Officials planning the $2 billion arena at Potomac Yard say that there will be multiple ways to park around and access the site, from accessing parking garages in nearby Crystal City and at Metro stations, with fans getting carted around in shuttles running up and down Potomac Avenue.
Transportation issues were the most frequently mentioned in a roundtable discussion on Monday with local business owners and representatives at Pork Barrel BBQ in Del Ray. The dozen or so business leaders otherwise expressed support for the project.
“The biggest thing I’m hearing from business owners and residents is the transportation and traffic needs,” Pork Barrel owner Bill Blackburn said. “That seems to be the overriding concern for folks.”
Working hand-in-hand, officials from Monumental Sports and site owner JBG Smith said that data from a transportation impact study will be released in weeks, not months. The 70-acre development is sandwiched between Richmond Highway to the west and the George Washington Memorial Parkway to the east. It is also next door to the brand new Potomac Yard Metro station, which will have to be upgraded to accommodate arena-size traffic.
“We have to make sure that the transportation plan that comes out of this works to make sure that your business is continuing to thrive, whether they’re in Del Ray, or Old Town, or at the arena district or in Crystal City, we want to make sure that everyone sort of understands how this is going to impact them and get all the data,” said Evan Regan-Levine, executive vice president at JBG Smith.
The meeting followed news that an authority to finance the deal was introduced into the Virginia General Assembly on Friday, and that Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin’s administration outlined $200 million for transportation improvements for the area. Mayor Justin Wilson said last month that the entertainment district will have minimal parking to discourage visitors from driving to the area.
“Who wouldn’t want some of the best athletes in the world visiting Alexandria and eating at my restaurant?” said Jamond Quander, owner of 1799 Prime Steak & Seafood in Old Town. “I think Alexandria is enough of a destination, is well known enough, that events at the new arena won’t hurt, but only improve my business. The question is how are they going to handle the transportation impact?”
Regan-Levine said that there are going to be multiple ways to access the proposed entertainment district.
“Look, there are a lot of different ways you’re gonna be able to access this,” he said. “And some of that might mean parking at something off-site. So, do I park at a Metro garage that’s not used at night and take the Metro a couple of stops in, and whether that’s Eisenhower or Huntington (stations), or also even in National Landing in Crystal City… The idea would be let’s open up and let’s run some shuttle buses down Potomac Avenue so we take some of those cars off the local grid.”
Jordan Silberman, Monumental’s executive vice president and general manager, said that solving the transportation issue is the most important piece in this puzzle.
“We want to make sure that as we invite everybody into, into our building (the arena), that people in the neighborhood feel good about it,” Silberman said. “It’s gonna make sure that we’re enforcing parking across Route 1 and the Mount Vernon neighborhood and Del Rey and making sure that people are not parking here and walking across the street into the neighborhood and affecting people’s lives.”
Monumental Sports wants the first phase of the project to be completed in 2029. According to Monumental:
The proposed sports and entertainment district in Potomac Yard would stimulate growth and job creation in the region through a new campus featuring the global corporate headquarters for Monumental Sports & Entertainment, an industry-leading arena for both the NHL’s Washington Capitals and NBA’s Washington Wizards, a state-of-the-art Monumental Sports Network media studio, a Wizards practice facility, a performing arts venue, and an expanded esports facility, in addition to new retail, restaurants, hotels, housing and community gathering spaces.
Alexandria will conduct a virtual public meeting on transportation and traffic management on Feb. 1.
In his second annual State of the Commonwealth address, Gov. Glenn Youngkin praised Pork Barrel BBQ (2312 Mount Vernon Avenue) in Del Ray at the end of a section arguing in favor of the new Potomac Yard arena.
Youngkin, who has faced some unwelcome receptions in Alexandria in the past, had previously visited Pork Barrel BBQ.
In his speech, Youngkin said the new arena bringing the Washington Capitals and Washington Wizards to Alexandria will be a boon for the Commonwealth of Virginia, the region, and the City of Alexandria.
“Small businesses will win too: one of those businesses is Pork Barrel BBQ in the Del Ray neighborhood, where for over a decade you’d find its owner, Bill Blackburn, behind the counter,” Youngkin said. “He’s a father of two and his roots in Alexandria run deep. He knows that when opportunity knocks, you should open the door. He knows having a world-class sports entertainment venue… right around the corner is good for business.”
