Tells Bisnow, "there's no comparison"
between moribund MoCo and booming
Northern Virginia office markets
Of course, Pratt notes that Northern Virginia is much more business-friendly in its policies, and is far more aggressive in wooing companies. Both factors can almost go without saying. But he zeroes in on infrastructure as a deciding factor, as have many CEOs who have chosen Virginia over Montgomery County in recent decades.
"I think the biggest challenge Montgomery County has is infrastructure," Pratt tells Bisnow's Jon Banister. "You look at Northern Virginia; they have two airports, they have a significant freeway system connecting the airports and the suburbs to downtown, and they’ve spent money to invest in HOT lanes, in extending the Metro to Dulles Airport. That infrastructure is because of decades of planing and investment and Montgomery has not made those same investments. Montgomery County does not have a freeway connecting the suburbs to downtown. It does not have significant airport infrastructure and has not extended Metro further out. They have not been willing to grapple with the important issue of another river crossing and if Montgomery County is not willing to make investments in infrastructure, I don’t think they’ll be able to attract employers and compete with Northern Virginia."
What a bodyslam. "That's gotta hurt, Gene." Pratt's interview comes ahead of next week's Bisnow-sponsored event that will focus on the future of business and real estate in Montgomery County.
Pratt is one of the few CEOs to publicly challenge County officials' ongoing refusal to complete the master plan highway system. Bob Buchanan, another County business leader willing to speak up, told transportation officials in Virginia that many of his MoCo business colleagues are afraid to challenge elected officials on their failure to build the new Potomac River crossing because of political pressure.
Montgomery County officials years ago canceled no less than three freeways leading into the District: the Northwest Freeway, the North-Central Freeway, and the Northern Parkway. They canceled the Rockville Freeway in the late 1980s, and are currently blocking the M-83 Highway from being constructed in the upcounty. And of course, they've prevented the new Potomac River crossing to the Dulles Airport area from being built for decades. Dulles has the wide variety and frequency of flights to international business destinations that corporate leaders need to be competitive. They simply cannot meet their travel needs at BWI or Reagan National, which themselves are infuriatingly long drives away from MoCo.
Imagine knowing what the solutions to a major problem are, and simply refusing to implement them. Under the current "leadership" of our MoCo political cartel-controlled Council, that is what passes for "The Montgomery Way." Heckuva job, Brownie!
Wasn't this the company who royally f---ed up the Silver Spring Transit Center?
ReplyDelete"It does not have significant airport infrastructure"
ReplyDeleteWhat do you propose to do about this, Robbie?
"...and has not extended Metro further out."
And this? You have opposed less expensive transit infrastructure such as the Purple Line and BRT.
He hates all public transportation because he can’t see past himself. Zero understanding that there are people who live different lives.
DeleteYou know like real jobs in places where driving makes it harder to get to and from work.
7:22am Indeed!
ReplyDeletePratt and Dyer both have the same diagnosis of what ails MoCo. Will the County Council make the tough decisions to invest in our future?
ReplyDeleteSo according to Pratt, the major difference between NoVa and MoCo is infrastructure, primarily two airports, connected by freeways, a freeway heading directly to downtown DC, and a Metro line that will soon extend to both airports.
ReplyDeleteAll of these items are largely geographic differences.
MoCo doesn’t have an international airport. Are you suggesting we add one, or two to be equal to NoVa?
MoCo doesn’t have a freeway extending to downtown. Are you suggesting we tear up a 200’ wide freeway right of way through the county to DC? Then we would require DC to extend this new freeway to downtown DC to match the freeway access in NoVa.
Sine we don’t have an airport, we can’t extend the Metro to it.
So all of these issues are largely unsolvable, at least without massive changes that no one would support. MoCo does have a new light rail line under construction that he failed to mention. A substantial BRT line is being planned on 355 that he fails to mention.
So my take on his article was that MoCo will ALWAYS have geographical differences that make hard to compete with NoVa. Of course lower taxes, betters schools, more walkable neighborhoods, enhanced transit options, improved bike access and a more pro-business county government would be helpful. Many of these ideas are underway, but I suggest our fate might remain as largely a bedroom community that supports and depends mostly on DC, and to a lesser degree.
Some folks have suggested that an additional river crossing and maybe even an extension of the Purple Line to Tyson might even accelerate this modal change making it easier to live in MoCo and work in NoVa.
