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A bill to lay the groundwork for a new casino-anchored entertainment resort in Tysons passed its first major hurdle, winning approval in a key committee vote Wednesday.
Senate Bill 675 from state Sen. David Marsden, D-Burke, has been on everyone’s radar lately. It proposes to add Fairfax County to the list of localities allowed to host a casino and enable the county to decide later by referendum whether it wanted one.
Marsden reportedly aims to see the casino join a new conference center, concert hall and hotel on the former auto dealership site at 8546 Leesburg Pike, though the bill doesn’t specify that address. The entertainment-oriented uses could reinvent and reignite the Clemente Development Co.’s designs there for an office-heavy, 3 million-square-foot project called the View, which won approval in 2019 but seems to have stalled.
The Senate Committee on General Laws and Technology recommended “reporting” the bill — a favorable outcome — and referring it to the Committee on Finance and Appropriations by a 10-4-1 vote, with no comment from senators beyond what some said at a subcommittee hearing on the matter Tuesday. It’s not unusual that bills with a potential fiscal impact on state coffers go through the Finance committee.
While the casino bill has a long way to go, the General Laws committee’s decision is a positive sign for it, lending some weight to Marsden’s vision of Northern Virginia competing with Prince George’s County’s MGM National Harbor, and of Fairfax County generating alternative commercial taxes to offset the ongoing devaluation of many of its office properties. It also affirms, at least preliminarily, the hopes of certain real estate interests that we know strongly favored a new casino, now in Tysons but eyed first in Reston.
The legislation mandates the proposed casino location be within a coordinated mixed-use project, outside the Capital Beltway, within a quarter mile of a Silver Line Metro station and within two miles of a regional enclosed mall containing not less than 1.5 million square feet, of which there is only one: Tysons Corner Center.
If the bill ultimately makes it through the committee gauntlet and to the Senate floor, a vote there must take place by what’s called “crossover” on Feb. 13, when the chambers swap bills for each other’s consideration.
At Tuesday’s subcommittee meeting, Marsden lamented that Fairfax County needs to generate new commercial tax revenue sources because of the post-Covid decline of office valuations. A casino, and perhaps data centers, could help with that, he said. He also said he’s tired of consumers taking their tax-generating dollars to MGM National Harbor, rather than keeping them within Virginia.
“I’m getting tired of paying for Maryland schools. I think it’s time we paid for Virginia schools instead,” he said.
Northern Virginia’s five lawmakers on the General Laws committee, all Democrats, didn’t all vote together. Sens. Jeremy McPike, D-Woodbridge, Jennifer Carroll Foy, D-Woodbridge and Suhas Subramanyam, D-Ashburn, voted yes. Sens. Adam Ebbin, D-Alexandria, the committee’s chair, and Danica Roem, D-Manassas, voted no.
Ebbin also voted no at Tuesday’s subcommittee meeting, citing the lack of active engagement by the county government “seeking some support from Richmond.” A county representative told the subcommittee the Board of Supervisors has not taken a position on the legislation — which is somewhat curious, as local governments routinely receive briefings and take formal positions on state bills, especially ones that directly affect them.
Neither Sen. Saddam Azlan Salim, D-Merrifield, nor County Supervisor Dalia Palchik, D-Providence, whose respective state and local districts include Tysons, have returned a request for comment. Salim is opposed to the bill, he said in a statement.
“It is evident that the prospect of a casino has sparked apprehension among residents and civic groups who fear adverse consequences for the overall well-being of our community,” Salim wrote. “It is crucial that we take into account the sentiments of those who will be directly affected by this proposal.”
Sen. Jennifer Boysko, D-Herndon, a member of the Finance committee, has also emerged strongly opposed to the casino.
“I can assure you that I will definitely NOT be supporting a casino in our community,” Boysko said on X, responding to a constituent. “Not Reston. Not McLean. Not Tysons. Not anywhere in the 38th Senate District. The community has made it loud and clear. NO. THANK. YOU.”
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