Northern VA declared
"next Silicon Valley"
after tech firm follows
Amazon's 25000 jobs
into the Old Dominion
Rosslyn's latest big "get" follows other new arrivals to Arlington's business hub with monumental views like the world headquarters of Nestle, Corporate Executive Board, Gerber and Deloitte. Not to mention all the other HQs NoVa has nabbed in recent years, including Hilton Hotels, IntelSat, Volkswagen and Northrop. Yext has leased the top three floors of 1101 Wilson Boulevard, a Class A tower with breathtaking views of the Potomac River and Capitol dome, among other landmarks, according to the Washington Post. Most embarrassing of all, the Yext deal wasn't even a deal - Virginia is paying them no tax incentives, Yext founder Howard Lerman tells the Post. Meanwhile, Montgomery County hasn't attracted a major corporate headquarters in two decades.
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| Capital One tower in Tysons, the tallest office building in the D.C. region |
In other counties and cities, local officials are usually allied with business leaders like Bruch to complete major infrastructure projects. Here? Welcome to Clowntown, U.S.A.!
But our horrible reputation has compounded many past defeats with a major one. All major local jurisdictions have been competing for some time to be seen as a national tech hub. The Amazon and Yext victories have now led to that contest ending with the official recognition that Northern Virginia has won: game, set, match: Virginia.
"Northern Virginia's status as an East Coast tech hub got a major lift last week," wrote the Post's Aaron Gregg of the Yext announcement. "Northern Virginia is a reservoir of untapped talent," Lerman told Gregg. "I think it's the quiet next Silicon Valley." Gregg notes that the hits taken by Pentagon contractors in the Obama-era knucklehead budget battles on Capitol Hill led Virginia officials to turn to the private sector. "They have succeeded with a string of influential corporations setting up offices and headquarters in places such as Rosslyn and Tysons."
How much did we lose when the Montgomery County Council fumbled the Amazon golden ticket last year? 25,000 new jobs, $4 billion in lost wages, and $12 billion in collateral economic growth that Amazon would have provided. None of that even includes the tax revenue that would have accrued to Montgomery and Maryland.
Although it's unclear if our corrupt elected officials are capable of being embarrassed, particularly when they are being coddled and protected by an obsequious local press and surrounded by "Yes Men," we now know that Amazon was watching and listening to their public statements and actions very closely last year. Anti-Amazon and anti-business sentiments made by councilmembers last year were topped off by the capstone of the Council canceling the biggest infrastructure project near our proposed Amazon site in White Flint - while the Amazon executives were touring White Flint. It doesn't get any dumber than that, folks.
"For Amazon, the commitment to build a new headquarters requires positive, collaborative relationships with state and local elected officials who will be supportive over the long-term," Amazon said in its official statement announcing they were withdrawing their New York proposal. Yes, the comments and behavior of our "local elected officials" were indeed given heavy weight by Amazon. Anti-business sentiments and a bizarre, radical opposition to needed new roads were clearly not the winning message.
“A small group of politicians put their own narrow political interests above their community," New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said after Amazon's pull-out there, but he could have been talking about the Montgomery County Council, too. Nobody knows Montgomery's reputation for being hostile to business better than Yext founder Lerman, who grew up in Vienna. That irony echoes the Amazon decision as well, where one of the key decision makers for Amazon in the HQ2 search was Holly Sullivan, former President of the Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation. Sullivan knew our elected officials very well, and was very familiar with our business climate and failing infrastructure and traffic congestion. After all, she had to drive around it herself for several years! She knew exactly what Amazon would get by selecting Montgomery County, and...egads!!! Yikes!
Fortunately for New York City, at the end of the day, they're still New York City and an economic powerhouse even without Amazon. At the end of the day, Montgomery County is still...moribund.
Sigh...not as much substance as there was verbiage.
ReplyDeleteIt seems Common Sense is a flower that doesn’t grow in everyone’s garden.
Well,I have to agree with Robert; my property taxes have risen by 50% in the past 8 years, and there's not much to lure me to downtown Bethesda.
ReplyDelete"Montgomery politicians, who are furiously trying to block Gov. Larry Hogan's Express Lanes proposal for I-270 and the Beltway"
ReplyDeleteReality Check:
Robert Dyer, 2006:
Do you favor widening the Beltway? Do you favor toll lanes? How would you pay for them and how would implement them into the system?
RD: "I absolutely oppose widening the Beltway, especially when it threatens homes in my District. I oppose toll lanes and toll roads, as they penalize low-income drivers."
Do you favor building the Purple Line? What kind of transportation do you favor? How would you pay for it and how would you reconcile the effects as it cuts through dense established neighborhoods?
