UPDATED: Montgomery County Settles Suit Over Silver Spring Transit Center

Montgomery County and the contractors who built the Silver Spring Transit Center reached a settlement, County Executive Ike Leggett said Tuesday.

The county will receive $25 million from the engineering firms Parsons Brinckerhoff and Robert B. Balter Company, and the Facchina Construction Co. Once they pay, the county will pay Foulger Pratt $3 million, according to the settlement agreements.

The center — which serves as a hub for Metro subways and Ride On buses — opened Sept. 20, 2015, taking five years to be completed. After years of cost overruns and concrete problems, it ended with a final price tag of $120 million.

Leggett said the money would cover “90 percent of the hard costs” spent to complete the center. The hard costs, he said, referred to the costs of remediation.

Leggett spokesman Patrick Lacefield said the hard costs totaled $24 million.

In an interview, the county executive said he decided to repair the center and move forward. Had he not, the courts could only now be deciding who’s at fault.

“I wasn’t going to wait years just to get the facility open,” Leggett said.

The money does not include legal fees, Leggett said. The county brought in lawyers from Saul Ewing to litigate the case.

Leggett’s full statement:

“I am pleased that the County has settled the lawsuit we brought to recover taxpayer costs associated with the repair and remediation of the Silver Spring Transit Center. This is very much in the public interest. The $25 million payment to the County will cover 90 percent of the hard costs we incurred to deliver a safe and durable Silver Spring Transit Center.”

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