Wizards and Caps could be moving to Potomac Yard

[Anonymous]

Boondoggle. The only good live regular season sports are football because it’s an event and baseball because the venue can be spectacular like Camden Yards and it’s a laid back family friendly environment and game. Regular season nba is so boring hockey is a little better with the winter atmosphere but both sports half -ass it with too many meaningless games. If somebody even gave me on court seats for wizards I might not go if I have anything else to do. Playoffs are good but that’s a very rare ticket in DC for our moribund teams.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:This deal is not done, so DC has some hope. Lets pressure the Mayor and DC Council to move aggressively and quickly. Both are important.

Or they can sit back and let the Virginia House of Delegates reject a bad deal, and maybe have a staffer take Teddy’s call when he comes crawling back.

That is not likley if Alexandria is on board.

If I were an Alexandria taxpayer, I would be furious over this.

As an Alexandria taxpayer I like this. City of Alexandria needs to diversify its tax revenue and this will help. Original plans for Potomac Yard envisioned more office buildings in that section, but there’s little demand for new office space and Alexandria is leading the country in office to residential conversions. This whole entertainment district will generate a lot of tax revenue for Alexandria—much more than the empty lots that are currently there.

+1 And we need the money. More restaurants are closing and the associations have left. It’s nice to have to have a tax revenue stream coming from something other than real estate taxes.

The idea that this MD resident will head to PY to eat a meal or watch a performance is zero. I have been to National Harbour exactly once since its opening, as it has no attraction to me either. The good news of course is that I will have more money to spend because I will not be attending Caps games or an occasional Wizards games.

This makes me think you live in DC and don’t get out much. Alexandria traffic is filled with MD tags. Lots of MD people even cross the bridge to use the area’s daycares.

I assure you PY will have no issues attracting Marylanders for games and such. They’re already here.

I lived in Old Town for over 15 years so am very familiar with the infrastructure. There are no transpo solutions here. And the Caps fans that I have talked to in the last week are not supportive of the move. Attending a Caps game today is 4 hours door to door. Attending a Caps game in PY will be a good hour longer, with much more unpredictable traffic.

[Anonymous]

Commuting from Alexandria to DC (and vice versa) is horrible. Metro would be the only option.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:This deal is not done, so DC has some hope. Lets pressure the Mayor and DC Council to move aggressively and quickly. Both are important.

The city has offered $500M with unanimous support of the council. The city doesn't have 70 acres to offer Ted as a counter to Virginia.

I am not sure what more you want them to do.

To start, pass the legislation, and have it signed. Not talk about it. Then, look for other features to retain the teams. Ted wants office space, so DC should find an office building near Capital One Arena. Be creative on practice space. Maybe, add hockey to or nearby the Wizards/Mystics current practice facilities. But be aggressive.

There is plenty of commercial real estate available near the arena. That isn't what Ted wants. He wants "a complex" that he owns and controls, that is more than an arena and front offices. he wants what Virginia has promised. the council passing the 500 million dollar bond bill won't sway the deal, because DC cannot offer what Ted wants.

The question is, can virginia politics deliver? I don't see where democrats in the assembly are interested in subsidizing billionaires, and there certainly isn't any good will between Youngkin and the Assembly. And...I am not sure Alexandria is going to want to be on the hook for 9 figures of bond liability.

I think this gets at the crux of the matter. Leonsis wants to own the land under the stadium so he can control how it is developed and used. Right now, he pays DC an artificially low rent of $300K per year until 2027. Then his rent is going to get jacked up and he’s at the mercy of the DC government.

He’s trying to make a move ahead of 2027 while he still has the upper hand. I don’t think he will be happy with the FBI site either, since there’s no way the federal government relinquishes control of the underlying land.

This is about control and power. And Leonsis doesn’t want to have to answer to a government landlord.

