Re: What are the chances?
Dr. Brad Edwards has been beating the drum on a near term space elevator for some time and has been building momentum the whole time.
I know he used to be at LANL and that he recieved some money from NIAC to work on this concept. The conceptual design discussed at Space.Com is essentially the same design I heard him describe in a talk over two years ago.
I'd say in this case it's a coincidence.