Dyer brayed: "Montgomery County officials years ago canceled no less than three freeways leading into the District: the Northwest Freeway, the North-Central Freeway, and the Northern Parkway. They canceled the Rockville Freeway in the late 1980s, and are currently blocking the M-83 Highway from being constructed in the upcounty. And of course, they've prevented the new Potomac River crossing to the Dulles Airport area from being built for decades. Dulles has the wide variety and frequency of flights to international business destinations that corporate leaders need to be competitive. They simply cannot meet their travel needs at BWI or Reagan National, which themselves are infuriatingly long drives away from MoCo."
ReplyDeleteFirst, do you realize that our County government has no say over whether the District will build its portions of the "Northwest Freeway" or the "North-Central Freeway"?
Second, do you realize that building any of the roads that you listed won't have the slightest impact on access from Downtown Silver Spring to any of the three airports?
Third, have you ever tried driving from southern Fairfax County to Dulles during rush hour?
Congressional Plaza used to be Congressional Airport.
ReplyDeleteSo why can't the reverse happen? Westwood Shopping Center could become Moses International Airport!
Someone commented on how hard it is to drive from MoCo to Reagan airport. Unless you live far from a Metro Station, why would anyone in their right mind drive to Reagan? I can easily walk from my apartment door, walk 1/4 mile to the Bethesda Station, hop on the Metro Red Line, transfer to the Yellow Line, and be at my gate at Reagan in less than an hour. No fighting traffic, no parking cost, no Uber or Lyft fee, just $4 on the Metro. Easy peasy.
ReplyDeleteGetting from Bethesda to Dulles will be a bit longer ride on the Red and extended Silver lines, but if I can get a cheaper or non-stop flight, it certainly will be doable, and will likely be well worth the effort. I have not taken the Metro Red Line to the Union Station to catch a MARC to BWI, but I hear it is very easy. Having moved to Bethesda from an area that lacked any form of mass transit, I often think that many folks forget how convenient and affordable the Metro can be. Enhancements like the south entrance to the Bethesda station, the north entrance to the White Flint station, and the PurpleLine and future BRT can make access to the Metro even better, and certainly offset some of the infrastructure deficits that Pratt has outlined.
10:51am I'd agree about metro if it was reliable and fast.
DeleteIt can take quite awhile to get downtown on the weekends on metro with all of the delays. Who wants to go down an escalator and see next train is 20 minutes away?
Metro is still stuck in the mindset of being Monday-Friday transportation of government workers downtown.
Dulles' only real advantage over BWI is that it can accommodate Airbus A380 super-jumbo jets.
ReplyDeleteCurrently there are only three airline routes that use the A380 to/from Dulles, each with only one round trip per day:
-British Airways - London
-Air France - Paris
-Emirates - Dubai
However, even that will be moot in a very short time:
"In February 2019, Airbus announced it will end the A380 production by 2021, after its main customer, Emirates, agreed to drop an order for 39 of the aircraft, replacing it with 40 A330-900s and 30 A350-900s. Airbus will build 17 more A380s before closing the production line, 14 of them for Emirates."
The entire program has been a huge money-loser for Airbus. They were designed primarily for hub-and-spoke operations, which is becoming obsolete as airlines move back to point-to-point operations.
Air France has already announced their plans to retire half of their A380 fleet.
ReplyDeleteWonder if BTB will be invited to the compound on Piney Meeting?
ReplyDeleteBut according to Robert developers like Pratt owned the "MoCo Cartel"?
ReplyDeleteNorthern Virginia took a lot of short term pain over the past decade building up their highway and transit infrastructure. Now they're reaping the rewards.
ReplyDeleteIt takes leadership to do the big things.
Why would anyone move to Montgomery County?
ReplyDeleteIt has become a sanctuary city with illegals and MS-13. Home invasions in the most wealthy parts of Bethesda are soaring. You have the ghetto burglars in Montgomery Village on the beltway doing burgularies car jacking in Bethesda.
Meanwhile the public schools once the greatest in nation are now filled with illegals who don’t speak English and adult pedophiles claiming to be high school students terrorizing American girls.
These corporations heads have families.
