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RICHMOND, VA — Sen. Dave Marsden (D-Burke) introduced his long-promised casino bill on Wednesday, and it looks like Reston is not where the casino will be built, according to a media report.
Marsden, who has long said he preferred the casino being built in Tysons, told NBC4 that a particular parcel in Tysons, on the site of a “defunct auto dealership on Route 7 in Tysons,” is where a gambling venue should be located.
Language in the bill outlines the requirements for a casino, with the location being within two miles of a major shopping destination:
“The eligible host locality described in subdivision A 6 shall be limited to a proposed site for a casino gaming establishment that is (i) located within one-quarter of a mile of an existing station on the Metro Silver Line, (ii) part of a coordinated mixed-use project development, (iii) outside of the Dulles airport flight path, (iv) within two miles of a major shopping destination containing not less than 1.5 million square feet of gross building area, and (v) outside of the Interstate 495 Beltway.”
Read the full text of SB 675 Casino gaming; eligible host localities
Primarily, the bill adds Fairfax County to the list of localities eligible for a casino gaming establishment and lays out the requirements for the casino gaming operator.
“The bill also requires an eligible host locality in selecting a preferred casino gaming operator to consider and give substantial weight to the proposer’s history of or commitment to (a) paying or contracting for the payment of prevailing wages to those individuals providing construction labor during the initial construction of the casino gaming establishment and any hospitality facilities on the premises, and (b) entering into labor peace agreements with labor organizations that are actively engaged in representing or seeking to represent employees in the gaming or hospitality industries in the Commonwealth. “
Marsden and Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell (D-Mount Vernon) said in earlier interviews with Patch that a casino was needed to diversify Fairfax County’s revenue stream given the recent downturn in the commercial real estate market. Also, it would bring more jobs to the region.
SB 675 was submitted to the Senate Committee on General Laws and Technology, which is chaired by Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria). As of 5 p.m. on Wednesday, it was unclear whether a companion bill had been introduced in the House of Delegates.
Marsden told Patch multiple times in the last three months that he would prefer the casino being built in Tysons, although he declined to name a specific location.

Patch first broke the news in September that Comstock Holding Companies was seeking to build a casino at or near Reston station, where the company has its headquarters. Since then, Patch reported that Comstock donated more than $627,000 to political candidates in 2023, started its own political action committee to facilitate that, and hired six lobbyists to advocate for them in Richmond.
During the 2023 session, Marsden and Del. Wren Williams (R-Stuart) introduced nearly identical bills, SB1543 and HB2499, respectively.
Language in those bills placed the casino within a quarter mile from one of Metro’s seven Silver Line Stations outside the Capital Beltway in Fairfax County. These include Tysons, Greensboro, Spring Hill, Wiehle-Reston East, Reston Town Center, Herndon, and Innovation Center. The 2023 bills also said the casino couldn’t be built anywhere in the flightpath of Washington Dulles International Airport.
Patch and other news organizations have speculated that the property in Tysons was a 14-acre site that was part of a mixed-use redevelopment project near the Greensboro Metro Station that Comstock had submitted in 2022 as part of Fairfax County’s Sight Specific Plan Amendment Process.
The language shared in NBC4’s report and recent conversations with Marsden point to a property at 8610 Leesburg Pike owned by the Asbury Automotive Group of Duluth, Georgia. The company announced on Dec. 11, 2023 that it had acquired all of the Jim Koons Automotive Group’s properties for approximately $1.2 billion, including the former Toyota dealership.
Located on the northeast side of Leesburg Pike along the Dulles Toll Road in the Providence District, the property is the home of the former Koons Toyota Dealership. It is less than a quarter-mile from the Spring Hill Metro Station, approximately three-quarters of a mile from Tysons Galleria and 1.3 miles from Tyson Corner Center.
A review of county records, the deed for the property, and filings with the State Corporation Commission showed no obvious connections to Comstock or any of its entities. Patch reached out to Asbury Automotive Group for comment, but no response has been received.
With much of the focus on a possible casino near Comstock’s headquarters at the Wiehle-Reston East Metro Station, representatives of that community have come strongly out against the casino.
“Reston has always been a community based on careful planning of balance and of ensuring our members input is involved in future development,” Reston Association CEO Mac Cummins said, in the video released last Friday. The week before he announced that RA had hired its own lobbyists to fight any casino being built in Reston.
In September, the board of supervisors approved an update to the Reston Master Plan, after nearly four years of community engagement. The process was meant to further growth in key areas, such as technology and higher educations, according to Cummins.
“Reston has always been a community based on careful planning of balance and of ensuring our members input is involved in future development,” Cummins said, in the video.
RA joined other groups in the community that have voiced their opposition to the casino proposal, including its own board of directors, the Reston Citizens Association, and the McLean Citizen’s Association.
“The Reston Comprehensive Plan does not provide for the development of a casino, and such development goes against Reston’s planning principles,” said Lynne Mulston, president of the Reston Citizens Association. “Fairfax County Supervisor Walter Alcorn has stated that he does not support such development, and we stand with our Supervisor on this matter. Under Virginia law, no legislation currently allows such development in Reston.”

Vienna residents were very concerned about a casino being built in nearby Tysons, so much so that the Vienna Town Council included it as a priority in the legislative package it sent to Richmond ahead of the 2024 Virginia Assembly session.
“The Town of Vienna opposes any action to establish, or facilitate the establishment of, any gambling casino in Fairfax County,” Councilmember Anderson said in early December. “The Town particularly opposes any such action which would lead to the establishment of a gambling facility in the Tysons area. Any such facility likely would have substantial deleterious effects on the quality of life in Vienna, including increased traffic, additional costs to locally owned independent businesses, and erosion of public morals.”
Related:

Read all of Patch’s reporting on Comstock Companies’ plan to build a casino on Metro’s Silver Line in Fairfax County at Silver Line Casino.

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