RD: "Yes, the Purple Line is my top transportation priority. I favor rail transit, and innovative bus initiatives. I will pay for those through local, state, and Federal funds; dedicating a portion of the existing sales tax for them; and by aiming for profitability by building projects to meet an existing demand. Let’s face it, if we let the NIMBYs keep control, we’ll never end gridlock. The Purple Line was a CSX route in the past, and was meant to become a commuter rail line 20 years ago. The Purple Line trains are silent and emission-free, so there are no effects."
6:09: You're talking about a different proposal in 2006. Hogan and Rahn were clear they are not demolishing homes for this Express Lanes project. Wake up.
ReplyDeleteLikewise, these are additional toll lanes, not tolling existing lanes as I was referring to in 2006.
"Gregg notes that the hits taken by Pentagon contractors in the Obama-era knucklehead budget battles on Capitol Hill"
ReplyDeleteWashington Post reporter Aaron Gregg would never write a pile of gibberish like that. What actually happened was that the BRAC program resulted in DoD offices moving out of leased space in Crystal City and other areas.
You are absolutely right Robert!
ReplyDeleteBethesda has only about 36 major projects under construction, fully entitled or in the approval pipeline, including 2 new high rise hotels, 5 new high rise office buildings including a world headquarters, a huge hospital expansion, and about 24 high rise multi family residential projects, most with retail, cafes and restaurants in the base. Bethesda will soon have a new multimodal transit center that combines heavy rail, light rail, BRT and a bike parking station that will serve the one of the most heavily used hiker-bike trail in the nation. This new development and extensive transit connectivity will provide new workplaces for about 9000 more people and housing about 7000 more residents, and hotel rooms form 500 more guests.
I would not disagree that other parts of MoCo are struggling, but are you not are posting on your self-titled blog about Bethesda? Perhaps one of your other blogs would be a more appropriate place for all of your negativism. I can’t imagine a more dynamic growth than Bethesda has undergone in the last ten years, and seems to be still accelerating.
6:20: You're poorly informed. I'm correct, and the official word is "sequestration." Ask a defense contractor. Thank globalist Republicans and Obama.
ReplyDelete6:22: Most of these projects are residential, which costs us more than the revenue they generate. For the offices, even in Bethesda, they are chopping up floors and getting subsidized by US, the taxpayers, to take on smaller tenants.
Ask Carr if they like the result at 4500 EW vs. original planned tenant Intelsat, which chose Tysons. Amazon or Fox 5? Which would you pick of those two from a revenue and rent standpoint?
Bethesda has actually gone off-track from what was envisioned as late as the 90s. Very few amenities, no major new corporate tenants, and now the Council has tanked the nighttime economy, which was even more vibrant than it is now in the 70s-90s.
And don't even get me started on the Bethesda Downtown plan's impact on the architecture of these new buildings, which all look the same with few exceptions. Large base at bottom, smaller tower on top. Good God!
ReplyDeleteAmazon already scrapped its NYC project after reanalyzing its future growth projections. Crystal City is next as Amazon comes crashing down. Its founder is in midst of a personal midlife crisis and competition is attacking it from every corner. In a few years all that will be left of Amazon's Crystal City HQ2 is another distrubution warehouse. Good luck to racist Gov Northam and the sleezebag Lt Gov Fairfax.
ReplyDeleteThis is what happens when you have an amateur hour, wannabe Planning Board, and an incompetent Council.
ReplyDelete"Residential, which costs us more than the revenue they generate."
ReplyDeleteBullshit.
6:31: Wrong. Authoritatively proven by Montgomery County's structural budget deficit, which is in the red as far out as the projections go. This after 800% growth in Clarksburg, and explosive residential growth countywide since the cartel seized power in 2002. Where's your revenue? You can't blame all the missing revenue on Peter Bang's supposed $7 million gambling spree. Fact: the services and education costs have busted the budget, and those costs outstrip revenue bigtime.
ReplyDelete"The cartel seized power in 2002."
ReplyDeleteWhat???
6:39: I guess a carpetbagger like you wasn't here when the "End Gridlock slate" swept the Council races using cartel money in 2002? It was all downhill from there.
ReplyDeleteThankfully, we have the integrity, credibility and political successes of Robert Dyer to rely on.
ReplyDeleteOh? Never mind.
You mean when the voters of Montgomery County elected them by decisive margins, in an election where the turnout was 63%?
ReplyDelete"And don't even get me started on the Bethesda Downtown plan's impact on the architecture of these new buildings, which all look the same with few exceptions. Large base at bottom, smaller tower on top. Good God!"
