Politics & Government

BRAC Developer Sued for $30 Million for Alleged Violation of Lease Obligations

Center for Naval Analyses says Mark Center owner is violating its lease

The president of the Center for Naval Analyses (CNA) said today the non-profit, with offices located at Mark Center, is suing Duke Realty Corp. for $30 million for violating its lease obligations, related to BRAC, according to a press release from CNA.

"These facilities [BRAC] will have a serious negative impact on CNA," said Robert J. Murray, CNA president and chief executive officer, in the statement. "We never intended to be part of Fort Belvoir. Access to our building has already been affected and will get dramatically worse when the new BRAC facilities open.”

The CNA lawsuit, filed in Alexandria’s Circuit Court, seeks $30 million in damages for Duke's alleged violations of its lease obligations and its legal duties to the non-profit, according to CNA.

Find out what's happening in Kingstowne-Rose Hillwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

CNA's claim stems from Duke's sale of Mark Center property to the U.S. government, and the company's subsequent development, for the Department of Defense, of two high-rise office buildings (representing 1.7 million square feet of office space), two above-ground parking garages (for 4,500 vehicles) and a remote inspection facility. The DoD has declared the site to be part of its Fort Belvoir base, which is located nine miles to the south of Mark Center, CNA pointed out.

Duke Realty, based in Indianapolis, sold a 16-acre parcel of its Mark Center office park to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 2008 for $105 million. The Department of Defense building commonly referred to as "BRAC" (from the Base Realignment and Closure Commission) now sits on the property and is set to open in September.

Find out what's happening in Kingstowne-Rose Hillwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“Alexandria's fire and EMS officials are anticipating long delays in responding to emergencies in and around Mark Center due to increased traffic congestion – putting CNA's employees and area residents at increased risk,” Murray said. “And CNA now has the unfortunate distinction of having a bomb inspection facility located immediately adjacent to our building. The Mark Center of today is no longer the setting CNA was promised when we signed a lease on our building 10 years ago.”

"CNA has worked to avoid this lawsuit and we do not seek to delay or disrupt the BRAC-133 project," Murray said. "But Duke has chosen the profit to be gained from this project over its legal obligations to CNA and without regard for the project's implications for CNA employees and the community at large."

Duke Realty currently has 53,454 square feet of office space available for lease at Mark Center, according to its Web site.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

More from Kingstowne-Rose Hill