The final cost for Nationals Park, which opened last season, is now tallied at $693 million — which, despite initial cost estimates of $631 million, doesn’t represent a cost overage.
The final cost for Nationals Park, which opened last season, is now tallied at $693 million — which, despite initial cost estimates of $631 million, doesn’t represent a cost overage.
Why the discrepency?
The original budget, as set by the D.C. goverment, was $631 million, a figure that was pretty much set in stone. But there were exceptions to that budget, as well as a $19.2 million contigency fund.
And sure enough, the cost overages on the project had to do with the budget items that presented exceptions to the budget, like the cost of land and the cleanup of the ballpark site. Both items are hard to budget for — especially the cost of cleaning up the site, as it represents a great unknown until you actually start digging — so they usually do not operate under strict budget constraints.
So both sides can declare a victory: DC officials can say they stayed under budget, while foes can argue it indeed cost more than anticipated. But the final telling point may come in the fact that there’s still money left over in the $19.2 million contingency fund: $735,000.