AKRIDGE DIVIDING FLOOR
INTO SMALLER SUITES
IN BETHESDA; SPACES
QUALIFY FOR NEW
COUNTY SUBSIDY
The gleaming building at 7550 Wisconsin Avenue, that was completely renovated into a Class A office tower by developer Akridge, was poised to become a hot business address. 18 months later? It's a vacant monument to a business climate that fails to appeal to major firms searching America for a new corporate headquarters.
With no significant policy or taxation changes on the horizon, no plans to build a new Potomac River crossing for the Dulles Airport access international firms demand, and landlords having to still pay their bills while vacant, some are now thinking small.
Montgomery County's Economic Development Fund is now offering a program designed to attract smaller firms to vacant office space in the county. The MOVE program will offer $4-per-square-foot rent subsidies to a first-time renting firm that meets 4 criteria. Spaces that qualify are limited to those between 2,000 and 10,000 square feet.
Akridge is ahead of the downward curve in Bethesda.
The company is currently in the process of dividing the fourth floor of 7550 Wisconsin into 3 suites - on spec, as there are still no tenants. But going forward, those new suites would likely qualify for the new MOVE subsidy. There are still many other floors in the building, however. According to a source, Akridge is open to dividing other floors into suites, if the initiative proves successful on the fourth floor.
With other counties in VA offering 5 to 10 psf and tax incentives, why would anyone stay in moco? That paired with the bag tax, speed cameras, etc.
ReplyDeleteGood point!
DeleteCurrent MoCo leadership is content to allow the county become the bedroom community of DC and Fairfax. We're really taking on the traditional 1950s suburban role of live here, but don't work here.
ReplyDeleteYes, the literal demise of office space in King Farm, Clarksburg, Wheaton, and elsewhere makes it impossible to claim we are on a "smart growth" live-where-you-work Utopian trajectory.
DeleteYeah, because the 5c bag tax and speed cameras are sending companies south of the river in droves. smh
ReplyDeleteMaybe you should take a look at the vacancy rates in Crystal/Pentagon City, Reston, and Rosslyn....
Not the bag tax and speed cameras, but the massive energy and property taxes, regulations, and lack of direct access to Dulles Airport.
Delete@Anonymous(e) - office space is cheaper in NoVa and the taxes are better. Maryland and MoCo are as business friendly as Castro in Cuba. They mask all these things they are doing (like cyber security incubation) but have really lost that battle to Virginia. Even the sales offices of the biggest cyber firms based in California located here are moving to VA soon. Get over your self indulgence of how great MoCo is for business. It is a great place to live but so is Aruba.
ReplyDeleteTaxes kill any chance MoCo has of drawing small to mid size businesses to the area. For large corporations they are still willing to do tax breaks (see Marriott).
ReplyDeleteLeadership in MoCo still doesn't get it. They are "gripping the wheel so tight" trying to protect the county and state's interests but in the end they are only contributing to the county's demise. Transportation is an obvious one but tax unfriendly policies are another.
Ever try opening a restaurant in Maryland? Good luck if you want liquor.
I'm sorry, but this blog post is so intellectually embarrassing that I literally laughed out loud at it.
ReplyDeleteBethesda's vacancy rate of 9.1% is very low by every possible measure. Attempting to show otherwise by pointing to one building is idiotic. If you think Bethesda has a problem then you must think NoVa is a third world country with many of their submarkets having 25%+ vacancy rates.
Low vacancy rates+sub-5% unemployment across the county...literally everyone else in the world hates you right now for whining about this "problem." Is there room for improvement? Always. But quit it with the over-the-top slant to try and fit your desire to ding the establishment. It's so petty.
"Literally everyone else in the world hates you right now." That's your statement, and you say *I'm* over the top? Please. What is "your desire to [support] the establishment?" Are you a contributor or staff member of a councilmember? Who else would be passionate about county politicians?
DeleteThe unemployment rate has 0% to do with county elected officials, and does not reflect jobs created within Montgomery County. It simply means that there are a lot of government-related jobs in DC and Northern VA, where all the big firms move.
Based on the level of unemployment and poverty I see outside of wealthier areas in the county, the unemployment figure clearly is not counting all of the unemployed in MoCo. The math doesn't add up.
Can I point to a second building - the spec built Carr building? Who are the many tenants there? Talk to Washington Property Co. The president said they've been struggling for a decade.
