Tysons Casino Voted To Be Held Over To 2025 General Assembly

RICHMOND, VA — Virginia Senate Subcommittee on Resources voted 4-0 to carry over Senate Bill 675 to the next legislative session. The bill still faces a formal vote by the full Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee. Unless they go against the subcommittee's recommendation, the bill is basically dead for the 2024 session.

Sen. Dave Marsden's (D-Burke) bill was seeking to put a referendum on a future ballot to authorize a casino for Tysons. Both Marsden's bill and developer Comstock Holding Company's plan to put a casino on Metro's Silver Line outside the Capital Beltway in Fairfax County was met with resounding opposition from the communities around the Silver Line.

When Subcommittee Chair Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth) asked Marsden if he had been in contact with the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors about the his bill, he replied that he had talked to board members at various times during the process.

"In their recent meeting, they've sent a letter forward expressing their concerns about the process, but did not take a position against this bill," he said. "This returns it for their decision-making process and I think that speaks volumes. The fact that they did not step forward and oppose the legislation. They were concerned about the process."

Patch previously reported that board Chair Jeff McKay (D-At-Large) and several board members, including those who represented the greater Tysons area, said they did not know the contents of Marsden's bill until he submitted it to the general assembly on Jan. 17.

In the months leading up to the 2024 general assembly, neither Comstock nor the senator from Burke solicited input nor held public information sessions about building a casino on the Silver Line.

"Unlike other jurisdictions that received the authority to hold a referendum to host a casino, Fairfax County did not seek such authority and has not been substantively involved in the development of the casino concept envisioned by stakeholders and the patron of the legislation," McKay said in a letter to general assembly leaders that he shared during Friday's legislative committee meeting in Fairfax.

Supervisor Walter Alcorn (D-Hunter Mill), who has been a vocal critic of Comstock's plan, spoke at Thursday's meeting.

"My district has about one-third of the land area that would be authorized for this casino and I'm a strong 'No,'" he said, providing the subcommittee with a map letter expressing his concerns.

Claudia Arko from Fairfax County's legislative staff shared letters from McKay and other board members, outlining the discussion that the board's legislative committee had last Friday.

"The Town of Vienna is strongly opposed to any casino, even the proposal of a casino in Tysons," Vienna Mayor Linda J. Colbert. "We feel like we have been a part of the Tysons' plan, the Comp Plan, the strategic plan for many, many, many years going back to the mayor before me and the mayor before that. In no way was a casino ever mentioned or part of that plan. Vienna residents are just really, really strongly against this. I have not heard from one resident actually that is for it."

Councilmember Naila Alam also told the subcommittee that the Herndon Town Council was also opposed to a casino in Tysons.

At one point, Lucas joked that she was the "casino queen," because of her strong support for casinos in previous legislative sessions. However, even though she wanted to keep SB 675 alive, Lucas acknowledged that other subcommittee members had concerns about it moving forward.

Sen. Creigh Deeds (R-Richmond) questioned whether the Joint Legislative Audit & Review Commission had done a study about the viability of building a casino in Fairfax County.

Although the 2019 JLARC study done for the first five localities seeking casino licenses included a look at a possible Northern Virginia casino, no formal study had been done for Fairfax County specifically.

"One time we had an expansion idea proposed before, beyond the original five was with Petersburg, and we required JLARC to take a look it, and basically compare Petersburg to Richmond, and they came back and said we could do both," Deeds said.

After a brief discussion, the subcommittee members agreed that the proposal to put a casino in Fairfax County needed to be studied further. They then voted 4-0 to hold over the bill for reconsideration in 2025.

Three of the four subcommittee members have received a combined total of $115,000 in campaign contributions from either Comstock Holdings CEO Christopher Clemente or the company's political action committee, Building a Remarkable Virginia, according to financial filings with the State Board of Elections.