Blackburn was in attendance at the address and received applause from the audience.
“Bill, thank you for showing us that when the opportunity presents itself, Virginia should seize it,” Youngkin said. “Thank you for being one of the thousands of small business owners that are lifting up the economy and are the lifeblood of Virginia’s future.”
In the speech, Youngkin was making the case for the new Potomac Yard to the General Assembly. The General Assembly is considering legislation to create a sports and entertainment authority, which would then have the power to issue the $1.5 billion in bonds required for the project.
“In partnership with the General Assembly, we can bring this opportunity to fruition,” Youngkin said. “Together, we can welcome both a new NBA team and new NHL team, with $12 billion in new economic activity and 30,000 new jobs.”
The city-funded Alexandria Economic Development Partnership hired lobbyists to advocate for the development at the General Assembly.
Youngkin said the arena opportunity is “rare and complex.”
Many in the General Assembly, and in Alexandria as a whole, remain unconvinced. The Pork Barrel BBQ choice is particularly ironic given that some state legislators have expressed concerns that the project will be Commonwealth funding to a project solely benefiting one locality — also known as pork barrel spending.
Republican State Senator Glen Sturtevant told 7News that he was reticent to give Alexandria more state funding after earlier appropriations for the state-mandated RiverRenew project. New legislation proposed this month also made it clear that RiverRenew won’t meet its 2025 deadlines.
Locally, the Potomac Yard arena has drawn protests from both Alexandrians and Washingtonians, where transportation concerns remain a key issue. State Sen. Adam Ebbin said securing Metro funding is a precondition, at the very least, to even talking about the arena.
In a release from Capitals and Wizards owner Monumental Sports, Blackburn said he was excited about the project
“As a small business owner, a resident, and a parent in Alexandria, I’m excited about this project and the opportunities it will create for my business, my family, and my city,” said Blackburn following the annual address. “The City, the Governor, and the General Assembly are going above and beyond to engage with residents and the business community about this opportunity and I really appreciate that. This project should be something that brings our community together regardless of your politics. It’s about investing in the future of our City.”
.@GovernorVA Youngkin on Capitals & Wizards to Virginia: "It would be a huge win, not just for Commonwealth, but for region and of course for Alexandria. Small businesses will win, too, One of those small businesses is @porkbarrelbbq Del Ray … Bill Blackburn @BillofDelRay " pic.twitter.com/oJdPYKrq06
— Howard Mortman (@HowardMortman) January 10, 2024
The impact that the proposed Washington Wizards/Capitals arena at Potomac Yard will have on local businesses will be discussed in a virtual town hall meeting this week.
Stephanie Landrum, CEO of the Alexandria Economic Development Partnership (AEDP), will speak about the ramifications in a Zoom meeting at noon on Thursday (Jan. 21).
Reception of the news that the multi-billion dollar arena and entertainment district is coming to Potomac Yard has been tepid at best. While an AEDP report states that the development will result in 30,000 new jobs, the city is contending with a number of challenges before the deal can be sealed.
Last week, a group of residents from the Coalition to Stop the Arena at Potomac Yard rallied in protest outside the Potomac Yard Metro station — next door to the proposed development. Concerns ranged from the project’s transportation and financial impacts to parking and quality of life.
“An entertainment district is projected to generate roughly 2.5 times the economic output of what would otherwise be built based on current development plans,” according to an AEDP impact analysis.
Metro General Manager Randy Clarke also said that the newly opened Potomac Yard Metro station can’t handle arena-size crowds and will need an upgrade. In an effort to encourage alternative transportation to events at the proposed district, Mayor Justin Wilson says there will be minimal parking at the completed site, prompting some concern that neighboring communities will be affected by spillover parking.
Landrum recently said that the fate of the Target store at 3101 Richmond Highway in Potomac Yard is undetermined, but that it is one of the most frequent questions she gets regarding the development.
(Updated 1/9) A set of Complete Streets changes for Mount Vernon Avenue through Arlandria is headed through city review starting later this spring.
The City of Alexandria released a set of ‘preferred alternatives’ for changes to several Mount Vernon intersections. One of the biggest changes will be to the intersection with Glebe Road.
The staff report says the angle of the current intersection encourages drivers to take fast turns and multiple people have been killed walking on those intersections.
