Location |
St. Elizabeths East Campus Washington, D.C. |
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Coordinates | 38°50′49″N 76°59′29″W / 38.846840°N 76.991304°WCoordinates: 38°50′49″N 76°59′29″W / 38.846840°N 76.991304°W |
Owner | Washington, D.C. |
Operator | Events DC |
Capacity | 4,200 |
Construction | |
Broke ground | Summer 2017 |
Opened | Fall 2018 (planned) |
Construction cost | $65 million |
Architect | Rossetti Architects and Marshall Moya Design |
Tenants | |
Washington Mystics (WNBA) (2018–) Washington NBA G League team (2018–) |
St. Elizabeths East Entertainment and Sports Arena is a planned 118,000-square-foot center for the St. Elizabeths East Campus, in Congress Heights, a residential neighborhood in southeast Washington, D.C.. The arena will house the Washington Mystics of the WNBA and the Washington NBA G League team of the NBA G League. In addition, it will house a practice facility for the Washington Wizards of the NBA.
The 4,200 seat arena will mainly be used for basketball; however, there are plans for the facility to also host concerts, community events and other sporting events. The location of the arena was selected due to its proximity to St. Elizabeths Hospital, distance to the greater Washington, D.C. area, location to the Congress Heights station of the Washington Metro, the confluence of the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers and ability to improve the local community through jobs and infrastructure improvements.
Construction for the arena, to include razing of surrounding buildings, began on February 19, 2016. Of the $65 million estimated cost for construction, 90% of the cost will be taxpayer funded. The District of Columbia will own the facility while Events DC will operate the facility.