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WASHINGTON (AP) — When Ted Leonsis told D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser late last year that he owned the NBA’s Washington Wizards and NHL’s Washington Capitals When the team might leave Washington for Virginia, she told him no, they wouldn’t.
In the end, it turns out she was right.
These teams are stay in the area Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s plan to lure them to Virginia failed, and the city and property owners reached an agreement on a $515 million publicly funded arena project.
On Wednesday, Bowser and Leonsis signed a letter of intent for a trade that would keep the team in the region through 2050. They announced the development minutes later at a joint press conference at Capital One Arena, the team’s current home.
Alexandria, Virginia, Mayor Justin Wilson said in a statement that talks to move the NHL Capitals and Washington Wizards to northern Virginia have ended.
“It’s a great day and I’m really relieved,” Leonsis said. “Not only is it the right thing for the community, it’s the right thing for the city, it’s the right thing for us, it’s also a very smart business deal.”
Plans for the project include a 200,000-square-foot (18,580-square-meter) expansion of the arena complex into the nearby Gallery Plaza space, creating an entertainment district within the surrounding Chinatown neighborhood, as well as security and traffic upgrades.
“We are the current and future home of the Washington Capitals and Washington Wizards,” said Bowser, who was wearing a Wizards jersey. “As Ted likes to say, we’ll be together for a long time.”
The D.C. Council will discuss the agreement next week and is expected to adopt it, D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson said at a news conference.
Officials with the city of Alexandria, across the Potomac River in Virginia, said the agreement between Memorial Sports and Entertainment and the city comes as Negotiate a new arena What would have been possible to move the team there is over.
Leonsis acknowledged that Virginia owned land, an advantage that Washington, D.C., did not have.
“You’re in this arms race to build bigger, better, higher quality facilities, but we’re running out of space,” Leonsis said, referring to the new entertainment community envisioned by the agreement, which has The area is nowhere near as large as 12 acres (4.9 acres). hectares), dedicated to arenas in Virginia. “But enough is enough.”
The ultra-wealthy entrepreneur said he generally prefers to avoid discussing Virginia but did take some shots at the state because political differences between Youngkin, a Republican, and Democrats who control the General Assembly led to the plan’s failure.
“You can’t do this alone, and I feel like we’re really in a good partnership,” Leonsis said, “not that I thought we were going to be a good partnership.”
The development is a blow to Youngkin, who announced a few months ago He touted the outlines of Alexander’s proposal, calling it a “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity to bring two major professional sports teams to the nation’s most populous state.
In a statement Wednesday, the governor expressed disappointment and frustration and placed the blame on Democrats.
“This was supposed to be our deal and our opportunity, and all the General Assembly had to do was say, ‘Thank you, Monument, for wanting to come to Virginia and create $12 billion in economic investment, let’s fix this.'” But He said personal and political agendas stood in the way of “the deal”.
Democrats responded that Youngkin mismanaged the proposal from the beginning. House Speaker Don Scott said he was shocked by Youngkin’s statement, which he said looked like it was written by a teenager, and angered by the suggestion that the Legislature should easily sign the agreement.
“He’s lost his good judgment now,” said Scott, who hasn’t fully backed the deal but said he’s open to it.
He added that, based on the tone of the statement, he expected Yangkin might retaliate by vetoing the budget and lawmakers sent him earlier this month.
Alexander, which first announced the news, said in a statement posted on its website that it was also disappointed.
“We agreed on the framework for this opportunity in good faith and engaged in this process in Richmond with integrity,” the statement read. “We trust this process and are deeply concerned about what happened between the governor and the General Assembly. Things were disappointing.”
Matt Kelly, chief executive of listed real estate company JBG SMITH, a partner in the Alexander deal and the proposed developer, issued a scathing statement blaming “partisan politics” and The prospect of a “potential paid game” was raised. The influence led to the failure of the project.
“With the exception of the arena, state and local governments will lose needed tax revenue, economic development credibility and the last best opportunity for a professional sports franchise in Virginia for at least a generation,” Kelly said.
Virginia’s plan calls for a $2 billion development in Alexandria’s Potomac Yards district that would feature not only a new arena but also Monumental’s practice facility and corporate headquarters, as well as a stand-alone show Art venue.
The General Assembly was asked to create an agency that would issue bonds to fund much of the project, with some support from city and state governments and repayment through projected tax revenues recovered from the development.
Youngkin and other backers say the development would create tens of thousands of jobs and more new tax revenue than is needed to finance it.
The plan met with opposition from the unionAlexandria residents worried about traffic issues, and Washington, D.C. officials worried the team’s loss would lead to Destroy downtown Washington.
Youngkin and other backers also failed to win over Sen. L. Louise Lucas, a powerful Democrat from Portsmouth who chairs the Senate Budget Writing Committee.she used that location Lucas said he blocked the legislation because of a series of concerns, but most importantly the deal’s financing structure: The use of moral obligation bonds put taxpayers and the state’s finances at risk.
Lucas celebrated the proposal’s defeat on Wednesday. On social media, she posted a cartoon of herself swatting away a basketball with the word “rejected” on it. She wrote: “We are in Virginia celebrating that we averted a huge disaster when the monuments announced today that they will stay in Washington, D.C.!”
Leonsis has changed his tone on social media in recent days, noting the large crowds at Capital One Arena this month for Capitals and Wizards games, ACC tournament basketball games and Zach Bryan concerts . He posted on Wednesday Monumental expects more than 400,000 fans to pass through the turnstiles in March.
Leonsis said he and Bowser began discussing keeping the team in the region soon after Virginia revealed its proposal, including holding regular meetings in the lobby of a luxury hotel.
“Until 10 minutes ago, I hadn’t signed a piece of paper,” Leonsis said.
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Rankin reported from Richmond, Virginia, and Barakat reported from Falls Church, Virginia.
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