City of Alexandria Hid Millions in PLA Costs from Public
Download a copy of our letter to the Mayor and City Council here:
Dear City Councilmembers:
The Virginia Coalition for Fair Contracting & Employee Protection (“Virginians for Fairness”) is a 501(c)(4) organization that advocates for open and competitive public procurement across the Commonwealth. Our coalition represents more than 1,000 Virginia construction firms across multiple industry sectors that oppose government-mandated Project Labor Agreements (“PLAs”) because they restrict competition and increase costs to taxpayers.
We are writing to express our deep concern about what appears to be a deliberate attempt to shield the millions in extra costs associated with the decision to require a PLA on the City Hall and Market Street Renovation Project. Our concern is born out of our recent Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) request seeking records related to the imposition of a PLA on the project. The documents show that city officials were aware that the PLA would add nearly $7 million in avoidable costs but kept that information from the City Council and, most importantly, the public.
On May 1 2025, city officials asked the general contractor selected for the project what, if any, cost impacts should be expected from the PLA. That contractor responded on May 5, 2025 that the PLA would add roughly $6.9 million to the project, with a cost inflation factor of 10%.[1] But this information was never shared with anyone else, and, in fact, appears to be purposely withheld.
The PLA between Grunley Construction Company and the Baltimore-DC Metro Building and Construction Trades Council was executed on July 14, 2025.[2] Three days later, on July 17, 2025, city staff notified City Administrator Jim Parajon that the PLA had been executed and provided a summary of the agreement and its purported benefits. The communication, however, leaves out any discussion of the added costs.[3] This was not an oversight.
How do we know this? Because on September 2, 2025, as the City Administrator was preparing to announce the agreement to the City Council at its September 9, 2025 meeting, city staff provided a copy of their July 17, 2025 PLA briefing memo to the city’s communication director. At that time, the communication director was preparing a press release to coincide with the announcement of the agreement to the City Council. In sharing that memo with the communication team, city staff revealed that:
“Copying the text from the initial email to [City Administrator] Jim [Parajon] which provides a summary of the PLA updates. In it, you will find details about the overall PLA, the parties involved, the benefits, and next steps. We have not included the budget to the project or any financial impact related to the PLA.”[4]
Perhaps not surprisingly, the city’s press release publicly announced the PLA as a “historic step” and a “milestone achievement” with no mention of the millions in extraneous costs that will be borne by taxpayers and residents as a result of the agreement [5] In fact, to date, the public, who is paying for the City Hall and Market Street Renovation Project, has never been told the truth about the costs they will bear for this PLA. What’s worse, is that this situation required a FOIA and close review of internal city documents to come to light. This is unacceptable.
Virginians for Fairness requests a written response acknowledging the costs associated with the PLA mandate on the City Hall and Market Street Renovation Project, as well as the Duke Street Transitway project, by Monday, March 23, 2026. Please direct correspondence or questions about this request to coalition@virginians4fairness.org.
Sincerely,
THE VIRGINIA COALITION FOR FAIR CONTRACTING & EMPLOYEE PROTECTION
cc: Mayor Alyia Gaskins
City Administrator James Parajon
City Attorney Cheran Ivery
[1] In fact, the non-partisan, peer-reviewed research on PLAs suggests the cost inflation to be nearly double this estimate. For example, a 2024 study by RAND Center of Housing and Homeless found that the PLA requirement on an affordable housing initiative in Los Angeles (Proposition HHH) added 21% to the per unit cost of construction. This was a key reason that the initiative, which set out to build 10,000 new units of affordable housing, fell far short, producing only 7,300 units.
[2] Email from Jenine Kotob to Jim Parajon, re: “City Hall PLA - Council Update” (July 17, 2025, 4:58 PM)
[3] Email from Janine Kotob to Jim Parajon, re: “City Hall PLA - Council Update” (July 17, 2025, 4:58 PM)
[4] Email from Jenine Kotob to Ebony C. Fleming et al., re: “City Hall PLA - Council Update” (September 2, 2025, 9:18 AM) (emphasis added)
[5] City of Alexandria, “City of Alexandria Announces First-Ever Project Labor Agreement for City Hall and Market Square Renovation” (September 9, 2025), (City of Alexandria Press Release)