Virginia Beach Mayor Will Sessoms yesterday said that the City Council came to an agreement with a local developer on a financing plan to build a $220M "sports and entertainment venue," according to a front-page piece by Mary Beth Gahan of the Norfolk VIRGINIAN-PILOT. Sessoms said the arena could give the city "a real possibility now” of hosting part of the NCAA Tournament. U.S. Management, which will develop the "proposed 18,000-seat arena, submitted a loan commitment letter before its March 8 deadline that outlined a plan to borrow" $150M and contribute $70M in equity. JPMorgan "will be the main lender" for the deal. Although the arena will be "privately owned," the developers will receive up to $476M "over 33 years with 1 percentage point of the city’s lodging tax, construction tax incentives and tax revenue generated by the arena." The city will also provide $76.5M in "hotel and discretionary taxes for infrastructure in the area" (Norfolk VIRGINIAN-PILOT, 3/16). In Virginia, Butch Maier notes the arena will be "built across from the Virginia Beach Convention Center on the Oceanfront" with an eye towards hosting events in '19. Sessoms said that the debt on the project will be "no more than" $150M. U.S. Management has "assembled two Virginia Beach companies -- contractor S.B. Ballard Construction and architect Clark Nexsen" to "work in collaboration" with architectural firm AECOM. AEG will "manage the facility" (Norfolk VIRGINIAN-PILOT, 3/16).