The preferred alternative is a roundabout with an odd, elongated shape meant to suit the intersection better.
The roundabout aims to reduce vehicle speeds and reduce the opportunity for crashes, with large pedestrian refuge areas installed at every crossing.
North of the Glebe Road intersection, twelve parking spaces would be removed at the intersection with Russell Road to make way for curb extensions and green space, with a bus shelter on the east side of Mount Vernon Avenue.
Smaller curb extensions would also be installed at the intersections of Four Miles Road and Executive Avenue with Mount Vernon Avenue.
The proposals were scheduled to go to the Traffic and Parking Board for a public hearing on Monday, Jan. 22, but the city said in a release that the consideration was deferred to an unspecified date this spring.
Jafaar Ouardi says his shave ice is like eating fluffy snow.
After launching Le Petit Ananas Hawaiian Shaved Ice two years ago in Fairfax County, Ouardi recently got City Council approval to set up shop in the alleyway outside Bagel Uprising at 2307 A Mount Vernon Avenue. He’s planning on reopening at the new location in March and staying open until November.
“This is like the shaved ice you find in New Orleans,” Ouardi said. “It’s really slushy and fluffy, like snow. It’s so good.”
There’s 14 flavors, including root beer, cherry, cotton candy, mango and pineapple, and the product uses 100% cane sugar from a Hawaiian distributor. Toppings include condensed milk, mochi and fruit purees.
The 12-foot-by-six-foot shave ice trailer will replace the existing tables that were previously used for outdoor dining, according to a city staff report.
A native of Fes, Morocco, Ouardi is also a DJ and IT consultant. He says that if the business is a success that he wants to be open year-round. He was first introduced to Del Ray when he sold shave ice from his trailer at last summer’s Band’s & Brews Bar Crawl.
“It’s going to be good,” Ouardi said. “If I get support from the community, I’ll think about adding things to the menu, like Moroccan hot tea, baklava and Acai bowls.”
A Festivus for the rest of us is coming back to Del Ray this Saturday night.
The secular celebration that started in the 1990s sitcom Seinfeld will be celebrated on Saturday, Jan. 6, at the Joy on the Avenue pop-up at 2312 Mount Vernon Avenue.
It’s the second year in a row that Bill Blackburn and “Mango” Mike Anderson have celebrated Festivus (traditionally held Dec. 23) as an end to the holiday season, and as a way to say goodbye to the holiday pop-up.
“Grievances will be aired,” Blackburn told ALXnow. “We’re ready with a Festivus pole and more.”
On Seinfeld, the character of Frank Costanza (Jerry Stiller) detailed the holiday to Cosmo Kramer (Michael Richards).
“Many Christmases ago, I went to buy a doll for my son,” Costanza said. “I reached for the last one they had, but so did another man. As I rained blows on him I realized there had to be another way… Out of that a new holiday was formed.”
The party will run from 5 p.m. to midnight, and includes:
- The Festivus pole — A plain aluminum pole (bought at Home Depot — they’re next to the Christmas trees) without decoration will mark the occasion
- The airing of grievances — Customers can write their grievances on slips of paper, and the best will be aired on Homegrown Restaurant Group’s social media pages next week
- Feats of strength — Customers can challenge any bartender to an arm wrestling match, and winners get a free Jello shooter (limited to one per customer)
Blackburn and Anderson plan to reopen the pop-up with a new concept before the end of the month.
A local hardware store in Del Ray that was in danger of closing just got saved by an Alexandria realtor.
Jay Portlance bought Executive Lock and Key Service from Chris Harvey just before Christmas for $150,000 and reopened it as Del Ray Hardware on New Year’s Day. The store at 2003 Mount Vernon Avenue first opened in the mid-1990s, and the former owner told us in October that he was going to close the business unless he found a buyer by the end of the year.
‘We don’t need another restaurant and clothing store,” Portlance said. “This is primo real estate right here. Part of my objective was to protect it, and the only way I can ensure that was by buying it.”
Portlance says he contacted Harvey in November and closed on the deal on Dec. 22. Between then and the day the store reopened, Portlance and his small staff worked 15 hour days cleaning and reorganizing. They ended up freeing up about 450-square-feet of new space, Portlance said.
Portlance wants to add plants and potentially a garden center.
Gary Harvey managed the sale and said that his brother is getting used to a new routine of working as a locksmith from his garage.
