Developer JBG Smith Announces Major Entertainment District in Northern Virginia (2023)

Washington, D.C. developer JBG Smith announced on December 13, 2023 that, subject to applicable governmental approvals, the company is partnering with Monumental Sports & Entertainment, the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the City of Alexandria to develop a mixed-use Entertainment District, totaling approximately 9 million square feet. The district is going to be anchored by a new arena for the Washington Wizards and Washington Capitals in the Potomac Yard section of National Landing. In addition to the arena, plans call for a global corporate headquarters for Monumental Sports & Entertainment, a Monumental Sports Network media studio, the Wizards practice facility, a performing arts venue, and an expanded esports facility. The massive development will be situated adjacent to the Virginia Tech Innovation Campus, the recently opened Potomac Yard-VT Metro Station, and approximately 8.1 million square feet of future development opportunities.

The development plan calls for the arena to be constructed on a currently unoccupied 12-acre site situated between the Metro entrance and the first phase of the Virginia Tech Innovation Campus. The site is owned by JBG SMITH and its joint venture partner and will be sold to a proposed Virginia Sports and Entertainment Authority. JBG Smith will serve as developer for the corporate MSE headquarters, arena, media studio, performing arts venue, and esports facility. The planned project also calls for significant joint infrastructure investment by the Commonwealth, the City, Monumental, and JBG Smith.

The development of this mixed-use Entertainment District in National Landing adds to JBG Smith’s efforts to reimagine an area of Northern Virginia encompassing the neighborhoods of Potomac Yard, Crystal City, and Pentagon City just across the river from Washington, D.C. It adds an important entertainment component to a vibrant economy already driven by aerospace, technology, government and higher education.

In 2018, Amazon selected JBG Smith and National Landing for its second headquarters after conducting an extensive North American search. In June of this year, Amazon unveiled its 2.1 million square foot headquarters and has hired more than 8,000 employees to date in the region.

In addition to its work with Amazon and Virginia Tech, JBG Smith has 1,583 multifamily units under construction, with 808 on track to deliver in early 2024. The company also expects to triple the number of street level retailers serving National Landing by the end of 2024, before the addition of new retail that would come alongside the arena.