
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, July 9, 1993                   TAG: 9307090081
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MANASSAS                                LENGTH: Medium

LEGO WANTS A $9 MILLION ROAD

Lego Systems Inc. wants Virginia to build a $9 million road as part of its bid to lure a lucrative theme park, a request some officials said dims the state's chances to win the project.

Prince William County and Carlsbad, Calif., are competing for the $100 million Lego Family Park to be based on the Danish toy company's interlocking plastic blocks.

A road network already exists at the competing Southern California site.

In its pitch to Lego this year, Prince William agreed to build the road, but stipulated that a private developer would fund and build it.

Banyan Corp. owns the proposed site, overlooking the Potomac River on Cherry Hill Peninsula. The company would donate the site and build an access road in hopes of opening the surrounding land to profitable development.

But Lego has told County Executive James H. Mullen that guarantees from the landowner are not sufficient.

"They are seeking more assurances about road construction," Mullen told the county Board of Supervisors. "They would feel better if the state or county would be responsible for building the road."

Road construction in Virginia usually requires that bonds be sold by a locality or a tax district. Such arrangements are complicated and could be difficult to complete before October, when Lego has said it will announce its choice of a site for the new park.

"This project is a project we can win, but we're not winning it now," Mullen said.

Mullen also told the board that during a meeting last month with Lego officials, the Danish company raised concerns about economic incentives in Prince William's bid.

The incentives include a state offer to provide $2.09 million for water and sewer improvements at the proposed site, and a county offer to build a 5,000-space parking lot and to provide $1.7 million in other improvements.

In a study released Tuesday by Prince William, a College of William and Mary business researcher predicted that during its second year of operation, a Lego theme park could produce more than $8.6 million in state tax revenue.

by CNB