![]() Council approved a special tax on businesses to finance the deal. The arena in January 2006, then known as MCI Center.Ī group of Washington business leaders brokered a deal between Pollin and the District government to build an arena at the Gallery Place site, with the District paying for the $150-million project, which was envisioned to have shopping, food, and exhibitors for daily use even when there was no arena event. In December 1993, Abe Pollin, the owner of both teams, began studying options to move the teams to a new arena to be built with public financing, with possible locations including Baltimore, downtown Washington, and Laurel, Maryland. ![]() The teams experienced subpar attendance because the location was inconvenient for both Washington and Baltimore residents, and their arena, though only 20 years old, was not up to the standards of other NBA and NHL venues. ![]() īefore the arena's opening, the Capitals and the Wizards (then known as the Washington Bullets) played at USAir Arena in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland. ![]() The project languished for many years but never materialized, and was finally canceled in 1992. Most of the remaining buildings on the site were demolished in 1985. Capital Landmark Associates was selected in 1979 to develop the site with a planned mixed-use complex including retail, offices, apartments, and a hotel. In 1973, while the Gallery Place Metro station was being developed below it, the District government bought the land in hopes of redeveloping it. By the 1960s, it was suffering from urban decay, like much of the eastern end of Downtown Washington. The block where the arena was built, between 6th and 7th and F and G Streets, historically held a mix of residences and small businesses. The arena does, however, feature a sign in Chinese characters. Though the arena project was a commercial success for its backers, it has contributed to the gentrification of the surrounding area, the displacement of most of its Asian-American residents (the local Chinese-American population, which numbered over 3,000 before the arena's construction, was a mere 300 in 2023), and the replacement of the most of the small businesses and restaurants that served the Asian-American community by large national corporations. It was also home to the Washington Mystics of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) from 1998 to 2018, after which they moved to the Entertainment and Sports Arena in southeast Washington for the 2019 season. Owned and operated by Monumental Sports & Entertainment, it is the home arena of the Washington Capitals of the National Hockey League (NHL), the Washington Wizards of the National Basketball Association (NBA), and the Georgetown University men's basketball team. Located in the Chinatown section of the larger Penn Quarter neighborhood, the arena sits atop the Gallery Place rapid transit station of the Washington Metro. Washington Capitals ( NHL) (1997–present)Ĭapital One Arena is an indoor arena in Washington, D.C. John Stranix and Seagull Bay Sports, LLC
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |