Virginia Beach, Va. - Virginia Beach residents had the chance to make a public comment about the proposed Virginia Beach arena at Tuesday night's Virginia Beach City Council meeting.
City leaders announced in November that they had reached an agreement with developers to build the arena.
Developers hope to open the "state-of-the-art" arena in 2018. It will have a normal capacity of 16,500 and an expanded capacity of 18,000. That will make it the largest arena of its size between Washington, D.C. and Raleigh, N.C., according to the developer.
The arena would cost $200 million, but the developer is paying that. Still, taxpayers would chip in more than $76 million for site improvements.
The facility would host 20 large events per year, like concerts, sports and conventions. And that could attract 450,000 guest each year, along with their money.
During the public hearing, more than 20 people expressed their views on the arena. Some were not in favor of it, but many were, citing a boost in the economy, an increase in jobs and the potential to draw in new industries.
The Virginia Beach City Council says it will take everything that was said Tuesday night into consideration when they vote on Tuesday, Dec. 8.
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