Philanthropist donates to fix monument elevator

WASHINGTON — Billionaire philanthropist David Rubenstein has agreed to fund an overhaul of the Washington Monument’s broken elevator system, but the beleaguered landmark will still likely be closed for the next 21⁄2 years, the National Park Service said.

It’s the second time that Rubenstein has come to the aid of the monument, which has been shuttered since Aug. 17 because of chronic elevator problems.

After a 2011 earthquake, he donated $7.5 million of the $15 million cost to repair damage to the marble-andgranite obelisk.

But there is no start date for the roughly 12-month elevator project, which will cost $2 million to $3 million, because the Park Service is awaiting funds for a new security screening entrance that it wants to build at the same time.

And even if those funds come through, the Park Service doesn’t see the monument reopening until the “cherry blossom season in 2019,” a spokesman, Mike Litterst, said in an email.

“It does seem like it’s a long period of time,” said Will Shafroth, president of the National Parks Foundation, the charitable partner that is facilitating Rubenstein’s donation. “Just know that the Park Service is moving as fast as it can.

“As frustrating as it can be, they’re a federal agency,” he said. “We’re talking about one of our national monuments . ... A lot of people have a say in it, and it tends to grind the process a little bit slower than we’d like.”

The centerpiece of the Mall, the monument reopened two years ago, following an almost three-year shutdown after the earthquake.

The elevator problems came just as the Park Service was about to launch an 18-month, $9 million project to build the permanent security screening facility. The present facility is temporary.

That project, which also would require closing the monument, is awaiting government funding, said Gay Vietzke, superintendent of the Mall and Memorial Parks.

The Park Service wants to proceed with the two projects simultaneously, so it can save money and avoid one shutdown, followed by another one later.

“We want to try to do all the construction at the same time to minimize the period that we’re closed to the public,” she said.