Addressed, "Dear fellow LARCA owners," the Guptas wrote in an email that the after two months of silence, the LARCA board delivered a markup of an early December agreement that their attorneys had negotiated. "Virtually every provision has been re-written, fundamentally changing the agreement, and imposing unrealistic and unworkable new requirements on the project — essentially killing it," Shashi and Margaret Gupta wrote.
Later that day, when contacted about the project, Shashi Gupta said, "We are interested in doing what we can to preserve and enhance Bob Simon's vision for Lake Anne.”
When contacted for a response, George Hadjikyriakou, president of the Lake Anne of Reston Condominium Association (LARCA), told the Connection that LARCA is scheduled to meet Tuesday evening, Feb. 1 and that no comment would be available until possibly Wednesday morning, Feb. 2, missing Connection’s last week press deadline.
“The Lake Anne of Reston Condominium Association Board is committed to acting consistent with the authority given to it by its condominium instruments and is further committed to protecting the interests of its owners while maintaining the LARCA Condominium property,” said a statement from the condominium association. “The LARCA Board shares the community’s disappointment that the Gupta Family Foundation has, in light of LARCA’s commitments, felt it necessary to discontinue discussions over the proposed Plaza project.”
The Lake Anne Rising project was a planned community-funded beautification program supported by sponsoring organizations that never garnered the needed consensus. The Gupta Family Foundation agreed to fund a $25,000 seed grant, believing that the condo board would support the project. Highlights of Phase 1 would have included sculpture restoration, converting an uprooted brick area to a softscape and saving three specimen trees at Pyramid Park, installing plantings in 15 LARCA planters and the east/west retaining walls along Lake Anne, plaza cleaning, entrance signage, restoration of the Fonseca Monolith, ongoing planter maintenance, fundraising campaign costs, and a contingency fund. The project was to be carried out by professional contractors, and the budget based on their proposals.