Land was available because, years ago — when the Park Authority sought a location for the rec center — the county school system stepped forward. It offered 28 acres for the rec center, provided the Park Authority could build something accommodating the school system's interscholastic, winter track program, plus graduations and concerts.
After a July 2000 request for proposals, the Park Authority eventually formed an alliance with D.W. Sivers of Portland, Ore., and Landmark Sports and Entertainment of Clifton — together known as West County Field House LLC, a limited-liability company created for this purpose. And the field house to be built by them would have had the space to fulfill area residents' wishes.
PLANNED WAS an arena featuring an indoor, track-and-field area, two multipurpose areas to accommodate several different sports activities, space for offices, party and meeting rooms, a cafe, a team fitness and training area, pro shop, family entertainment center and, possibly, a sports-rehabilitation space.
The arena would also include 1,250 permanent seats for track-and-field meets, with the ability to flex to more than 3,000 seats for basketball games. It could have also been used for competitive gymnastics and cheerleading, plus concerts, graduations and youth dances.
But for now, all these things are no more than a pipe dream, and it's not known when — or if — they'll come to fruition. And both sides of the former partnership are equally disappointed.
"Absolutely," said John Nettles, manager of West County Field House LLC. "This thing's needed in the community; it's just not going to be financed the way it was structured. The market's changed a little bit, and steel prices have risen substantially — by 15-16 percent since last fall — driving up the cost of the entire project."
The lease agreement signed in December provided a limited period for the partnership to secure the funding necessary to construct the facility. According to the Park Authority, despite attempts with several financiers, "the lending market was unable to develop sufficient comfort with a business area in which they had limited experience, nor with a project that did not have a guaranteed, long-term, revenue commitment."
"This was not the outcome we anticipated," said Charlie Bittenbring, director of the Park Services Division. "We dedicated considerable staff resources and felt the field house would greatly benefit our community."
NETTLES EXPLAINED that it's difficult for nonprofits — as it is for the county — to bind themselves to something for a long time "unless there's language that allows them to vacate the contract annually" if they're not making enough money from the venture.
"Invaluable lessons were learned by both the public and private parties," he said. "Multiple financial institutions stressed the need for longer user commitments and/or additional resources [to] be set aside for the risk associated with the stabilization period — years one to five of operation. Neither party was willing to do that under the current structure of the lease."
Nettles said it's "a shame" it proved so tough finding entities willing to sign on to bring their sports programs to the field house for any more than two years. He said everyone involved truly believed they could get the field house financed, "but the market changed and steel prices climbed — making the whole thing riskier."
"The financiers were asking for additional financial backing or guarantees from the Park Authority and/or county, if the LLC was unable to make its payments," said the Park Authority's Nick Duray, manager of marketing research and planning. "And neither were in a financial position to do so."
Del. Gary Reese (R-67th), a former School Board member who enthusiastically supported the project from the start, also blamed the school system. "I think one reason the dissolution took place is that the schools never really said how much of the facility it was going to use, and at what price," he said. "So it was never known how much revenue would flow from the public side of this project."
"Without that, how can you put together a financing package?" asked Reese. "I am deeply saddened that what we put together as a great package for the people of western Fairfax County came apart."
However, said school system spokesman Paul Regnier, "We were willing to sign contracts for indoor track and graduations if we could get specific pricing — and we never got that. We have to be cost effective; it had to be a price that we could justify."