Arena Could Be Coming to Shady Grove Metro

The parking lots at the Shady Grove Metro station could become home to an 8,000-seat sports arena that could host sports, concerts and graduations under a plan once again being pushed by a county-backed investor group, The Washington Post reported. 

William Askinazi and Tom Doyle say they have investors lined up to fund the arena's construction. They sent a proposal to build at the Shady Grove station to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority on May 22, The Gazette reported.

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Askinazi is an attorney from Potomac who owns D&A Sports and Entertainment Group. The group was formed in 2006 with the aim of bringing an arena to Montgomery County, The Gazette reported. The group later won the exclusive rights to negotiate the arena’s construction with the county.

A former assistant secretary of Business and Economic Development during Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.’s administration, Askinazi ran unsuccessfully for the District 15 state Senate seat in 2006.

Doyle owns the Washington Greenhawks, a professional basketball team. A news release on the Greenhawks Web site said the partners are planning an arena similar in size to George Mason University's Patriot Center in Fairfax, VA.

The project was considered before the recession and has since taken on various forms. In 2010, D&A Sports and Entertainment proposed a 6,500-seat arena on the site of in Rockville.

That plan won the endorsement of then-county schools Superintendent Jerry D. Weast, The Gazette reported. Weast liked the idea of an arena that could provide a county site for high school graduations.

County officials are backing the current Shady Grove Metro station proposal for some of the same reasons, The Post reported.

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