D.C. Mayor Bowser’s decade in office has seen Audi Field and the CareFirst Arena (formerly the ESA) built, and a half-billion dollar pledge to help renovate Capital One Arena – and now, it seems, around a billion dollars over the course of several years to help facilitate a new Commanders stadium at the RFK site.
However, DC Council Chair Phil Mendelson told Grant & Danny Monday afternoon he wasn’t sure the deal would pass as is if it were voted on today, and Ward 1 Council member Brianne K. Nadeau made a statement Wednesday signifying opposition – so how does the Mayor feel about getting the seven Council votes necessary to ratify the deal?
And, as much as she knows some Council members are worried about cost, the fact that the Harris group is putting up the largest single private investment in DC’s history at over 75% of the total coast is part of what makes this, as she called it, a ‘win-win-win’ for the team, the city, and the fans.
“My impression of Josh Harris and the group that he's put together is that they mean business, they're fair, and they mean what they say.
When I sat across a table from Josh early on, and I think we both kind of locked arms around this site, we knew that we had to advance a great deal for the city, and they knew they had to advance a great deal for their group that was feasible, from a business perspective, and we would both do the right thing for our teams,” Mayor Bowser said. “We share a value of doing what's right by the city, and all markets are different, but we think it's fair that the team invest in the stadium and the city invests in the infrastructure in a public parcel, like we have done across all eight Wards. Not many of our public parcels come with a ready-made anchor tenant, but these 180 acres have a head start, and I think that bodes well for the successful completion of 180 acres.”
Bowser said the money will be invested from the city’s capital budget, similar to Capital One Arena’s pledge where D.C. will own the site and the team would be a tenant responsible for all the construction and maintenance, but there will be no cuts from the proposed city budget in other areas to be able to fund it.
“Relative to everything else we do for the city, we think it's a legitimate part of the $10 billion capital expense,” Bowser said. “In this city, we have our own experience of transforming old federal parcels into vibrant places, like the wharf. It will have a stadium, but it will be surrounded by a mix of uses that are vibrant and active 365 days a year. It’s a once-in a-generation opportunity in the nation's capital.”
Listen to Mayor Bowser’s full visit with The Junkies above!