April 17, 2007

Dear Senator Madaleno:

Thank you for your April 2, 2007 letter to the Washington Metropolitan Transit Authority (WMATA) regarding the status of the joint development project at Forest Glen Metrorail station in Silver Spring.

Since meeting with the community a few months ago, my joint development program staff has been evaluating the developer proposals that were received for the Forest Glen site.  This proposal evaluation period is a challenging time for my staff, and for affected communities, because the amount and type of information we are able to provide during this time is constrained by our responsibility to protect important aspects of formal development proposals to the Transit Authority.

I am pleased to be able to inform you that WMATA has recently made the decision not to pursue the current joint development project solicitation any further.  The changing strength of the region’s housing market over the past year, and the increasing need to ensure that pedestrian safety, and transit station access needs are more broadly addressed in coordination with the development of station area land, have both been important factors in WMATA’s review of the proposals received, and in the decision that was ultimately reached. 

Developers are currently being notified of WMATA’s decision not to pursue this project further, and will have been apprised of this decision by the time you receive this letter.  You should feel free to communicate the information in this letter as you believe appropriate. 

We are continuing to collaborate with Montgomery County and with the Maryland State Highway Administration to identify ways to improve the safety of pedestrians crossing Georgia Avenue at Forest Glen Road, and we are hopeful that this collaboration will result in noticeable improvements to the Forest Glen Metrorail station area and the quality of the pedestrian environment there. 

If you have additional questions regarding the Forest Glen Joint Development Project, please do not hesitate to contact me directly, or Nat Bottigheimer, Acting Assistant General Manager for Planning and Joint Development, at 202-962-2730, or This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it .

Thank you for your interest in WMATA

Sincerely,

John B. Catoe, Jr.

General Manager