(Updated at 12:05 p.m.) The Virginia House of Delegates on Friday printed an updated version of the bill establishing the Virginia Stadium Authority, which would own and finance construction of the $2 billion Potomac Yard arena and entertainment district.
While the Senate version of the bill is still in the Senate Committee on Finance and Appropriations, the House version stipulates that a 15-member Virginia Stadium Authority board would be made up of:
While the Potomac Yard arena has faced a significant amount of scorn and public scrutiny, the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce threw its support behind the arena.
In a release, the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce — also called Chamber ALX — said the arena is a positive opportunity for the city.
If Alexandria’s tentative deal to see a sports arena and entertainment district built in north Potomac Yard, it must include a rehabilitation and renovation fund, Mayor Justin Wilson said Monday night.
Wilson told the Alexandria Democratic Committee that the agreement, which is still in its initial planning stages with Monumental Sports, needs a funding source to account for the wear and tear that time and throngs of annual visitors will have on the arena and numerous planned amenities. The renovation fund is included in Alexandria’s deal with Monumental Sports.
(Updated 6:20 p.m.) After a few years on backburner, plans to remediate and redevelop Vulcan Materials — an industrial site near the Van Dorn Metro station — could be reheating.
An application filed by the Lennar Corporation and Potomac Land Group II LLC with the City of Alexandria calls for the remediation of the existing site to create a new mixed-use development. The new project features a hotel facing S. Van Dorn Street, retail, condominiums, townhouses, two-over-two units and a six-acre park along Backlick Run dedicated to the city.
Plans for Robinson Terminal North, one of the last missing pieces of Alexandria’s aspirations for a contiguous waterfront, are headed to city review next month.
The development, first reported last November, involves a multifamily residential building with ground-floor retail and a restaurant. The project is headed to the Board of Architectural Review on Wednesday, Feb. 21.
At a meeting this weekend, Alexandria’s City Council unanimously approved an affordable housing redevelopment for seniors despite pushback from neighbors.
While many projects in Old Town come under fire from neighbors for being too tall, the Ladrey redevelopment is creating a shorter building but one more spread out across 600 N. Fairfax Street.
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.
A Del Ray restaurant is planning on expanding its footprint with a 750-square foot patio addition.
Noe Landini, owner of Junction Bakery & Bistro (1508 Mount Vernon Avenue), wants to build on the northern end of the restaurant on a repurposed area of the parking lot used for outdoor seating the last several years.
First National Bank is coming to 704 King Street in Old Town.
The 4,200-square-foot retail building has been vacant since Nando’s Peri-Peri moved from the location last July.
(Updated 5:25 p.m.) The owner of an aging office building in Old Town North wants it converted into a 136-unit apartment building, and credits the decision to the “ongoing and diminished office market and current high vacancy rate.”
The five-story, 112,000-square-foot office building was built in 1983. It’s owned by Principal Life Insurance Co. of Des Moines, Iowa, and managed by PF III Abingdon LLC, an affiliate of the D.C.-based real estate investment firm the Pinkard Group.
Inova Alexandria Hospital is currently a 318-bed community hospital. Once it opens its new hospital in Landmark in 2028, it’ll be a 192-bed hospital.
At a City Council meeting last week, Councilwoman Alyia Gaskins raised concerns from the community about the loss of beds in the new development. Dr. Rina Bansal, president of Inova Alexandria Hospital, said the decrease in beds is part of making services more efficient.