Trolling
Delete11:36: Dulles has many advantages beyond the size of planes it can handle. It has the destinations you need for international business in 2019, many more direct flights to those key cities around the world, and a greater frequency of flights. If you have to be India tomorrow to close the deal, Dulles is your only choice. We need to be able to offer that same airport access via a new bridge to compete with Virginia.
ReplyDelete7:22: No, it was the county government itself that did that.
ReplyDelete10:37: Wrong! First of all, to complete the freeway system, you need to extend I-95 through the District as originally planned. That gets all the east coast traffic off our Beltway. Second, after completing the freeway system, you take the North-Central Freeway out of downtown Silver Spring to Express Lanes on the Beltway and I-270 to the new I-370 toll highway extension over the Potomac to Dulles Airport. You're talking about a 20-25 minute trip door-to-door.
ReplyDeleteStart thinking like a winner!
Very bold plan. Please provide a detailed map of this project.
DeleteHow much will it cost? Will our taxes go up because of this?
How many homes and businesses will need to be torn down?
Where do you put an extended I-95 through DC? If that would ever happen then you're implying all east coast traffic would go through DC. In many cities the purpose of a Beltway is to avoid going through a city. There will be a second Potomac River crossing before 95 goes through DC.
ReplyDeleteStart thinking in practical terms!
The Southwest Freeway is bad enough just with local traffic. Now imagine Maine-to-Florida traffic trying to merge three lanes to the left in just four blocks going from the 3rd Street Tunnel to the 14th Street Bridge.
ReplyDeleteDyer @ 8:49 PM - How did the Council cause Foulger-Pratt's subcontractors to pour the wrong amount of concrete in many areas of the Silver Spring Transit Terminal?
Dulles is the king of international flights, hands-down, in this area. BWI however has the highest passenger numbers of all 3 airports. Lots of domestic flying.
ReplyDeleteAs for public transportation, I fly out of all 3 airports a lot for business. Public transportation to any of them it usually more time-consuming than by car. For Dulles, you'd have to take the metro all the way into the city, then transfer trains (15-20 minute wait on weekends), then go to Wiehle and catch a bus from there. That's 1-2 hours. Even in the worst afternoon rush, it takes me an hour door-to-door driving.
Reagan is not as bad, but again you need to go into the city, and connect. 45 minutes. 25 by car.
BWI I find it's best to do red line to Shady Grove and then the MDTA201 bus (ICC bus), and that's about 1.5 hours total, versus about an hour by car. The wildcard here is traffic on I-95N if it's a weekday afternoon, but the bus has the same issue. The train option from Union Station means you need to metro all the way into the city, then end up at the BWI airport station and take a bus from there to the airport.
We really need a second beltway crossing, as I know Dyer favors also. Will make use of both BWI and IAD easier for people on the other side of the river.
3:35: Detailed maps cannot be shown because such maps are only drawn up when you go to design phase, which the County Council has prevented for decades. However, the rights-of-way for all freeways mentioned remain open for construction.
ReplyDeleteThe total cost? I would estimate that building the new Potomac River crossing and associated highway extension would be cost-free, as it would be a toll facility. Express Lanes are the same - private builders who recoup their costs via tolls later on.
M-83 would be built at taxpayer expense for no more than $500 million. Rockville Freeway would be slightly more than that.
There are no realistic plans to build the other 3 freeways currently, as we would have to get buy-in from Washington, D.C. to allow construction through their jurisdiction.
My suggestion is to hire Elon Musk's The Boring Company to construct tunnels for the Northwest Freeway parallel to Wisconsin Avenue where sunken trench segments are not desirable between Jones Bridge Road and Tenley Circle. Same thing for the North-Central Freeway. Northern Parkway right-of-way is clear, but I would tunnel through Wheaton Regional Park area to preserve green space and quiet.
Virtually no homes and businesses would be torn down, except for two cases of structures illegally built in the right-of-way of the North-Central (downtown Silver Spring) and I-95 (Brookland area) freeways, which would have to be torn down at owners' expense or tunneled under.
10:01 PM: Of course appropriate changes would be made as needed to existing freeways to accommodate I-95 traffic volume in DC.
The actual mistake was the County A) not vigorously overseeing the project, and B) not listening to their own County inspector who pointed out the problem at the time. That wasn't Foulger Pratt's problem.
