JBG Smith JV Unveils 9 MSF Plan for DC Suburbs

JBG Smith, partners are planning an arena-centered project in DC’s Virginia suburbs. Image courtesy of JBG Smith

JBG Smith and partners Monumental Sports & Entertainment, the Commonwealth of Virginia and the City of Alexandria will develop a mixed-use entertainment district ultimately totaling about 9 million square feet and anchored by a new arena for the NBA’s Washington Wizards and the NHL’s Washington Capitals, in the Potomac Yard section of National Landing, JBG Smith announced.

The project remains subject to “definitive documentation and applicable governmental approvals,” the announcement stated.

In addition to the arena, current plans call for a corporate headquarters for Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), a Monumental Sports Network media studio, a practice facility for the Wizards, a performing-arts venue and an e-sports facility. JBG Smith will be the developer for all of these except the practice facility.

The site is adjacent to the $1 billion Virginia Tech Innovation Campus, the recently opened Potomac Yard-VT Metro station, and about 8.1 million square feet of potential future development.

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The arena will be built on a currently unoccupied 12-acre site that’s owned by JBG Smith and its joint venture partner and will be sold to a proposed Virginia Sports and Entertainment Authority.

JBG Smith also is the master developer of about 55 acres surrounding the project, with a total potential development of about 8.1 million square feet, of which JBG Smith owns approximately 1.5 million square feet.

Truly mixed-use

National Landing encompasses parts of the Crystal City and Pentagon City neighborhoods of Arlington County, Va., and the Potomac Yard neighborhood in the city of Alexandria, Va.

In addition to the above-mentioned Virginia Tech Innovation Campus, National Landing is the site of Amazon’s 2.1 million-square-foot HQ2 headquarters, the first phase of which opened in June. JBG Smith also has 1,583 multifamily units under construction there, with 808 on track to deliver in early 2024. And this fall, the developer opened Water Park, a 1.6-acre venue with 11 food and drink concepts, in National Landing.

MSE is the owner of the Wizards, the Capitals and the WNBA’s Washington Mystics, as well as Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., current home of the Wizards and Capitals.