Montgomery County and the State of Maryland turned out to be flyover country for Foot Locker. CEO Mary Dillon announced that the sporting goods giant, currently located in New York City, has chosen St. Petersburg, Florida as the new location for its global corporate headquarters. This officially gives St. Petersburg more Fortune 500 headquarters than Montgomery County, while its population is barely a third of MoCo's. Foot Locker plans to make the move late next year, bringing 175 high-wage jobs to St. Petersburg.
Foot Locker is only the latest company to sail over Montgomery County and Maryland like Michael Jordan on its way to the basket. Montgomery County hasn't attracted a major corporate headquarters in over a quarter-century. It's just one reason why the County, like Maryland, has a moribund economy and structural budget deficit. Once again, we've been dunked on by a more business-friendly jurisdiction, and the losses are adding up on residents' annually-rising tax bills.
"Foot Locker's move represents a significant corporate relocation, and importantly, it's another example of impactful and inclusive economic development in our city and the Tampa Bay region," St. Petersburg Mayor Kenneth T. Welch said in a statement. "On the heels of the generational Historic Gas Plant District project approval, St. Pete has now attracted a Fortune 500 company that will create 150+ more jobs and further diversify our workforce."
"We are delighted to welcome Foot Locker, Inc. to Pinellas County," Pinellas County Economic Development Director Dr. Cynthia Johnson said. "The Fortune 500 company’s decision to relocate here is a testament to Pinellas County’s attractiveness as a business destination. Pinellas County is committed to supporting the company’s growth and ensuring it thrives in the community.”
Photo courtesy Foot Locker
33 comments:
Hard to believe this was even a choice. It would be corporate malfeasance to pick such a business unfriendly area not to mention the fact McCarthy or anyone on the MC Council doesn't feel the need to incarcerate repeat offenders.
Can you add any detail about (or was it in a previous post?) what effort Montgomery County made to attract that headquarters, and whether Foot Locker gave any indication, during the process, that this county was a strong contender?
The must-read blog for breaking Corporate Relocation news
Doesn't look like it will be the last. Apparently a geico lawyer called into our office to ask some questions, get some records related to their zoning because they wanted to sell their big property to a developer and leave!
Is there any evidence - literally, any - that the County was in the running for this headquarters, or had made any effort to bring Foot Locker here? You do not cite any story or source indicating this was the case, nor does there appear to be any other story about this from a quick Google search on the topic.
Whatever the merits may be of your focus on the County's failure to attract corporate employers - and there are a number of valid points! - you don't do yourself any favors by seizing a random story about a corporate HQ relocation that never had anything to do with the County as evidence of the problem. A ham-fisted post.
Are you so desperate for engagement you write irrelevant articles about Florida and New York (and New Jersey and Pennsylvania) just so people roast you in the comments?
Dude, you really need to get over yourself, find a new job like ambulance chaser, or get some therapy. Just because you hear that some "major" corporation has found a new headquarters, and it's not in MoCo, the world ain't stopping.
Those will need to be high-wage jobs for those workers since getting home insurance (if you can) in Florida is astronomical. So many people are leaving due to insurance companies bailing on covering Florida homes.
Love your invoking Michael Jordan. Yup, all we get is a Nike store, and all that goes with it.
The Mass Exodus from MontGomorrah County Continues . . .
6:55: Why would Montgomery County not be in the running when a Fortune 500 company is searching for a new HQ location?
7:35: Our moribund economy, and failure to take action to turn it around, are highly relevant. Particularly as residents' tax bills increase every year to make up for the lost business revenue.
Meanwhile St. Petersburg was just wiped out by the hurricane.
Oops.
9:19: Foot Locker is a Fortune 500 company. That definitely qualifies as "major."
Do you realize that the GEICO site has been proposed for redevelopment for years?
And they moved so far they can still see their old headquarters from the new. Learning!
GEICO has been talking about selling their campus for redevelopment forever. It'll be a great day for Friendship Heights when it finally happens and all that asphalt can be put to much, much better use.
It's literally a hundred admin jobs. The MoCo company I work for added more staff than that in the 18 months and I can guarantee the average salary is higher. Your obsession with F500 is super weird.
