While the Virginia General Assembly considers a plan for a new arena to be built in Alexandria, Virginia, for the NBA’s Washington Wizards and the NHL’s Washington Capitals, lawmakers in Alexandria are looking at a long and uncertain road ahead for the proposal on the local level.
If the plan does pass in the General Assembly, it would still need the green light from the Alexandria City Council.
“This is all a long, complicated process,” said Canek Aguirre, one of the city’s council members. “If it does pass in Richmond, we still have to go through our process here which, at this point, we’re still looking at easily six to eight months of public engagement.”
Aguirre told WTOP that he and his colleagues would need to be assured that Alexandria would receive enough funding for transportation improvements and affordable housing.
“This area is already extremely difficult to try and live in, so we’re concerned with the impact that there’s going to be potentially on the surrounding housing market, especially in our low-income communities,” Aguirre said.
Another concern voiced by the council is the amount of representation Alexandria may have on a sports and entertainment authority board that would oversee financing of the project.
The board would have 15 members, including five members appointed by the governor, two members appointed by the House speaker, three members from the Senate Rules Committee, three members appointed by the Alexandria City Council, one member representing Arlington and one member representing Monumental.
Some council members have said that three members appointed by the council is not enough.
“We want to make sure that there is equal representation for the city for the stadium authority,” Aguirre said. “It’s still a long process, and we’re going to continue to work with the folks in Richmond to see if there’s something more agreeable for the city.”
Aguirre called the arena plan “complex” and “fragile.”
“There are a lot of pitfalls, and there are a lot of steps that need to get processed,” Aguirre said. “If they don’t, unfortunately, this deal might fall apart.”
The Virginia House of Delegates voted on Tuesday to pass legislation that would establish the sports and entertainment authority, sending the legislation to the Virginia Senate where its future is uncertain.
The bill would create a sports and entertainment authority that would own the land in Alexandria and lease it to Monumental Sports & Entertainment, the owner of the Capitals and Wizards.
It would have the ability to fund much of the project by issuing bonds.
While no upfront state taxpayer dollars would go toward the project, the terms of the agreement would divert new tax revenues from the project to pay down the bonds.
The broad outline of the proposal calls for Monumental to invest $403 million in the $2 billion development. Alexandria would put in $106 million toward the construction of the performing arts venue and the development of underground parking.
The rest of the approximately $1.5 billion financing would be supported through the authority-issued bonds.
Those bonds would be repaid over time through rent paid by the team, parking fees, naming rights and new tax revenues generated by the development.
The whole site would include an arena, as well as a new Wizards practice facility, a separate performing arts center, a media studio, new hotels, a convention center, housing and shopping.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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