There are no shortage of dining options inside Dulles International Airport, but outside, on airport grounds, you are pretty much limited to an all-in-one 7-Eleven, Subway and Laredo Taco.
That should soon change, as the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority board is expected to launch a search for a “nationally recognized” fast-food brand to operate a new restaurant on a 3-acre pad site located at the corner of Rudder Way and Ariane Way — adjacent to the 7-Eleven.
A board committee reviewed the plan Wednesday, and a full board vote is expected next month.
According to the information item, the fast-food restaurant will provide continuous operations 24 hours a day and have a drive-thru. The pad site sits immediately behind the airport’s rental car center.
The proposed contract will provide for the development, construction and operation of a LEED-certified building with a 20-year lease term. The board presentation suggests a goal of a June 30, 2020, opening day.
The contract, meanwhile, will require the winning bidder to pay three separate categories of rent, which will guarantee the authority a minimum of $311,272 annually to start. The first is ground rent, calculated at $110,272 per year with 10 percent escalation every five years. The second is services rent for police, fire and roadway maintenance, calculated initially at $51,000 per year. And the third is percentage rent, a minimal annual guarantee of $150,000 or 6 percent of total sales.
Will it be McDonald’s? Burger King? Chick-fil-A? Wendy’s? Taco Bell? MWAA employees may have their preference, a spokeswoman said, but the ultimate decision will be achieved “through a best-value, competitively negotiated procurement,” per the board item.
“In the determination of best value, non-price factors and price are separately evaluated and ranked,” it states, “but it is the proposal that is found to represent the best overall value to the Airports Authority that forms the basis of award.”