If you add up the staff of Bethesda and SS stores you are talking about more jobs than this relocation affects.
Do you have a clue what a a moribund economy means? Because this ain't that:
By almost every objective metric, MC is growing at a healthy rate. Have at it:
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/categories/28559
Just a sampling below:
Real Gross Domestic Product: All Industries in Montgomery County, MD
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/REALGDPALL24031
Gross Domestic Product: All Industries in Montgomery County, MD (GDPALL24031)
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/GDPALL24031#:~:text=2022:%20106%2C777%2C850%20%7C%20Thousands%20of%20U.S.,2023%202:13%20PM%20CST
Gross Domestic Product: Private Services-Providing Industries in Montgomery County
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/GDPSERV24031
Gross Domestic Product: Private Goods-Producing Industries in Montgomery County
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/GDPGOODS24031
Continued Resident Population in Montgomery County, MD https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MDMONT0POP
Per Capita Personal Income in Montgomery County, MD
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/PCPI24031
Continued Low Unemployment
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MDMONT0URN
Bachelor's Degree or Higher (5-year estimate) in Montgomery County, MD
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/HC01ESTVC1724031
But seriously, let's hear more about how you and some of your republican commenters <<>> about MC. Your feelings are not based on objective facts.
Foot Locker is closing 400 stores and their move of the headquarters from Manhattan to St. Petersburg is a cost-cutting measure.
The company is the last remnant of F.W. Woolworth and Kinney Shoes.
Neither of these attributes indicate that its headquarters would be a desirable addition to our county
I think it's more about the crime that follows Nike. ...
LOL, your bad.
2:38: All of these statistics are about the people who live in Montgomery County, not about the health of the economy. A lot of well-off people live in MoCo - although, as I've documented, that number is steadily dwindling - but their employment or source of income is located *outside* of Montgomery County.
You need to look at the stats related to economic development, like job creation numbers, new business starts, business growth, etc. to gauge the health of the economy. When you are even arguing against The Washington Post and Wes Moore, who have confirmed we are moribund, you are engaged in pure gaslighting.
9:35: Foot Locker is a Fortune 500 company. I think most overburdened MoCo taxpayers would find that revenue a desirable addition to our County.
One only needs to look at the .50 basis point rate cut to see that the Federal Reserve is political. Like liberals touting the fall in crime when they're no longer reporting statistics from the worst run cities, (read Democrat controlled).
Your obsession with f500 is so weird. It's a few dozen jobs. NYC isn't losing sleep so I'm not sure why you are.
12:25: Maybe because NYC has plenty of other Fortune 500s. With only 2, we don't have that luxury. What's really "weird" is wanting residents to pick up the rising tax burden from lost commercial revenue.
9:36 stop making up BS
4:51: I have to defend 9:36, as both of their statements were accurate. The press swore up and down that the Fed couldn't cut rates close to a presidential election, and would have to make the cut by summer at the latest to avoid accusations of election interference. Then they made a massive cut just weeks before Election Day, and indicated more cuts are coming this year after Election Day. The rate cut was so big, it risked tanking the markets by suggesting panic over a potential recession.
The Fed has only cut rates within 10 weeks of a presidential Election Day twice in its history (Oct. 1976 and August 1984). Adding to the clearly-political nature of the cut, is the fact that Powell knows he is likely to be ousted if Trump wins. He moved to boost Harris to keep his job, and it worked. She is coasting to a potential landslide victory, and Powell will remain a powerful and popular man inside the Beltway and inside the cocktail parties he enjoys being invited to.
It is also a fact that the rosy crime stats touted during the election year excluded numbers from some of the highest-crime jurisdictions in America.
Your population comparison is either intentionally misleading or woefully misguided. Saint Petersburg is one area part of a large 3.3 million person Tampa Bay Metro Area. 17th largest in the country and 3x the size of Montgomery County.
9:25: My comparison is not misguided - St. Petersburg is a city. Its population is less than a third of MoCo's, yet it has more Fortune 500 company HQs than Montgomery County. That's the whole point - it's embarrassing.
Just for perspective, does anyone know when Montgomery County had the largest number of F500 companies' headquarters, and what that number was? (I don't.)
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