It was apparent two years ago that the DC economy is in serious trouble. If DC had made him an attractive offer a year ago then Youngkin would have not had time to put together a fairly complicated proposal requiring buy in from multiple parties. That’s the point. Our leaders failed. They had no sense of urgency. No vision. This is what happens when we elect “community activists” 100% of the time with no private sector experience.

I disagree. Youngkin and Leonsis are old friends and part of the northern Virginia business community. This deal was years in the making, not weeks or months. Ted was continuing to try to extract more from DC while working out this deal with Youngkin. Once the framework of 70 open acres was in the discussion, there was no way DC was going to be able to compete.

This is a lazy response. DC could have been more aggressive two years ago but they were slow playing it until the Commanders ownership situation was resolved. Thats why they didn’t put their “best and final” offer on the table until the night before the PY press conference. It was desperate and amateurish. Totally on brand for our unimpressive leaders. And it didn’t help that Ted’s employees and customers are continually assaulted and robbed.

Government, at least around here, doesn't do anything until the last possible second. Due dates are meaningless. Remember, it's not late if it is in the door and on the desk before the COB--It's on time

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Boondoggle. The only good live regular season sports are football because it’s an event and baseball because the venue can be spectacular like Camden Yards and it’s a laid back family friendly environment and game. Regular season nba is so boring hockey is a little better with the winter atmosphere but both sports half -ass it with too many meaningless games. If somebody even gave me on court seats for wizards I might not go if I have anything else to do. Playoffs are good but that’s a very rare ticket in DC for our moribund teams.

Bad product. Football is the tv sport and baseball is the live experience sport. NBA and NHL are minor league.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Commuting from Alexandria to DC (and vice versa) is horrible. Metro would be the only option.

Huh? It's easy. I did it for years. It took me 20 mins in morning, 15 in the evening.

There is so much BS about traffic on here. I commute to and from Alexandria EVERY DAY I'm in the country. I literally have not traffic issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Commuting from Alexandria to DC (and vice versa) is horrible. Metro would be the only option.

Huh? It's easy. I did it for years. It took me 20 mins in morning, 15 in the evening.

There is so much BS about traffic on here. I commute to and from Alexandria EVERY DAY I'm in the country. I literally have not traffic issues.

Then you mus be commuting before 7AM or have a personal hover device.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Commuting from Alexandria to DC (and vice versa) is horrible. Metro would be the only option.

Huh? It's easy. I did it for years. It took me 20 mins in morning, 15 in the evening.

There is so much BS about traffic on here. I commute to and from Alexandria EVERY DAY I'm in the country. I literally have not traffic issues.

Then you mus be commuting before 7AM or have a personal hover device.

Then, you are not using Route 1 during rush hour.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This deal is not done, so DC has some hope. Lets pressure the Mayor and DC Council to move aggressively and quickly. Both are important.

Maybe, in the general confusion of municipalities falling over themselves, Elrich will lay the charm on Ted and get him to see that White Flint is so perfect that he'd forego any municipal/state handout to build the FitzWay Forum. Moore could pitch in by overriding objections to the Lord & Taylor Memorial Sportsbook and Card Room.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Commuting from Alexandria to DC (and vice versa) is horrible. Metro would be the only option.

Huh? It's easy. I did it for years. It took me 20 mins in morning, 15 in the evening.

There is so much BS about traffic on here. I commute to and from Alexandria EVERY DAY I'm in the country. I literally have not traffic issues.

You must be driving at odd hours? I commuted from Alexandria to DC for years, and with the bus to metro transfer, and then the walk, it was easily an hour each way. Admittedly it would have been faster to drive, but also way more expensive with parking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Commuting from Alexandria to DC (and vice versa) is horrible. Metro would be the only option.

Huh? It's easy. I did it for years. It took me 20 mins in morning, 15 in the evening.

There is so much BS about traffic on here. I commute to and from Alexandria EVERY DAY I'm in the country. I literally have not traffic issues.

You must be driving at odd hours? I commuted from Alexandria to DC for years, and with the bus to metro transfer, and then the walk, it was easily an hour each way. Admittedly it would have been faster to drive, but also way more expensive with parking.