“It worked out real well,” Gary Harvey said. “Sure, it hurts when you get rid of something. My brother was there for nearly 30 years. It was a part of his life and it takes a little while to get over that.”
A D.C. native, Portlance has been a realtor for nearly a decade. He got to know Chris Harvey over the last several years while renovating his house in Warwick Village.
“He knew every single time I had a flooded basement or electrocuted myself,” Portlance said.
Portlance spoke to customers during the interview, and said he is in it for the “long haul.”
“I’ll be here as long as the neighborhood wants me,” he told us.
Just then, George Brown, the owner of Probuilders LLC, who was in the ship looking to buy a very particular screw to fix an old cabinet drawer, said: “Well, the neighborhood is going to want you, buddy. I’m going to be here all the time.”
Swung by Del Ray Hardware on Mount Vernon Avenue for a New Year’s browsing visit.
They’re back and they still have absolutely everything you possibly could ever need! pic.twitter.com/dkOSsPOEJu
— Justin Wilson (@justindotnet) January 1, 2024
Washington Post food critic Tim Carman cited Del Ray’s Hi/Fi Tex-Mex BBQ (2000 Mount Vernon Avenue) as one of the top ten best casual restaurants in the region.
The restaurant opened in the backyard of Del Ray’s Evening Star Cafe earlier this year. The restaurant later got after-the-fact permission from the City Council to use outdoor smoker grills despite complaints from neighbors.
According to Carman:
The barbecue that [Nathan Anda] and Marvin “Grande” Rivera produce already has identifiable signatures, such as the four-chile rub used for the spare ribs and chopped pork, making for flavor profiles that straddle the increasingly porous border between Tex-Mex and Central Texas barbecue. The barbecue can be ordered as part of a Tex-Mex platter, with housemade flour tortillas, smoked crema and pico de gallo. It can also be ordered by the pound. Most times, I’m going with the latter: I want little to come between me and the terrific barbecue at Hi/Fi.
The restaurant features a variety of Tex-Mex meals, from sandwiches and tacos to full BBQ platters.
Image via Hi/Fi Tex-Mex BBQ/Facebook
Yesterday’s announcement of the possible new arena at Potomac Yard turned a previously scheduled conversation with Mayor Justin Wilson into one of the first public discussions of the contentious project.
The Del Ray Citizens Association was packed with 375 participants on a Zoom call to ask Wilson questions about the new project. Across social media — and at a small protest outside the announcement — concerns focused on the secrecy around the project, car congestion at the site, and the Potomac Yard Metro’s ability to handle the amount of traffic.
Wilson acknowledged that “traffic and transportation is the biggest unknown here.”
While some traffic improvements are planned for Route 1 as part of this project, according to City Manager James Parajon, Wilson said the city’s focus is on discouraging people from driving to the arena.
“The city’s interest in these early discussions has been in keeping the number of parking spaces on this site at a minimum because we do not want a lot of vehicles accessing this use,” Wilson said. “This is intended to be a transit arena, a transit operation, that’s why we invested in a Metro station.”
Wilson said the new Potomac Yard will have a “significant net reduction” in parking spaces at the site.
“The intent is to ensure that we do not have people beyond a small core accessing this by vehicle,” Wilson said. “We will continue to push to keep parking at a minimum.”
But at the same time, Wilson admitted that the current Potomac Yard Metro station isn’t up to the task of handling the types of traffic generated by a sports arena.
“There’s no way the current station can accommodate this use as is,” Wilson said. “A significant chunk of transportation investments will require improvements to the station.”
Wilson said the station, which just opened earlier this year, will need upgrades to handle the volume generated by Capitals and Wizards games.
“[We’ll be] ensuring that the bridges and things like that can handle that capacity of volume,” Wilson said. “WMATA is aware of this discussion.”
For adjacent neighborhoods, Wilson said the city will take another look at parking permit questions that fell off during the pandemic.
“The pandemic and lower levels of office workers made that not as big of an issue, but we did create a [residential parking permit] in Potomac Yard and Potomac Greens,” Wilson said. “We never want to see a situation where our neighborhoods become street parking for this or the Metro in general.”
One of the concerns about the project was funding, but Wilson said this wasn’t going to be a giveaway of taxpayer money to a billionaire.
“I’ve heard quite a bit about concerns that we are providing a billionaire with taxpayer money; that is not what is happening here,” Wilson said.