• Sen. Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth), chair, $100,000 - Louise Lucas for Senate (Donor: Christopher Daniel Clemente/Comstock Properties) [11/4/23]
• Sen. Creigh Deeds (D-Charlottesville)
• Sen. Mamie Locke: $10,000 - Locke for State Senate (Donor: BRVPAC) [1/5/24]
• Sen. Ryan McDougle (R-Mechanicsville): $5,000 - McDouble for Senate (Donor: BRVPAC) [12/30/23]

Patch first broke the news in September that Comstock Holding Companies was seeking to build a casino at or near the Metro station at Wiehle-Reston Station, where the company has its headquarters.

Over the next few months, Marsden told reporters that he "preferred" the casino be built in Tysons, where it would serve as an anchor for a performance space, conference center and hotel.

"That's what the Silver Line was created for," Marsden said, in October. "That's what the business community paid extra taxes for, was to create the Silver Line to do high-density development. We're losing $150 million a year to MGM at National Harbor. Virginians are going over there. We're funding Maryland schools."

On Jan. 17, Marsden introduced SB 675 in the Virginia Senate, where it was referred to the Senate Committee on General Laws and Technology and assigned to the Subcommittee on Gaming.

It was at this point that Marsden identified the abandoned Exclusive Automotive Group lot at 8546 Leesburg Pike as the planned location of the casino. Cherner Development Group sold the property to Tysons Development LLC — a joint venture of the Clemente Development Company and Khaled Juffali Co. — for over $57 million on Feb. 4, 2020, according to FFXNow.

Costantino Daniel Clemente, president of Clemente Development, is the father of Comstock Holdings CEO Christopher Clemente. Both companies are completely separate entities.

Related:

• Casino Bill: Town Hall + $416K Donated + New Lobbyist + Hogs & Cowboys
• Casino Opponents Travel To Richmond To Lobby Lawmakers: Report
• Casino Backers Kept Fairfax Supervisors In The Dark About Their Plans
• Casino Developer Gave $51K To VA Senate Gaming Sub-Committee Members

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.

During a Jan. 24 subcommittee hearing, several people spoke in favor of Marsden's bill, including Julie Coons, president of the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce, and Benita Thompson-Byas, the vice chairman of the Thompson Hospitality Corporation.

Thompson Hospitality was a minority partner in the casino project, according to Thompson-Byas. The company manages several regional restaurant chains, including Big Buns, matchbox, and Milk & Honey.

In 2023, Warren M. Thompson, president and chairman of Thompson Hospitality, donated a total of $20,237 to local and statewide candidates, according to campaign finance filings reported by the nonprofit Virginia Public Access Project. These included:

• $5,000 - Jeff McKay for Fairfax County Supervisors (D-At-Large) [5/17/23]
• $5,000 - Virginia Future Generations PAC - Democratic Party political action committee managed by Speaker of the House Don Scott (D-Hampton Roads) [10/2/23]
• $3,737 - Andrea Bailey for Prince William Supervisor (D-Prince William) [5/13/23]
• $3,000 - Kimberly Adams for Delegate - Defeated Democratic Party candidate in District 79 [6/6/23]
• $2,500 - Aaron Rouse for Senate (D-Virginia Beach) [6/6/23]
• $1,000 - Rae Cousins for Delegate (D-Richmond) [7/23/23]

No one testified in opposition to SB 675 during the subcommittee hearing. While some lawmakers expressed reservations about the bill, it was referred back to the general laws and technology committee on a 4-4-1 tied vote.

On Jan. 24, the Senate Committee on General Laws & Technology voted 10 to 4, with one abstention, to refer SB 675 to the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee.

Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria) told Patch on Friday that it was his understanding that SB 675 would be referred to the Senate Economic Development & Natural Resources Subcommittee, which was scheduled to have a hearing on Monday afternoon. However, the bill never appeared on the subcommittee's docket. That subcommittee is chaired by Marsden, the bill's sponsor.

Patch acknowledges that Thompson Hospitality, its employees, and others have a right to make donations to any candidate whose campaign they wish to support. The same goes for Comstock Holdings.

Patch is reporting this publicly available information; it is not saying that Thompson Hospitality, its employees and others did anything illegal. The same is true for Comstock Holdings, its employees and associates.