Dive Brief:
- Virginia Beach is considering competing proposals from United States Management and W.M. Jordan Co., which submitted its plan in November, for an 18,000-seat sports and entertainment arena.
- The USM plan was submitted on Feb. 17 and would see the arena — with suites, premium seats, and LED scoreboards and ribbon boards — developed across from Virginia Beach Convention Center on 19th Street.
- USM's plan also calls for private financing on the construction using funds from a Chinese bank, while 1% of the city's hotel tax revenues would be earmarked for public infrastructure improvements, with the city providing land, parking, offsite improvements, and related services.
Dive Insight:
USM's plan for financing is quite different from that proposed by W.M. Jordan Co., which called for Virginia Beach to finance the project by issuing bonds to residents. In that plan, Virginia Beach would continue to own the arena, while USM's plan would see its parent company, The ESG Cos., retaining ownership.
Initial plans to build an arena in 2012 fell through when the city couldn't attract the NBA's Sacramento Kings, but both USM and W.M. Jordan Co. say the project could still be viable without a sports franchise if it's capable of hosting events ranging from college and youth sports tournaments to concerts to ice shows and monster truck rallies.
