Report: Transit Center Splinters Builder's Relationship with Montgomery County

Foulger-Pratt, general contractor for Montgomery County's unopened $120 million Silver Spring Transit Center, has deep ties to the community which, according to a feature in The Washington Post, may have been jeopardized by the facility's failure.

Last month, an inspection by independent firm KCE Engineering found issues with the center's concrete, girders, columns, support beams and, most disturbing for inspectors, an absence of support cabling on one level of the three-tiered facility. The Transit Center was deemed unsafe and unusable with major repairs, which will begin at the end of this summer. 

The Post reported that since March's inspection, the Rockville-based builders seemed to be on the outside looking in on a county process they used to heavily influence. The newspaper reported that Foulger-Pratt has spent thousands of dollars in campaign donations to county lawmakers; had a vocal presence in government debates like a proposed teen curfew in downtown Silver Spring and a long history of being awarded contracts with the jurisdiction. 

In downtown Silver Spring alone, Foulger-Pratt has been a prolific builder, as an executive told Patch in February. It is responsible for constructing AFI Silver Theatre, Majestic Cinema, the downtown Silver Spring Retail Center, NOAA's headquarters, parking garages and several apartment buildings, including the upcoming Citron apartments on Pershing Drive. 

Here's what The Post wrote:

But cracks in the transit center’s concrete have fractured a profitable political and corporate marriage. Foulger had plans with Metro and developer Urban Atlantic for a $140 million housing, retail and office complex next to site. But the deal is on hold because Metro won’t move forward until any legal issues with regard to the transit center are resolved.

Foulger claims that the county has behaved like a prospective litigant, refusing to share responsibility and hiring a consultant who conveniently placed the blame everywhere else, including Foulger-Pratt, Parsons Brinckerhoff and the Robert B. Balter Co. inspection agency. He also said that the county rushed the project into construction before the design was ready and that the haste was costly.

Foulger-Pratt, along with Parsons Brinckerhoff, the Transit Center's designers, and Robert B. Balter Company, which was hired by the county to routinely inspect the facility, have denied the report's findings about its work. 

Read the entire feature at www.washingtonpost.com.