DP. I think PP is talking about a reverse commute.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Commuting from Alexandria to DC (and vice versa) is horrible. Metro would be the only option.

Huh? It's easy. I did it for years. It took me 20 mins in morning, 15 in the evening.

There is so much BS about traffic on here. I commute to and from Alexandria EVERY DAY I'm in the country. I literally have not traffic issues.

Agree your commute must not be between typical hours.

It takes me 20 minutes from 66 to that Rt 1 bridge, at 4pm. And that's only when people are paying attention to lights and not on their phones, slowing things down for everyone when the light turns green. Or when construction doesn't randomly shut down 1 lane.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This deal is not done, so DC has some hope. Lets pressure the Mayor and DC Council to move aggressively and quickly. Both are important.

Or they can sit back and let the Virginia House of Delegates reject a bad deal, and maybe have a staffer take Teddy’s call when he comes crawling back.

That is not likley if Alexandria is on board.

If I were an Alexandria taxpayer, I would be furious over this.

As an Alexandria taxpayer I like this. City of Alexandria needs to diversify its tax revenue and this will help. Original plans for Potomac Yard envisioned more office buildings in that section, but there’s little demand for new office space and Alexandria is leading the country in office to residential conversions. This whole entertainment district will generate a lot of tax revenue for Alexandria—much more than the empty lots that are currently there.

lol all the tax revenues generated by the project will be used to pay off the hundreds of millions in bond debt that Alexandria will owe to creditors as a result of pitching in to build the facility. Your mayor just sold Alexandria to the bond market for the next 20+ years all while knowing he won’t have to answer to the voters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This deal is not done, so DC has some hope. Lets pressure the Mayor and DC Council to move aggressively and quickly. Both are important.

Or they can sit back and let the Virginia House of Delegates reject a bad deal, and maybe have a staffer take Teddy’s call when he comes crawling back.

That is not likley if Alexandria is on board.

If I were an Alexandria taxpayer, I would be furious over this.

As an Alexandria taxpayer I like this. City of Alexandria needs to diversify its tax revenue and this will help. Original plans for Potomac Yard envisioned more office buildings in that section, but there’s little demand for new office space and Alexandria is leading the country in office to residential conversions. This whole entertainment district will generate a lot of tax revenue for Alexandria—much more than the empty lots that are currently there.

lol all the tax revenues generated by the project will be used to pay off the hundreds of millions in bond debt that Alexandria will owe to creditors as a result of pitching in to build the facility. Your mayor just sold Alexandria to the bond market for the next 20+ years all while knowing he won’t have to answer to the voters.

Don’t see anything wrong with the revenue from the project being used to pay off bond debt that helped build it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This deal is not done, so DC has some hope. Lets pressure the Mayor and DC Council to move aggressively and quickly. Both are important.

Or they can sit back and let the Virginia House of Delegates reject a bad deal, and maybe have a staffer take Teddy’s call when he comes crawling back.

That is not likley if Alexandria is on board.

If I were an Alexandria taxpayer, I would be furious over this.

As an Alexandria taxpayer I like this. City of Alexandria needs to diversify its tax revenue and this will help. Original plans for Potomac Yard envisioned more office buildings in that section, but there’s little demand for new office space and Alexandria is leading the country in office to residential conversions. This whole entertainment district will generate a lot of tax revenue for Alexandria—much more than the empty lots that are currently there.

lol all the tax revenues generated by the project will be used to pay off the hundreds of millions in bond debt that Alexandria will owe to creditors as a result of pitching in to build the facility. Your mayor just sold Alexandria to the bond market for the next 20+ years all while knowing he won’t have to answer to the voters.

Don’t see anything wrong with the revenue from the project being used to pay off bond debt that helped build it.

Right, but Alexandria would be on the hook if the rosy projections of concession and ticket sales do not cover the obligation. Given the difficulty of the location (ie the transportation issues) this is a real risk.