What happened to the ‘Monumental Move’ in Virginia? It depends on who you ask
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ALEXANDRIA, Va. (DC News Now) — Ask different people who were at the announcement of the “Monumental Move” last year that would have brought the Washington Wizards and Capitals’ new arena to Potomac Yard about what went wrong and you may get several different answers.
The hype of the move is officially over less than four months after it was announced. Alexandria opted against continuing negotiations and the finger-pointing has already begun.
Monumental’s move of Wizards, Capitals could have severe economic impact on DC businesses
In a video statement announcing the end of negotiations, Alexandria Mayor Justin Wilson was not thrilled.
“We are disappointed this proposal was not able to be thoughtfully considered on its merits by legislators, stakeholders and ultimately not by our community. It got caught up in partisan warfare in Richmond,” Wilson said in the video.
Meanwhile, Alexandria’s vice mayor — who was in attendance for the December 2023 announcement — criticized the project itself in the wake of its defeat.
“The more I heard and researched this, I knew the arena was not a sound investment for our city,” Amy Jackson said in a post on X, formerly Twitter. In the post, she thanked the Coalition to Stop the Arena advocates.
When you ask those advocates, they blamed both the project and the way it was rolled out.
“I think it was a real mistake to try to sort of foist it on the residents without providing any of the basic information about the impacts or how they would fix it,” said Andrew Macdonald, who organized the opposition group.
The biggest legislative roadblock was Sen. Louise Lucas, (D-Portsmouth) who celebrated the deal’s demise on social media after the announcement. She ensured the deal, which she strongly opposed, never made it through the state senate.
“This is a freakin legendary smackdown,” she said in a post on X.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin, for whom the arena deal would have been a massive legislative victory, blamed “personal and political agendas” for the deal falling through.
“This should have been our deal and our opportunity, all the General Assembly had to do was say: ‘thank you, Monumental, for wanting to come to Virginia and create $12 billion of economic investment, let’s work it out,'” he said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Majority Leader Scott Surovell, (D-Fairfax County), pushed back and blamed the governor.
“The failure of this deal falls squarely on Governor Glenn Youngkin,” he said in a statement. “By the time this deal was brought to the table it was essentially non-negotiable, even for myself as the bill’s sponsor.”
DC News Now spoke with Stephanie Landrum after the negotiations ended. Landrum, the president and CEO of the Alexandria Economic Development Partnership, said she would handle large-scale projects that need state approval differently in the future.
“I would have a very blunt conversation with leaders in the state and say, ‘We’re not willing to put the time, energy and money into bringing prospects forward if we can’t have the commitment from the state that a process will be run,'” she said.
Art of the deal: How Mayor Bowser’s negotiations kept Wizards, Capitals in DC
Ted Leonsis, CEO of Monumental Sports & Entertainment, said he does not regret not meeting with Lucas until the late stages of the process.
On Wednesday, Leonsis signed an agreement to keep the two sports teams at Capital One Arena in D.C., with more than half-a-billion dollars coming from the District to the arena for renovations.
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