9:13: You are correct in that completion of an Outer Beltway that includes the new Potomac crossing is more viable, and would essentially provide the detour from our Beltway. However, the right-of-way remains open through D.C. for I-95 to run through parallel to railroad tracks in the Fort Totten/Brookland area.
Wow, lots of magical thinking.
ReplyDelete"The rights-of-way for all freeways mentioned remain open for construction...Virtually no homes and businesses would be torn down, except for two cases of structures illegally built in the right-of-way of the North-Central (downtown Silver Spring) and I-95 (Brookland area) freeways, which would have to be torn down at owners' expense or tunneled under."
Wrong. There are hundreds of homes and businesses there.
"My suggestion is to hire Elon Musk's The Boring Company to construct tunnels for the Northwest Freeway parallel to Wisconsin Avenue where sunken trench segments are not desirable between Jones Bridge Road and Tenley Circle."
Good luck with that. Boston's "Big Dig" cost $15 billion per mile. "The Boring Company" has not even started any projects, and none of them are for 8-lane freeways. Tesla stock is down 39% from its peak last December.
Virginia on CNBC voted number 1 state to do biz
ReplyDelete5:23: Where are there homes and businesses in any of these rights-of-way? I mentioned the two illegal structures that have been allowed by MoCo and DC, which by right could be forced to be demolished.
ReplyDeleteNo "magical thinking' involved. These freeway plans have existed for almost 70 years.
The Boring Company's whole deal is that they've found a cheaper tunneling process. So let's put it to use in Montgomery County and the District. The Big Dig was 20 years ago! Despite the County Council's belief otherwise, technology advances.
5:23: No surprise there - Virginia is cleaning our clock on a regular basis.
It's interesting that Robert blames the County for his perceived shortcomings when he has failed in every attempt (bigly, I might add) to win any elected position. Believe Hans won by some 100,000 votes in the last cycle.
ReplyDelete6:01: What a coincidence that 100,000 new voters mysteriously entered the voter universe in the 2018 election! There are more names registered on the active MoCo voter list than there are actual eligible voters in the county. Anomalous voting results have been recorded at dozens of precincts across the County. The Washington Post colluded with the MoCo cartel, and didn't write a single sentence about the general election County Council races.
ReplyDeleteWinning via voter fraud is nothing to boast about.
Robert, do you feel that you won the election? Do you think that those 100,000 voters you claim don't exist all voted for you or did Hans win the election? Do you feel this has been the case for the three elections you lost? I applaud you sense of duty but find it hard to believe that you think Hans didn't beat you by some 200,000 combined votes over three elections.
ReplyDelete6:21: I've never lost any County election fair and square. From the Post-aided cover-up of Marilyn Goldwater's inability to serve or even show up for work in Annapolis for months to the above evidence of fraud outlined for 2018, we haven't had a legitimate election yet in my years of running.
ReplyDeleteso it is of your opinion that all of those 100,000 people voted for Hans and not you? Seems a bit far fetched, my friend. NO COLLUSION!
ReplyDeleteIf there is anyone to blame for your even more humiliating loss in 2018, that would be Donald Trump. He triggered the highest voter turnout in a mid-term election in decades, nationwide, leading to the Republicans losing 39 seats in the House of Representatives.
ReplyDelete7:12 AM , I hope it isn't deleted. I've haven't laughed so hard in months. Hans is a F'ing carpet bagger riding the coat tails of his wife. The ultimate Soy boy, and legislates on his effeminate feelings and emotions.
ReplyDeleteWith all due respect, that is Honorable Soy Boy to you...also known as Hans "the Dyer destroyer" Reimer.
ReplyDeleteNo debates, not a word of coverage in legacy media (Post, WTOP, Sentinel, etc.), no coverage on the county sanctioned cable TV network, etc.
ReplyDeleteRemember, WTOP wrote more about Councilman Leventhal's socks than they did on the actual general election. This part of the reason I don't consider WTOP to be a legitimate source of local news.
Democracy dies in darkness. The at large race last cycle was more like Russia where Putin is just widely accepted to win and the election is just a formality.
The first thing a new local Post reporter is told is that the Democrat primary is the election and not to cover the general.
8:56 AM
ReplyDeleteI've heard it from several self proclaimed journalists in legacy media.
The Democrat primary is the real election.
Ficker is clown but good for a quote, etc.
Maybe get out to some debates and candidate events next cycle and educate yourself. These reporters are quick to insult and degrade certain candidates among themselves.