George Leventhal just said the office market is weak. Do you find him "intellectually embarrassing?"
The cat's out of the bag - there's no point trying to manage the narrative. More productive to fix the problems.
Don't be so sensitive!
ReplyDeleteRobert is literally the only journalist in MoCo seeking answers to these tough questions and looking beyond the MoCo press releases for the truth.
Huh? What "tough questions"? What "truth"? I just explained how turning this one building subdividing one floor into some sort of indictment on MoCo as a whole is beyond silly. Of course anyone who follows the office market knows demand is weak right now across the region, but that's simply the ebb and flow of any construction cycle+the nuisance issue of Federal consolidation dumping a lot of vacant space onto the region.
ReplyDeleteThe "truth" of the matter is MoCo over the past 5 years has experience strong job growth and low vacancy rates across its major submarkets. Some can try and pretend we're doing terribly, but that's just not supported by any semblance of fact. Again, we can and should always strive to do even better and I'm glad to see the county program trying to attract smaller businesses to the county, but by no means is the situation anywhere near properly represented by this blog post.
The division of suites, and a subsidy targeting only small firms, are indeed an indictment of weak economic development. As are the cancellation of office projects in King Farm, Clarksburg and elsewhere. This article is fact, not opinion. "Strong job growth?" Where? Baristas?
Delete"Robert is literally the only journalist in MoCo seeking answers to these tough questions and looking beyond the MoCo press releases for the truth."
ReplyDeleteIf you mean: Looking for the truth behind Taco Bell's new breakfast burritos, or the new Hot Pockets offered at the local CVS, then you might be right.
With no large employer moving to the county in a decade, I think there is more meaningful work to be done than making elitist comments about fast food. Where did VW, Northrop and Hilton Hotels move? Not here. What is the fastest-growing county in the region (hint, it's Loudoun)?
Delete"With no large employer moving to the county in a decade, I think there is more meaningful work to be done than making elitist comments about fast food."
ReplyDeleteSays the County Council candidate whose claim to fame are Youtube videos reviewing fast food items.
You just made a second elitist comment about fast food. Understandable approach when you can't get around the facts and reality of no major firm moving to Montgomery County in a decade.
DeleteAnonymous is a classic example of having a weak argument, so they turn to petty attacks. (Lighten up a little!)
ReplyDeleteObviously frustrated that Robert is taking an honest look at the issues before us in MoCo.
"Literally everyone else in the world hates you right now."
ReplyDeleteYou kind of lost all credibility with that statement right there.
"George Leventhal just said the office market is weak. Do you find him 'intellectually embarrassing?'"
ReplyDeleteConsidering I just called the region's office market "weak", myself, no, I don't find Leventhal "intellectually embarrassing." Attempting to beat up on a straw man is pretty embarrassing, though. Extra kudos for claiming the unemployment rate is falsified. That's not intellectually embarrassing at all, either....
We get that you're the minority dissenter; I just wish you were good and it and supported your positions with facts and reason instead of weakly attempting to extrapolate from an anecdote about 1 floor of 1 building.
-signed the Anonymous who doesn't care about your fast food reviews one way or another
Who is the "straw man?" This article is entirely factual, and identifies a clear trend toward lowered expectations regarding the type of employers they expect to move to the county. You can't deny the building modification, nor the MOVE program criteria.
DeleteWhat exactly am I in the "dissenting minority" about? Is there a majority of citizens who think Montgomery County has no traffic gridlock, is beating Fairfax, Loudoun and DC in economic development, and thoroughly enjoy paying their property and energy taxes?
Count VW, Northrop, Hilton Hotels as "dissenters" as well, as they all declined to move here.
How do you square the hard math of the current demands for social services in the county with a the current claimed unemployment rate? It doesn't add up. Who specifically is that rate excluding and including?
"Understandable approach when you can't get around the facts and reality of no major firm moving to Montgomery County in a decade."
ReplyDeleteThis is such an inane claim I can't even wrap my mind around it. Though I supposed quoting facts about how MoCo's job growth of 4% being the highest in the region and how we've added tens of thousands of jobs in just the last few years alone will fall on deaf ear. Or, rather, ears that think the facts are just fabricated.
It's not an "inane claim," it's a fact: no major corporation has moved to Montgomery County over the last decade. To say that Montgomery County has the highest job growth in the region - what is that based on, the number of baristas and restaurant waitstaff?
Delete