Officials in Montgomery County and the State of Maryland just can't seem to get "Sirius" about economic development, coming up empty again as a U.K. defense firm has followed so many others to Virginia to establish its first U.S. headquarters. Sirius Analysis, a defense management software consulting company headquartered in Portsmouth, England, will open its American headquarters at 4525 Main Street in Virginia Beach, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced in a statement. The headquarters will bring 105 new high-wage tech jobs to the Old Dominion.
Youngkin said Virginia and Massachusetts were the two finalists competing for the headquarters. There's no indication that Montgomery County or Maryland officials even bothered to compete. This despite Sirius having sought a location near military bases, of which Maryland has twenty, compared to Massachusetts' paltry six. Did we blow it, or what?
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| Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin |
“Sirius Analysis choosing Virginia Beach as their U.S. headquarters showcases the Commonwealth's magnetic appeal in global defense innovation,” Youngkin said in a statement. “This expansion bridges UK-US defense collaboration, bringing cutting-edge analysis capabilities to our shores and creating valuable job opportunities for Virginians.”
“The arrival of Sirius Analysis signals a bright future for our region's tech ecosystem,” Virginia State Senator Aaron Rouse said. “By choosing our Virginia Beach for their U.S. operations, Sirius Analysis is not just creating over 100 high-skilled jobs, they're planting seeds for a new wave of innovation by strengthening our position as a hub for defense technology."
It's long past time Montgomery County and Maryland's elected officials conducted a "Sirius Analysis" of their failures to attract corporate headquarters to locate here. Virginia is laughing at us.
Photo credits: Sirius Analysis (top), Office of Gov. Glenn Youngkin (bottom)
A hundred jobs? Blue Halo is currently moving into a new MoCo HQ and adding two hundred jobs. Why cover news about a defense firm 4 hours away instead of news about defense firms that are actually relevant to a MoCo? Is this not a "hyperlocal" blog anymore?
ReplyDeleteBlue Halo is already here. The news is Montgomery County's failure to win, and often not even try to win, these corporate HQs that are up for grabs. I've been publishing stories on this topic for well over a decade.
DeleteYou missed the point. They added twice as many jobs.
Delete5:41: One company added not quite twice as many jobs. How does that outweigh the thousands of jobs lost to Virginia by failing to attract Northrup, Intelsat, Hilton Hotels, Nestle, Corporate Executive Board, Lidl, Gerber, Volkswagen, etc?
Delete"[Often politically-connected, ideologically-progressive Democratic Party-donor led] existing MoCo business is adding jobs!!!" is the weak argument made by apologists for the County cartel, citing the [quite rare] instance where an existing County employer is adding more jobs.
If I were to start reporting every time a Northern Virginia firm announces it is adding more jobs, I wouldn't have room for anything else. It's irrelevant to the landscape of competition for new high-wage employers.
Looks like the NoVa Cartel lost this one, too. Just like they lost Foot Locker.
ReplyDelete8:08: Fortunately for Virginia taxpayers, the SoVa Cartel was there for the save.
DeleteMeanwhile NoVa just lost Gannett’s headquarters, which has been there for four decades (Tyson and previously Rosslyn) to New York City earlier this year.
ReplyDelete8:47: Gannett has been tanking for some time due to its own questionable business decisions, and now is at the mercy of a cost-cutting, Mitt Romney-style investment firm sucking whatever cash value is left out of the company. This is nowhere near as embarrassing as Montgomery County losing Discovery to New York and Knoxville.
DeleteI just typed “Discovery Channel headquarters Knoxville” on Google and got “PERMANENTLY CLOSED”. Turns out it closed in February 2023 as a result of Discovery Channel’s merger with Warner Bros. in 2021. Looks like Knoxville didn’t even get years out of that. LOL
DeleteMaybe next time....
ReplyDeletesilliness, Robert. They said they chose the Hampton Roads area due to its proximity to their existing (Navy) clients. If landlocked Moco had spent a single dollar chasing this small company's US office it would have been money wasted.
ReplyDeleteZaphod: Did you read the whole article? Massachusetts was the other finalist, and is nowhere near Hampton Roads.
ReplyDeleteI did. No doubt the company has Navy clients in coastal New England as well.
DeleteBut Massachusetts has several Naval facilities of its own. Did you not do your homework, AGAIN?
DeleteZaphod/Anonymous: If you haven't noticed, Maryland also has Naval facilities, including 2 in Bethesda alone. Maryland has clients, ports, and 20 military bases. And Dahlgren, where naval weapons are tested, is a short drive across the river from Charles County.
DeleteToo bad taxpayers don't gain traction, nor get respect like shareholders, tho that's what we are. Our 'elected 'officials'' don't answer to us because here we are blindly, and stupidly, One Party. Taxes will solve everything, until they don't, or run out of dupes.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile - "Montgomery County Secures Triple-A Bond Ratings for 2024, Extending 50+ Year Streak" Where good.
ReplyDelete8:14: "Where good" - are we? The County's structural budget deficit, and need for annual tax hikes, tells us otherwise.
DeleteAAA bond rating only means the County can - so far - cover its deficits each year with a hearty tax hike, and even a massive (9%+) tax hike as needed. It has zippo to do with the health of the economy, nor with the County's economic development success or failure.
In other words, we have a (rapidly-dwindling) number of high-earners who have jobs or income sources located outside of Montgomery County, who are - so far - willing to take an annual financial posterior-whipping by the County Council, and not revolt against their fiscally-incompetent masters.