The City of Alexandria announced that it has ended negotiations related to the proposal for the Capitals' new arena in Potomac Yard.
It looks like the Washington Capitals will not be relocating to Alexandria after all.
Justin Wilson, the mayor of the city of Alexandria, announced on Wednesday that the City of Alexandria has ended negotiations related to the Potomac Yard Entertainment District opportunity, putting an end to Monumental Sports and Entertainment's proposal to move the Capitals and Washington Wizards from D.C. to Virginia.
Per The Associated Press, MSE owner and founder Ted Leonsis and D.C. mayor Murial Bowser are agreeing to a $515 million renovation deal to upgrade Capital One Arena and keep the organizations in the District for the long haul.
"As stewards of the City’s economic health and development, City leaders believed the Potomac Yard Entertainment District opportunity was worthy of community discussion and Council consideration," Wilson wrote in a statement. "We negotiated a framework for this opportunity in good faith and participated in the process in Richmond in a way that preserved our integrity. We trusted this process and are disappointed in what occurred between the Governor and General Assembly...
"We engaged in substantial community engagement over the past months that informed our negotiations and would have made the proposal even better for our community. That continued conversation would have also allowed us to consider how a project of this scale could support our plans for growth and our community’s future... We are disappointed negotiations did not result in a proposal that protected our financial interests and respected these community values."
Leonsis had announced plans in December to move MSE's two teams from Captial One Arena to a new arena that would be built in Potomac Yard by 2028.
However, backlash from the community and debate in the Senate, with L. Louise Lucas firing back at Glenn Younkin and the proposal, led to more complications surrounding the plans. A few days ago, D.C. Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb also pointed out to Leonsis that the company is under contract to remain in D.C. until 2047, per The Washington Post.