Washington, D.C
D.C. Mayor Submits Plan for City to Buy Capital One Arena for $88M
After a whirlwind year for Washington, D.C.’s Capital One Arena, officials have gone from nearly losing both the city’s pro basketball and hockey teams less than a year ago, to attempting to buy their home arena outright.
District Mayor Muriel Bowser submitted legislation to the D.C. Council to acquire the arena for $87.5 million, as part of the city’s commitment toward spending $515 million to renovate the arena and part of the surrounding area over the next several years. NBC4 first reported the news of the legislation on Sunday.
Under the bill, D.C. would buy the arena from Monumental Sports & Entertainment, which also owns the Wizards and Capitals, and then lease it back to Monumental for $1.5 million per year. The lease would run until 2050 with five four-year extension options. If all of those renewal options are greenlighted, rent will increase to $3.3 million during the final renewal term. D.C. already owns the land on which the arena is built.
Monumental said that it would also spend $285 million toward the improvements, along with the $87.5 million arena sale proceeds, making the renovation budget a cool $800 million in public and private funds.
“We know that when our downtown does well, our city does well,” Bowser said in a statement Monday. “This catalytic investment is an investment in our residents and businesses in all eight wards.”
Bowser’s plan to buy the arena extends a stunning reversal in good fortune since Monumental founder and Chairman Ted Leonsis and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced in December that the teams would move across the Potomac, once the company’s ground lease in D.C. expired in 2027. Yet Virginia’s General Assembly ultimately opted not to approve the plan, which would’ve cost some $1.5 billion in taxpayer funds toward the construction of a 9 million-square-foot entertainment district in Alexandria’s Potomac Yard neighborhood.
Bowser and Leonsis quickly negotiated the $515 million deal in the aftermath. The deal will include 200,000 square feet of “newly programmed space” at the arena and at the adjacent Gallery Place building, a new practice facility for the Wizards, safety and logistics upgrades, expedited permitting processes, improvements to the alley joining the arena to the rest of the Gallery Place neighborhood, and other terms.
Bowser’s team and Monumental on Monday said that the improvements were expected to be finished in time for the 2027-2028 sports season.
“The delivery of a brand-new arena marks the next significant investment Monumental Sports is making in the revitalization of Downtown D.C., and we will build a best-in-class experience for fans, a world-class destination facility for athletes, and continue to serve as a downtown anchor for economic vitality,” Leonsis said in a statement. “Our vision for a wholly reimagined sports and entertainment destination will be ambitious, reflective of our community, and designed to ‘wow’ our most ardent supporters as well as casual fans.”
Nick Trombola can be reached at ntrombola@commercialobserver.com.
WASHINGTON (7News) — A man was stabbed to death in Northwest D.C. early Saturday morning, according to D.C. police.
SEE ALSO | Police shoot knife-wielding individual at Fairfax Wawa
Officers responded to the 2900 block of 14th Street NW shortly before 1:00 a.m., where the victim was pronounced dead at the scene.
SEE ALSO | Teen hospitalized following Friday night shooting in northeast D.C.
Anyone with information about the incident is urged to contact the police at (202) 727-9099 or text a tip to 50411.
Additional details were not immediately available.
4 things to know about the weather:
- Beneficial rain
- Muggy, warm temperatures to start the weekend
- Scattered afternoon showers & a few storms again Saturday
- Drier and nice for Sunday
There’s a 40% chance of showers and a few storms in the afternoon and evening Saturday.
Sunday looks like it will bring the best weather of the weekend. We’ll start to see some cooler, drier air come in.
Big-time heat may be coming right back to the D.C. area by Wednesday of next week.
Weather radar
Download the NBC Washington app on iOS and Android to check the weather radar on the go.
10-day forecast
QuickCast
SATURDAY:
Partly sunny
Muggy
Scattered showers & storms (40% chance)
Highs: middle 80s
SUNDAY:
Decreasing clouds
Lower humidity
Highs: mid 80s
MONDAY:
Mostly sunny
Highs: upper 80s
SUNSET: 8:35 p.m.
AVERAGE HIGH: 89° // AVERAGE low: 72°
Stay with Storm Team4 for the latest forecast. Download the NBC Washington app on iOS and Android to get severe weather alerts on your phone.
Washington, D.C., has been a popular spot this summer, especially since it’s the nation’s 250th anniversary. And it’s where many Grand Canyon University students have traveled, including the campus’s student body leaders.
