• Recently Opened Public School in Nation’s Capital Constructed at No Cost to Local Taxpayers

BETHESDA, Md. (August 2, 2002) — LCOR Incorporated and the D.C. Public Schools (DCPS) will receive the International Economic Development Council’s (IEDC) 2002 Economic Development Partnership Award in recognition of the recently opened James F. Oyster Bilingual Elementary School in Washington, D.C. The school was constructed and financed at no cost to taxpayers through an innovative, community-initiated public/private development partnership between LCOR, a national real estate company, and the school system.

The Economic Development Partnership Award, in this case given for a program located in an area with a population greater than 200,000, recognizes outstanding and innovative urban development projects that have significantly enhanced the economic revitalization of communities, states or regions. Projects demonstrate the importance of public/private partnerships in economic development. Winners are selected by a panel of development experts from across the country. (This year’s awards will be presented at the 2002 CUED Annual Conference in Philadelphia on September 10.)

"The public/private partnership approach to real estate development is experiencing exponential growth in the U.S. at the local, state and federal levels of government. This, along with the success of creative projects like the Oyster School, increasingly gives public school officials confidence in building new developments with public/private financing," said John Stainback, Senior Vice President and National Director of Public/Private Development for LCOR, which specializes in structuring and implementing public/private developments.

The Oyster School public/private partnership was initiated and facilitated by the 21st Century School Fund, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit working to improve urban public school facilities with support from the Ford Foundation.

Under the terms of the development partnership between LCOR and the school system, school construction costs — financed by an $11-million, 35-year tax-exempt bond package issued by the District of Columbia government — will be repaid entirely from new revenue generated by a 211-unit apartment building being developed by LCOR on land adjacent to the school. The apartment building site was previously part of the school’s 1.67-acre property but traded to LCOR under the partnership agreement. The net effect: D.C. taxpayers will incur no costs to build the new school, the first D.C. public school to be built in 20 years.

LCOR's Stainback considers the Oyster School development and financing approach to be a prototype for many other schools across the country. "The Oyster approach is innovative, but it’s also highly replicable," he said. "Government entities, including school districts across the country, own trillions of dollars of land, a significant part of which is underutilized. Projects such as this one offer a way for governments to unlock the value of their underutilized land."

The new Oyster School, located in Northwest Washington, replaced a building constructed in 1926 on the same site. The new school is 47,158 square feet, with a computer lab, library, gym and classrooms designed to accommodate the school’s bilingual education program. The facility also includes office space for the after-school programs that had been housed in a converted closet. Many spaces in the school will be available for community use.

The apartment building, known as Henry Adams House, will open this fall at a cost of $29 million and is owned by a joint venture of LCOR and Northwestern Mutual Life. It has been developed and will be managed by LCOR.

In May 2002, the American Economic Development Council (AEDC) and the Council for Urban Economic Development (CUED) — North America’s largest national economic development organization — merged their assets to become the International Economic Development Council. IEDC is a nonprofit membership organization committed to the economic development and revitalization of the nation’s cities.

LCOR is a national real estate development, investment, operations and asset management firm that specializes in structuring and implementing public/private partnerships. With six offices in the U.S. (including in Bethesda, Md.), the firm’s portfolio includes approximately $10 billion of developments either completed, under construction or in pre-development. LCOR has been involved in some of the nation’s largest, complex, and most creative developments, including the $3 billion International Air Terminal and Delta Air Lines expansion at JFK Airport, the largest public/private airport project in U.S. history; the $600 million U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Campus in Alexandria, Va., the largest lease ever signed by the U.S. General Services Administration; the $500 million White Flint Metrorail mixed-use development in North Bethesda, Md.; and the $292 million Foley Square Federal Office Building in New York City.