Virginia Beach:
“A team of businesses behind some of the most successful
sports complexes in the country - including the Barclays Center in Brooklyn and
the Pepsi Center in Denver - proposed Monday to build an 18,000-seat arena in
Virginia Beach and pay for it themselves. Their plan emphasizes what developers
call the need for a major concert venue in Virginia to lure top musical acts,
national political conventions and events such as the Ice Capades and NCAA
tournament basketball. Project officials said the $200 million arena would be
paid for entirely with private money, mostly from a Chinese construction giant,
and would require no taxpayer funding.
The ESG Cos. of Virginia Beach is at the center of the plan,
presented as a counterproposal to one initiated in November by construction
firm W.M. Jordan Co., which involves Beach developer Bruce Thompson as a
consultant. Both proposals would build on city-owned land near the Convention
Center, and both would need major infrastructure improvements by the city.
Last year, an attempt to lure the NBA's Sacramento Kings to
Virginia Beach fizzled when the state legislature refused to spend $150 million
of public money to finance the arena. Virginia Beach spent nearly $1 million
for consultants and public relations.”
~ Writes John Holland of The
Virginian-Pilot
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