Post 11/18 | Muriel Bowser says she will remove Reeves Center sale from D.C. United stadium deal

The District’s mayor-elect said Tuesday she would move to “de-link” the sale of a valuable city property from a broader deal to build a stadium for the D.C. United soccer franchise, a move that could ease political concerns but create new complications for the $300 million proposal.
Muriel E. Bowser, who holds a key position as both the city’s next chief executive and as chairman of the D.C. Council’s Economic Development Committee, announced her intentions Tuesday to a gathering of the Federal City Council, a group of powerful civic leaders.
“I support building a soccer stadium in the District of Columbia, and, more than that, I support spending public dollars to get it done,” Bowser told the group, saying the project would create jobs and benefit local businesses. But she added that she was trained on finding a “deal that’s fair” which reduces the city’s risk and protects taxpayers.
Bowser made clear that she would nix the transaction at the deal’s core, which would sell the Frank D. Reeves Center, a hulking 30-year-old city office building, to the Akridge real-estate firm in return for cash and land on the proposed stadium site at Buzzard Point in Southwest D.C.
“When we do that, we will be able to focus our resources and attention on the Southwest site,” she said. “We will preserve the opportunity to build affordable housing at the Reeves Center site, and we will be able to ensure we have a feasible way forward on a new Reeves Center east of the Anacostia.”

Read more at the Washington Post