Almost two years after talks of a casino in Fairfax County’s Silver Line corridor emerged, prospective developer Comstock Companies has publicly commented for the first time on its plan for a gaming and entertainment hub in Tysons.
The proposal represents “an opportunity to bring an entertainment anchor” to Tysons, Comstock Executive Vice President for Development John Harrison told community members Tuesday (Jan. 7) at an online forum hosted by the Fairfax County NAACP.
Comstock aims to develop a major mixed-use project, including a casino, that will center around a currently vacant parcel at 8546 Leesburg Pike near the Spring Hill Metro Station.
The imagined development could also include apartments, a performing arts venue, a hotel, a convention center, an “IMAX-esque” movie theater and retail, the Washington Business Journal reported.
A person familiar with the proposal confirmed to FFXnow that those elements are being considered, and the former Aston Martin and Bentley auto dealership lot would be the “core” of the site. However, the exact scope of the development would depend on how much land ends up in Comstock’s control.
While Comstock now has control of the former dealership site, the parcel was part of the View at Tysons development approved by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors in 2019. The 3-million-square-foot project proposed by developers Clemente Development Company and Khaled Juffali Co. would’ve included housing, offices, a hotel, retail and a performing arts center, but so far, none of it has been built.
In addition, Comstock might face competition for the right to develop a casino if one is authorized by Fairfax County voters.
State senator introduces new Fairfax County casino bill
On the same day as the NAACP-hosted forum, Virginia Sen. Scott Surovell (D-34) formally introduced new legislation that would permit, but not require, Fairfax County supervisors to schedule a referendum on whether to allow a casino in the county.
The measure is essentially the same as one introduced last year by Sen. Dave Marsden (D-35). Consideration of Marsden’s bill was deferred during the 2024 General Assembly session, then killed off last fall.
As with the 2024 proposal, the wording of Surovell’s Senate Bill 982 effectively limits the location of any casino operation to a site within a quarter-mile of a Metro station in the Tysons area. In one change, the bill also requires the casino to be part of a mixed-use project totaling at least 1.5 million square feet of development.
Set to be considered during the 2025 General Assembly session, whose start has been delayed to Monday (Jan. 13), the proposed legislation doesn’t formally designate a developer or location. A final site would be determined only if a referendum passed, and it would be “a very public competition,” Harrison said.
Casino supporters and opponents air opinions at forum
However, significant questions about Comstock’s proposal remain, noted Michael Lee Pope, a local journalist who moderated the NAACP’s forum.
“People are concerned,” Pope said. Fears among those submitting questions centered around “crime, addiction, social distress, social rot” and a casino’s potential disproportionate negative impact on people of color, he said.
Traffic around the site is also a major concern based on the questions from the community, Pope said, as are concerns about where the tax revenue from a casino operation would go.
Among those with major anxiety on a broad swath of issues is Lynne Mulston, president of the Reston Citizens Association and head of the No Fairfax Casino Coalition.
“Northern Virginia, and Tysons in particular, would not benefit from a casino,” she said. “It would be bad for the county — economically, socially and fiscally.”
Comstock stressed that the casino would be a small, but vital, component of the broader entertainment district in Tysons.
“We’ve got some great ideas, I think,” Harrison said.
An labor-peace agreement between Comstock and a coalition of labor organizations has brought union groups out in support of the development proposal.
The agreements, which would cover both constructions workers and those who ultimately are employed in the facility, are “unprecedented” and “would be transformational,” according to Northern Virginia Labor Federation President Virginia Diamond.
“Many lives would be changed,” she said.
Critics of the proposal have asked why Surovell and Marsden, neither of whom represent Tysons, are attempting to push a casino there.
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors hasn’t taken a formal stance on the possibility of a casino, but reactions of individual supervisors have mostly ranged from skeptical yet open to getting local authority to consider a referendum, to unequivocally opposed.
Casino proponents have argued that it could boost commercial tax revenue for the county at a time when the government is facing budget challenges, in part due to declines in the valuation of office buildings.
Terry Clower, director of the Center for Regional Analysis at George Mason University, said at the NAACP forum that his organization hasn’t formally studied the Comstock proposal, but he was favorable about its possibilities.
“We need to look for ways to diversify our tax base,” Clower said of the county’s current fiscal situation. “We are not in dire straits … [but] we have more and more challenges on the horizon.”
A casino operation could deliver “placemaking” to Tysons and help replenish state and local tax coffers, he said.
“I think it’s the best option going forward,” Clower told attendees.
At the end of the 90-minute forum, Harrison acknowledged that, while Comstock thinks “there’s a lot of merit to the proposal,” concerns of the public need to be addressed.
“I’m happy to come back,” he said.
Though she was outnumbered 3-to-1 by casino proponents on the panel, Mulston praised the Fairfax County NAACP and moderator Pope for conducting a “very balanced and fair” discussion.
Fairfax County NAACP President Niki Zimmerman said the evening forum represented “a dynamic conversation … a respectful conversation.”
“It wasn’t hostile. That has given me hope,” Zimmerman said, acknowledging at the same time that “not everyone’s going to get what they want.”
