DC Council greenlights $515 million for Capital One Arena and Chinatown makeover

With the hopes of reimagining Gallery Place and Chinatown into an entertainment district, the Council of the District of Columbia approved $515 million in appropriations on Tuesday to help transform Capital One Arena. However, some councilmembers are wary after seeing Mayor Muriel Bowser‘s provisional agreement with Ted Leonsis, the CEO of Monumental Sports and Entertainment, which owns the Washington Wizards and the Washington Capitals.

The vote on the measure, made without the chance for public comment, came a day before Bowser finalized the city’s fiscal 2025 budget. Balancing the budget was a challenge, with the mayor implementing a sales tax increase and cutting programs for job training and the early development fund. However, funds for the Capital One Arena’s renovation will come from the district’s capital budget.

“We are grateful to the Council for passing legislation that builds a true partnership between the District and Monumental Sports to revitalize downtown in an integrated way for our fans and the community,” MSE officials said in a statement. “Our shared vision for a transformational entertainment district that is a destination for neighbors and visitors will ensure the vibrancy of downtown for years to come.”

Some councilmembers worry the mayor conceded too much bargaining power over to Leonsis, whose plans to move the teams to Alexandria, Virginia, fell through.

The 14-page agreement between Bowser and Leonsis includes a measure exempting MSE from any future taxes that would benefit another sports franchise. This would include a hypothetical tax that could be levied on businesses to build a new football stadium.

Some of the provisions, such as expediting MSE’s application for clean-energy renovation projects, could incur additional costs on top of the $515 million and cut into resources for a city program that subsidizes affordable housing projects.

“That is a program that has a cap on what is available every year,” Councilman Charles Allen said. “So every dollar we now are sending to Monumental for the arena is a dollar we’re not investing in affordable housing somewhere else.”

The agreement also addresses Leonsis’s concern for public safety around the arena. In order to ease the owner’s worries, D.C. would create a public safety plan before events and dedicate 17 officers for patrol two hours before and after events. While new police staffing expectations are in line with Nationals Park, Councilman Zachary Parker wonders how it will affect an already strained police force.

The provisions leave councilmembers worrying if the city would see a worthy return on its investment.

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“We want Monumental to be here, but we also don’t just want to give up everything and the kitchen sink,” Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie said. “This is not a rubber stamp of terms that we don’t yet know.”

The meeting was met with a protest led by Save Chinatown Solidarity Network, which argued that if the city has half a million dollars to finance a sports team owner, then the city should be investing in the several hundred residents in Chinatown and their businesses.