ALEXANDRIA, Va. — While Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-Virginia) continues to face opposition over his push to build a $2 billion sports and entertainment district in Alexandria, some businesses are expressing their support.
During his State of the Commonwealth speech on the first day of the Virginia legislative session, Youngkin acknowledged Bill Blackburn, owner of Pork Barrel BBQ in Del Ray and managing partner of HomeGrown Restaurant Group. Youngkin first visited the restaurant a couple of months ago and stayed in contact with Blackburn.
“Small businesses will win too, and one of those businesses is Pork Belly BBQ in the Del Ray neighborhood,” Younking said. “He [Blackburn] knows when opportunity knocks, you should open the door.”
Blackburn said while he has questions about navigating traffic under the proposal, he believes the benefits are too good for the region and Commonwealth to miss.
“It's a once-in-a-generation opportunity to bring two professional sport branches to Virginia,” Blackburn told WUSA9. “There are certainly a lot of questions that need to be answered, but I'm confident that our city and state leaders will be able to figure this out and we'll have a world class facility up the road from us.”
Youngkin said by having Monumental Sports move the Washington Capitals and Wizards to Potomac Yard, Virginia will see a $12 billion economic boost and 30,000 jobs. Blackburn believes his business may not be directly affected, but he’s more excited about what the tax revenue would mean for residents.
“I don't think there's going to be a tremendous amount of game day traffic coming to the restaurants in Del Ray, but I do think a rising tide raises all ships and this is good for our end of Alexandria,” he said.
Monumental Sports pledged up to $403 million up front to pay for the project, while Alexandria would provide more than $100 million for parking and the performing arts venue listed in the proposal.
Virginia lawmakers are still waiting for a bill to introduce a sports authority first, which would issue bonds to Monumental Sports. The company would repay about $1 billion in bonds by new tax revenues from the sports arena and entertainment district.
Some legislators from northern Virginia aren’t convinced by the current plan, saying there’s “not enough meat on the bones.”
“I don’t think the state should be taking all the risk,” Sen. Barbara Favola (D-Arlington County) told WUSA9. “I’m not comfortable with the deal. There’s a lot of public impacts that we have to consider that in fact, would be costly in dollars or massive inconvenience to residents.”
Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria City) said it likely won’t be until February before it’s even considered, depending on the establishment of a sports authority, but for now, he wants more information.
“We need to see exactly how much revenue could be generated for the state and for the city, but we really have to weigh that against the quality-of-life impact of transportation and affordable housing,” Ebbin said.
Meanwhile, Alexandria has released listening sessions for the public to provide their input.
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