Commission Chooses Team for $535M Baseball Stadium

WASHINGTON, DC-Selecting from three bids, the DC Sports and Entertainment Commission has decided to award the construction contract for the $535-million Washington Nationals baseball stadium to a three-member team comprised of Clark Construction Group LLC, Smoot Construction Co. and Hunt Construction Group. The award has an interim value of $23.2 million, which covers the project’s initial fees.

The full value of Clark’s contract will not be determined until next year. Officials put the estimated cost for all construction activity–the 41,000-seat ballpark will be about one million sf–at $279 million.

HOK Sport and Devrouax & Purnell Architects are heading up the design of the facility, which will provisionally include such offerings as 40,000 sf of office space, a 30,000-sf commissary and a 20,000-sf clubhouse. The Nationals currently play at RFK Stadium, but officials are planning for the team to pitch from its own ballpark for opening day in 2008.