What's in Potomac Yard's post-arena future
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
The site of the previously proposed arena in Potomac Yard. Photo: Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Months after Virginia's Wizards and Capitals arena deal died, a big question remains: What's next for Potomac Yard?
Why it matters: It's a large, valuable chunk of land with close proximity to D.C. and a new $370 million Metro stop that sits in what Alexandria and Arlington are trying to establish as an innovation corridor, thanks to nearby Amazon HQ2 and Virginia Tech's forthcoming Innovation Campus.
- Plus, Alexandria needs more commercial growth to diversify its tax base and alleviate the burden placed on homeowners.
Alexandria Economic Development Partnership CEO Stephanie Landrum puts it simply: "There will be another project. There has to be another project. The vision for Potomac Yard is not what it is today."
A pipeline of parties is still interested in developing Potomac Yard, says Landrum. The economic growth group wants to prioritize ideas that use the space for in-person experiences that aren't offices, she tells Axios — think: entertainment, culture, health and wellness, hospitality, and higher-ed.
- "Our vision remains consistent. We want to see a commercial use that values the Metro and that can jumpstart the larger redevelopment vision of Potomac Yard, which is to tear down the shopping center and to build a very urban mix of uses."
Context: The shopping center at Potomac Yard was always supposed to be temporary, with the expectation that it and the surrounding area would eventually be developed into denser, mixed-use space.
- For instance, back in 2020, plans were approved to turn the vacant lots by the Potomac Yard Metro into several buildings with a mix of residential, office, or retail.
- But, with the pandemic torpedoing the desirability of office space, the need for a new, experiential-heavy use arrived — hence the attractiveness of the arena proposal to involved parties.
State of play: Now that the arena deal is no more, the land currently available for development is much smaller: just those vacant lots where the arena would have stood, not the Target shopping center included in the original arena pitch — a drop from 70 acres to just 12.
The proposed arena deal was so enticing that JBG Smith — the company that owns much of Potomac Yard, including the shopping center — was going to negotiate with the flagship tenant Target to move it to another location so the center could be revamped, too.
- But with the deal off the table, the shopping center's future is uncertain as Target finishes out its 20-year lease.
What they're saying: JBG Smith is working with the city and neighbors to "evaluate creative ways" to bring housing, commercial space, and "community-serving amenities that grow great neighborhoods," according to a spokesperson.
Meanwhile, development elsewhere in the neighborhood is already underway at Oakville Triangle, a 1 million-square-foot, mixed-use project southwest of the proposed arena site.
- Expect apartments and townhomes, an Inova ambulatory care center, restaurants like Founding Farmers and Dok Khao Thai Eatery, and a YogaSix location.
Plus: The first building of Virginia Tech's $1 billion Innovation Campus is slated to open next spring.
And eventually, Landrum expects that the land west of Richmond Highway and north of Oakville Triangle — now a strip of mostly auto shops and retailers — will be redeveloped, too.
Yes, but: Don't expect any Potomac Yard development to include the kind of transportation overhaul introduced as part of the arena planning.
- Such changes are no longer necessary as the area won't be experiencing the concentrated pedestrian influxes tied to an arena, says Landrum.