ReplyDeleteHave you seen the building that Yext is moving to in Rosslyn? Ugly rectangular 1980s building.
6:53: As we've seen in the most recent election, many are low-information voters, not helped by collusion between the MoCo cartel and local media and "civic organizations," which kept such information from voters by not covering the general election Council races and canceling traditional general election debates.
ReplyDelete6:56: Rosslyn and Tysons both have stunning skylines. You can sense the action and activity when driving past or through. Montgomery County...not so much. Good maybe to stop for a nap, perhaps, or to tour a retirement home.
ReplyDeleteWhat? Did Dyer or some other family member lose an election in 2002?
His whole motivation seems like vengeance against those he's been "wronged" by.
6:57 AM
"You can sense the action and activity when driving past"
ReplyDeleteYeah...people at work. Something you will never experience.
Robert, I was not aware that in addition to a blogger, you are also and architect and urban planner!
ReplyDeletePerhaps you are not aware that the idea placing the bulk of a building in a base, with zero setbacks, and providing point towers with setbacks above is a planning principle that allows a reasonable streetscape, with built in tower separation to allow upper levels to have views. The best example of this planning principle can be experienced in Vancouver, where dozens of high rises are placed with setbacks on dense bases,
A smaller percentage of these towers are allowed to extend to the ground, often at corners. The Bethesda CBD Sector Plan and Bethedsa Design Guidelines are very explicit in these massing ideas to create sustainable urban areas. Of course our large blocks with multiple ownership often create problems when adjacent developers don’t play well together.
Does anybody really listen to your wolf whistling? NO!
ReplyDelete"Did Dyer or some other family member lose an election in 2002?"
ReplyDeleteWhy is "Anna" obsessed with Robert Dyer's family?
@ 7:49 AM - To whom are you responding?
ReplyDeleteAlso, do you know what "wolf whistling" actually means?
"A whistle with a rising and falling pitch, directed toward someone to express sexual attraction or admiration."
Saith Dyer: "Large base at bottom, smaller tower on top. Good God!"
ReplyDeletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_State_Building
"Montgomery has a national reputation as...having an ideological aversion to completing its master plan highway system."
ReplyDeleteYou keep saying this. The highways about which you fantasize have not been in any "master plan" for half a century.
Also, you might want to check the history of the road system in Northern Virginia. There were many roads that were proposed in the 1950s and 1960s that were never built. I-66 inside the Beltway was originally proposed to be 8 lanes, and open to all vehicles. What is now the Fairfax County Parkway was originally part of of the Outer Beltway, along with what became the ICC in Montgomery and Prince George's County. The FCP ended up being built to a much lower standard than the ICC, with intersections and all.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highway_revolts_in_the_United_States
ReplyDelete"Montgomery has a national reputation as...having an ideological aversion to completing its master plan highway system."
ReplyDeleteBullshit.
7:37AM , thanks for posting that explanation. I like getting smarter! :D
ReplyDelete7:50AM - the only one with an obsession is YOU obsessed with ME.
ReplyDeleteDoes your wife know how often you're thinking of me?
10:58AM - LOL, I was just guessing...I shoulda known. So predictable. Thanks.
ReplyDelete@8:47 VA-28 became the new outer Beltway, and it is built to interstate standards. But thanks to MoCo politicians opposed to a second Potomac crossing, it'll never connect to the MoCo side (I-370/MD-200).
ReplyDeleteThe freeway portion of VA 28 only extends south to I-66. Not convenient if you want to connect with I-95. Or any future southern bridge towards Maryland.
ReplyDelete7:37: Great, but when every building is forced to look the same, that's just dumb. You don't see that in New York, Dubai, Singapore, etc.
ReplyDelete8:34: Right now we're just trying to get the Dulles access. Extension to I-95 in Virginia (and to Bowie in Maryland) will come later.
8:47/9:02: The only reason they're not in master plans is because our crooked County Council and Planning Board removed them over the years. They were in there, and a smarter, less corrupt group of future elected officials will put them back in once a majority of voters get fed up enough and start doing homework before voting.
Why did you delete 10:58's explanation? They're just publicly available facts.
ReplyDeleteYES, another Dyer lost in the 2002 election. This is the source of Dyer's rants about 2002. It showed the votes and %.
I'm sure our resident historian can find it.
Don't you realize by now you cause more attention to the posts when you delete them?
Or is that your plan?
"Rosslyn and Tysons both have stunning skylines. You can sense the action and activity"
ReplyDeleteAt nighttime when all the workers have gone home and the streets are deader than the Mojave Desert?