Reply to Wizards and Caps could be moving to Potomac Yard

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]But Chinatown hasn't changed, right guys?

https://www.wusa9.com/article/money/business/clydes-email-threaten-to-close-crime-not-addressed-in-dc/65-0d63f5c4-b736-4d38-9ec3-08af2f4548fe
[/quote]

Our business is enjoying record profits right now (despite the problems in Gallery Place) but we may close when the teams move.

If the crime were such an issue, that particular location wouldn't be very profitable, now would it?[/quote]

Wasn't China town well known for the highest national theft from the Loft or whatever retailer was there? The losses were being absorbed by the parent company, obviously.

I don't understand the transportation arguments. I don't find the Capitol One Arena easy to get to at all from NOVA.[/quote]

The transportation argument is pretty straightforward. Gallery Place is literally in the middle of the entire metropolitan region. The arena sits on 3 metro lines and is a block from the other three. In other words, no matter where in the region you are, you can get there by metro very easily. Add to it that it sits in the middle of an urban grid with buildings all around that provide parking, so if you decide to drive there, there is ample parking in the vicinity, and if you want to park closer and deal with post game traffic, you can, if you want to park further away and have the walk but not post game traffic, you have those options. Union station is a few blocks away so you can bus/train etc there pretty easily.

Compare that to the proposed location that basically is only served by Route 1, which, right now, today, is a traffic nightmare and particularly during rush hour, when presumably, most fans would be trying to get to a game on a weeknight. The site is served near the end of the blue/yellow line, which means that anyone trying to metro from points north and west would need to transfer in Rossyln or one of the downtown stations. As such, most people trying to metro to a game will have at least a half hour more of travel time each way, even people in Fairfax who would need to take the orange/silver and transfer to the Blue. If you live in Silver Spring or north, or west, you are adding even more time.

In other words, while the location is somewhat in the middle of the region if you zoom out on a map, for practical purposes, there isn't the infrastructure - either road or public transit, for most people to get to the site in an efficient manner. That will deter the average fan from coming, particularly to weeknight games and for people who have ticket plans, the added 1+ hour of travel time makes attending games and getting home at a reasonable hour almost impossible.

And to add insult to injury, Metro is in a financial straights right now in the post COVID environment, and Virginia and Gov. Youngkin specifically, have refused to offer to fill its 1/3 of the shortfall to maintain service, so with that Metro is proposing cuts that includes suspending services to the lowest performing metro stations (which includes Potomac Yards) and many bus lines. So, if the governor isn't willing to commit state funds to cover the shortfall, then that metro station won't even be in service to serve the new arena.

And...that new station was designs for 10,000 or so trips per day, not 16,000 trips in an hour, so it will require about $300M to upgrade it the way DC paid to upgrade both Gallery Place and Navy Yard stations to accommodate a professional sports venue surge of use.
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You can take a party ferry from MD to Alexandria.[/quote]

And then once in Alexandria, how do you get to the new Arena? You have to make your way, along with thousands of others, up Route 1.[/quote]

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