Senators skeptical of need for new Virginia ABC warehouse
A proposal to replace Virginia’s central liquor warehouse in Richmond faces opposition from key members of the Senate Finance Committee who are skeptical about issuing $104.8 million in state debt to pay for it.
Senate Majority Leader Thomas K. Norment Jr., R-James City, who co-chairs the committee, told the top administrator of the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control on Thursday morning to provide estimates of land and engineering costs to plan for a new facility before asking for money to build one.
“You ain’t going to get $105 million,” Norment told ABC Chief Operating Officer Travis G. Hill at a meeting of the Finance subcommittee on capital outlay, which the majority leader chairs.
However, the future of the ABC warehouse — sitting on 22 acres of prime real estate on Hermitage Road that Richmond and Virginia Commonwealth University covet for a potential baseball stadium site — is far from settled, as Virginia looks for room to expand the lucrative state liquor monopoly.
Read more: http://www.richmond.com/news/virginia/government-politics/article_f5acf814-6498-583a-8b45-9a94599af5cd.html
