JBG SMITH Releases Statement on Potomac Yard Entertainment District Proposal
27 Mars 2024 - 11:15PM
Business Wire
JBG SMITH (NYSE: JBGS) today issued a statement on the Potomac
Yard Entertainment District.
Statement from Matt Kelly, CEO, JBG SMITH to stakeholders:
Dear JBG SMITH Stakeholders:
In December, we announced plans to develop an
entertainment district in Potomac Yard, anchored by the Washington
Capitals, Washington Wizards and the Monumental Sports &
Entertainment corporate headquarters. Today it was announced that
discussions between Monumental, Alexandria and the Commonwealth of
Virginia have been terminated. While we had made great strides in
advancing the project’s transportation plan, overall design and
financing structure, the opportunity was derailed largely due to
partisan politics and, most troubling, the influence of special
interests and potential pay-to-play influences within the Virginia
legislature.
This was a once-in-a-generation opportunity
to build a world-class arena and entertainment district at Potomac
Yard and to realize the vision of that community as a dense,
mixed-use neighborhood. We are thankful to those who made the
opportunity possible in the first place, especially Monumental
Sports. We are also thankful to our local partners, specifically
the City of Alexandria and its City Council, Alexandria Economic
Development Partnership, and the Governor’s office, and the many
public supporters along the way who engaged in thoughtful dialogue
about how to move this important opportunity forward.
Despite our best efforts, this project was
unable to get a fair hearing on its merits with the Virginia
Senate. It is now clear that our efforts may have been complicated
and ultimately blocked, in part, by special interests seeking to
move the Monumental arena to Tysons Corner and to combine it with a
casino. The Washington Post and other outlets have reported on this
scheme and the hundreds of thousands of dollars, enormous sums in
Virginia politics, of political contributions associated with it –
a large portion of which were directed to key senate leaders. When
one follows the money, the implications are deeply troubling for
Virginia and for the future of transparency in economic development
pursuits, especially those that seek certainty through the now
damaged MEI legislative process.
Beyond the arena, state and local governments
will lose needed tax revenue, economic development credibility, and
what could have been Virginia’s last best chance to land a
professional sports franchise for at least a generation. Economic
development and growth thrive on transparency and predictability.
The scheming and special interests that plagued this opportunity in
the Virginia legislature will no doubt cause future employers and
the next Monumental to question whether their opportunity will get
a fair hearing.
This opportunity also brought with it the
potential to add tens of thousands of jobs and needed housing
units, including 1,000 units of affordable housing preservation in
Alexandria which we had pledged as part of the arena proposal.
Traffic and transportation investments, including possible Metro
funding, are also likely gone. Instead, the existing
surface-parked, single story shopping center on the site will
remain through the remaining 20-year term of the Target lease and
development on the remaining land will likely be far less dense. To
say we are disappointed is an understatement; we are disgusted with
the back-room-dealing and opaque scheming that took place as this
played out.
With this chapter now closed, we will
continue to pursue alternate uses and amenities to further develop
our sites adjacent to the Virginia Tech Innovation Campus. We will
also continue to work tirelessly to attract business and customers
to the Commonwealth of Virginia and the local communities in which
we invest, and most importantly we will always conduct ourselves in
a manner in which we and our stakeholders can be proud. We thank
you for your continued trust and confidence.
About JBG SMITH
JBG SMITH owns, operates, invests in, and develops mixed-use
properties in high growth and high barrier-to-entry submarkets in
and around Washington, DC, most notably National Landing. Through
an intense focus on placemaking, JBG SMITH cultivates vibrant,
amenity-rich, walkable neighborhoods throughout the Washington, DC
metropolitan area. Approximately 75.0% of JBG SMITH's holdings are
in the National Landing submarket in Northern Virginia, which is
anchored by four key demand drivers: Amazon's new headquarters;
Virginia Tech's under-construction $1 billion Innovation Campus;
the submarket’s proximity to the Pentagon; and JBG SMITH’s
deployment of 5G digital infrastructure. JBG SMITH's dynamic
portfolio currently comprises 14.2 million square feet of
high-growth office, multifamily, and retail assets at share, 99% of
which are Metro-served. It also maintains a development pipeline
encompassing 8.8 million square feet of mixed-use, primarily
multifamily, development opportunities. JBG SMITH is committed to
the operation and development of green, smart, and healthy
buildings and plans to maintain carbon neutral operations annually.
For more information on JBG SMITH please visit
www.jbgsmith.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements contained herein may constitute
“forward-looking statements” as such term is defined in Section 27A
of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward-looking
statements are not guarantees of performance. They represent our
intentions, plans, expectations, and beliefs and are subject to
numerous assumptions, risks, and uncertainties. Consequently, the
future results of JBG SMITH Properties (“JBG SMITH” or the
“Company”) may differ materially from those expressed in these
forward-looking statements. You can find many of these statements
by looking for words such as “approximate”, “believes”, “expects”,
“anticipates”, “intends”, “plans”, “would”, “may”, or similar
expressions in this press release. We also note the following
forward-looking statements: lease terms for Target and the
surrounding shopping center; future development plans in Potomac
Yard adjacent to Virginia Tech Innovation Campus; future
transportation investments in the region; lost tax revenue. Many of
the factors that will determine the outcome of these and our other
forward-looking statements, entitlements, and plans are beyond our
ability to control or predict. These factors include, among others:
adverse economic conditions and the political climate in the
Washington, DC metropolitan area, the timing of and costs
associated with development and property improvements, financing
commitments, and general competitive factors. For further
discussion of factors that could materially affect the outcome of
our forward-looking statements and other risks and uncertainties,
see “Risk Factors” and the Cautionary Statement Concerning
Forward-Looking Statements in the Company's Annual Report on Form
10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023 and other periodic
reports the Company files with the Securities and Exchange
Commission. For these statements, we claim the protection of the
safe harbor for forward looking statements contained in the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. You are cautioned not to
place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements. All
subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements attributable
to us or any person acting on our behalf are expressly qualified in
their entirety by the cautionary statements contained or referred
to in this section. We do not undertake any obligation to release
publicly any revisions to our forward-looking statements after the
date hereof.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240327931613/en/
Media Mittie Rooney Rubenstein Executive Vice President
(301) 602-8709 mrooney@rubenstein.com
Samantha Schmieder JBG SMITH Corporate Communications Manager
(240) 333-7706 sschmieder@jbgsmith.com
JBG SMITH Properties (NYSE:JBGS)
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