9:25 AM Can Hans run again? What is his status regarding term limits?
ReplyDeleteYou know there wasn't sufficient coverage of candidates when there were articles *AFTER* the general election that literally were headlined "Get to know your new councilmen".
ReplyDeleteMight be good to get to know who they are before the election, right?
9:25 AM Yup, hard to win if there are no debates or even articles to compare and contrast candidates.
ReplyDeleteAll the time and articles wasted by media on trying to foist Floreen on us as county exec.
9:16AM The fact that you would call writers at the Post "self proclaimed journalists" shows your all-consuming envy.
ReplyDelete9:36am there is no professional certification, license or board to be a "journalist".
DeleteSo, they are "self proclaimed".
Well then, Dyer is also a self-proclaimed journalist.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the clarification.
9:45am yup, all journalists are the same, self proclaimed.
DeleteI sometimes wish there was some certification...a lot of local "news" elsewhere is copy and paste plagiarism from summer interns who don't know better.
9:51am there is no journalist license or title
DeleteThere is not even a prescribed course of education. You really just have to be a subject matter expert like Dyer is about Bethesda and MoCo in general. No one knows Bethesda like Dyer :)
Dyer seems to need a new campaign manager. Someone who cares enough to get his stories and his ideas out there in ALL media. Someone competent enough to get the job done. Someone forward-thinking enough to push the envelope.
ReplyDelete9:55am sounds like you're applying for the job! You said you're semi retired, right?
DeleteJust think! Those "summer interns" all y'all talk crap about will someday be your bosses and still be kicking your asses. Now that's a fun thought for a Wednesday.
ReplyDelete9:57am these aren't folks from elite schools
DeleteThey may serve Dyer at the Silver Diner at Rio...maybe make manager some day.
10:02AM, I am! Good memory. But, no. I don't believe in his policies and ideas.
ReplyDeleteIt's just that reading this and taking to heart the Anonymous commenters points, it seems like Dyer was terribly under-served by whomever he had in that role.
10:17am that's too bad.
DeleteI guess spending your retirement thinking about Robert Dyer isn't a bad way to spend your time.
10:22 isn’t that what you’re doing now also? LOL.
Delete10:01AM If memory serves, Dyer also doesn't have a degree from an elite school.
ReplyDeleteThere is also something called a Journalism Degree that I don't believe Dyer has either.
What kind of internship did Dyer have?
10:20am many top journalists and editors never went to journalism school.
DeleteAnd there is no certification, license or board to pass to be a journalist.
I never said there was. You did.
ReplyDeleteThere is no requirement, but many do have degrees in Journalism or Communications. Many journalists have degrees in the fields they report on, i.e. law, political science.
One minute you insult people without the education, the next you're saying it isn't necessary. Which one is it?
Amazing how many people who call Robert a loser spend their time here bullying him. Go beg for a quarter. You guys were losers in high school and are probably losers today.
ReplyDelete2:59: Ignore the troll - he's just a soy boy trying to fool the NPCs of Bethesda.
ReplyDeleteLike “snowflakes”, “cucks” or “libtards”, “NPC” has become a popular insult for criticising Democrats and other left-leaning web users, accusing them of being unable to think for themselves, parroting orthodoxies of inclusivity rather than challenging mainstream assumptions.
ReplyDeleteThe slang - “born in the fever swamps of 4chan and Reddit message boards”, as Kevin Roose of The New York Times puts it - has been adopted by right-wing social media users, many backers of President Donald Trump, as a means of attacking conformist liberal voters
I wonder if Robert Dyer is on Jeffrey Epstein's list?
ReplyDelete5:02: No, but Bill Clinton flew on the Lolita Express 23 times, and we have the flight records to prove it. Koch Brothers! Woody Allen! George Stephanoplous! The Clinton Foundation! Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
ReplyDeleteNice of you to sign your comment, Robbie.
ReplyDelete5:42: Unlike my critic, I actually have the guts to put my name next to the comments I post.
ReplyDelete5:36AM - Some of those you mention were merely Manhattan dinner guests.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget to mention Trump, Dershowitz, Tom Barrack, Wilbur Ross, Jon Voight and most of all Les Wexner.
Unlike this blogger, ALL my comments are under my name and have been for the past few years. :)