Associated Students of GCU President Judah Floyd and Vice President Gracie Zimbardi traveled to Washington, D.C., to participate in the Campus Victory Forum conference and celebrate the country’s 250th anniversary of signing the Declaration of Independence.
“It was a humbling opportunity to be able to represent GCU and be poured into by so many admirable Christian leaders,” Floyd said. “It reminds me of the leader I want to be as a Christ follower and as someone who’s been put in a position to have influence on the students of GCU.”
The three-day conference was organized by Campus Victory, an organization empowering collegiate leaders to step into civic engagement. It featured workshops, sessions and activities that equipped students with practical tools to step into their leadership roles.
Roughly 250 student leaders from universities all around the country traveled to the nation’s capital for the conference, where they met and heard from politicians and community leaders, including U.S. Rep. Eli Crane of Arizona.
He addressed the young crowd with a personal testimony about his experience in public leadership and gave an empowering message from 1 Timothy 4:12, which reads, “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.”
He encouraged students to boldly press on in their positions despite their young age.
Sharing a home state with Crane was made extra special to Floyd and Zimbardi when Crane invited all Arizona students backstage to meet and have conversations with him.
“He was phenomenal,” Zimbardi said. “He talked about how being firm in our faith is so important in this time, and though we are young leaders, we do have the knowledge, experience and people to look up to, so use it. It was so inspiring to hear from him.”
When sessions concluded, students explored significant landmarks, including memorials, museums, and federal and local government buildings.
Everything was decked out in red, white and blue, with flags and banners hanging everywhere to commemorate the milestone anniversary.
Celebratory events unfolded one after another on Independence Day, finishing with the largest fireworks show in history. Some 850,000 pyrotechnic effects were detonated over 40 minutes, with thousands gathered for the once-in-a-lifetime event.
Floyd waited five hours in line to attend Salute to America 250, which concluded yearlong celebratory festivities. The six-hour event on the National Mall featured presidential remarks, musical performances and military flyovers.
“President Donald Trump talked about how America is really a land of people of faith and people who overcome challenges time after time,” Floyd said. “It really rekindled in us the spirit of liberty that we all carry as Americans and the importance of defending that liberty for generations to come.”
Military veterans were brought onstage and honored for their commitment to serving the country. Flags from every generation of America were displayed, and singer Lee Greenwood led the crowd in singing “God Bless the U.S.A.”
The World Cup was happening at the same time. While Floyd and Zimbardi were in Washington, D.C., they witnessed another level of patriotism when a Team USA vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina watch party, complete with a projector screen, was organized in front of the U.S. Congress.
“Thousands of people all wearing U.S.A. jerseys were shouting and screaming and spraying water in the sky when we scored a goal. It was deafening,” Floyd said.
As the start of academic year approaches, Floyd and Zimbardi’s tenure as student body president and vice president will soon commence.
The duo said that participating in the Campus Victory Forum conference, networking with student body presidents and vice presidents from other universities, and witnessing everyone’s patriotism prepared them to lead with passion and boldness.
“It means a lot to me that someone in this organization thought of us, GCU, and said, ‘We need them there.’ Zimbardi said. “It was really unique hearing from other students about how they do things at other universities.
“We got to sit down and spitball back and forth. We talked about things like, ‘Wow, that’s what works for you? We are struggling in that area, do you mind if we try it?’ Having conversations like that is extremely helpful, and it is cool how unified we can all become.”
***
Related content:
GCU News: Ingram Honors students visit nation’s capital in honor of its 250th anniversary
GCU News: Critical Mass in harmony with national jubilee of prayer in Washington, D.C.
-
Lifestyle9 minutes agoAzar Nafisi on the movie adaptation of ‘Reading Lolita in Tehran’
-
Technology21 minutes agoAfter years of teasing, the viral Nopia synth is ‘basically finished’
-
World24 minutes agoBeloved musicians among victims in deadly Bahamas plane crash; aviation authority grounds flights
-
Politics29 minutes agoTrump-aligned House holdouts accused of holding ‘life-saving’ veterans bill ‘hostage’ over SAVE America Act
-
Health36 minutes agoSimple sitting change linked to lower risk of cancer death, study finds
-
Sports38 minutes agoGolf star records lowest round in LPGA major history with astounding performance at Evian Championship
-
Technology44 minutes agoMeta Verified scam threatens Facebook deletion
-
Business51 minutes agoMeta discontinues Instagram feature on new AI image generation tool after Hollywood backlash