Wilson said the development will be more than just an arena, it will have a music venue, esports, a practice facility, and more, along with a corporate headquarters for Monumental Sports & Entertainment.
According to Wilson:
Virginia Stadium Authority will be issuing bonds for the construction for the arena. The land and arena will be owned by the public entity; it will be owned by a state agency. The debt borrowed by this public entity will be paid by three streams of money.
First: a private stream. Ted Leonsis will pay, first of all, a $400 million downpayment and a rent payment. That rent payment will be used to pay off that debt.
Second: the city will take a portion of the new tax revenue that comes from this development and we will use it to pay off a portion of this debt borrowed by that authority.
Third: the Commonwealth will take a portion of its tax revenue coming off this use and they will use it to pay off the loans used to construct it.
This is exactly the way we funded the Potomac Yard metro. We funded it using the tax increment of development that happened in Potomac Yard.
We are not using city tax dollars that would be used to pay police officers, firefighters, educators etc. We are using the new money generated by the project to pay off the debt.
Wilson acknowledged that there are some stadiums that are bad investments. In fact, many economic studies suggest sports stadiums don’t deliver on the promised economic impact.
“There are a lot of bad stadium deals around the country,” Wilson said. “That’s why, when we went into this discussion, we had to have private money in this… A public-private partnership should not be entirely public. There are stadium deals around the country, even in this region, that have been entirely public. We, as we went through this process, tried to ensure that we learned the lessons of those failed deals.”
Economic studies commissioned by the city, according to Wilson, said a new arena in Potomac Yard could beat the trend and provide a positive impact.
“Based on the analysis we have done, and we’ve brought in outside entities to analyze the financials of this project, this has the potential to be a very significant net positive for the city’s taxpayers,” Wilson said.
The alternative, Wilson said, is slow growth around the Metro station without a central anchor to spur development.
“If this doesn’t happen, we’ll continue to have a large surface parking lot and a suburban shopping center,” Wilson said. “Virginia Tech will come along, mixed-use projects close to the Metro would potentially happen, but the financial difference is dramatic. That’s why we pursued this, and that’s why we’re presenting it to the public.”
Touching on a few other topics, Wilson noted that the Target at Potomac Yard was always slated for redevelopment, though the store does “extremely well” and it’s likely that there will be another Target there as part of redevelopment.
“That was always an assumption, that we’d, in the future, have a more urban Target,” Wilson said. “What that looks like still needs to be determined in the future.”
Wilson also said a new school site has been in plans for Potomac Yard, but only once the project reaches certain development thresholds. Wilson said the hope is the arena development will be a catalyst for other development in the area.
Many local residents said they were blindsided by the decision, which only emerged as public reports of backroom deals earlier this week despite Senator Mark Warner saying discussions about the move have been ongoing in the higher echelons of power since earlier this summer.
“Obviously, for a lot of residents, this is a surprise; an announcement that nobody was expecting,” Wilson said. “Unfortunately [due to] the nature of competitive economic investments… it has to be confidential at the leadup of the process.”
Wilson said the city will be launching a public engagement process soon.
“Now we have entered the phase where we’ve got to hear from you,” Wilson said. “We have to hear from you about what would make this feasible, what would make this possible, what you think is missing, and how we could make it viable if you don’t feel it is. That’s the conversation we’re going to have over the next year and that’s how we’re going to address some very real concerns about infrastructure.”
The Alexandria Police Department (APD) has charged Alexandria resident Bisrat Shaga, 35, with first-degree murder after stabbing a man in a fatal Del Ray church stabbing last month.
Shaga reportedly killed Centreville resident Emmanuel Negatu, 38, in the One God In Christ Apostolic Church (2707 Dewitt Avenue) on Nov. 12
“On Sunday, November 12, 2023, at approximately 4:27 PM, the Alexandria Police Department responded to a call for service regarding a stabbing,” APD said in a release. “Upon arrival, APD officers found a 38-year-old male who died inside the location.”
Scanner traffic indicated that APD found the suspect at a nearby Exxon station just before 5 p.m.
Negatu’s murder was the seventh homicide in Alexandria.
APD said the investigation is still active and anyone with information is asked to contact Detective M. Kramarik via phone at 703 746 6650, email at [email protected], or call the non-emergency line at 703 746 4444.
