Montgomery County and Maryland have failed yet again to win another corporate headquarters competition. The winner in the contest is a familiar one: Northern Virginia. Heven AeroTech is moving its U.S. headquarters from Miami to Sterling, Virginia. The firm specializes in the design, manufacture, and deployment hydrogen-powered, runway-independent drones around the world. Needless to say, this is a booming field, as drones are the future of warfare, and are also being utilized in a growing number of non-military sectors of the economy.
A quick look at the map shows once again the critical importance of having direct access to Dulles International Airport for economic development. Heven AeroTech's new HQ address, 45240 Business Court, is 4 minutes from the airport. It's also right adjacent to VA 28, in which the state has invested greatly to bring it up to interstate highway standards, by constructing numerous interchanges. That's the same VA 28 that Montgomery County and Maryland could have made a direct highway connection to via a new Potomac River crossing many years ago, but have defiantly chosen not to.
The results continue to speak for themselves. We are falling further and further behind in the game, at an accelerating pace. According to Business Facilities magazine, in Fairfax County alone, 75 of that county's 125 aerospace firms have moved or expanded there in just the last three years. Montgomery County hasn't attracted a single major new corporate headquarters - of any type - in over 25 years.
Our "leaders" have made the deliberate decision to not give ourselves the Dulles advantage, and to continue to follow a tax-and-spend blueprint that is not only not competitive with rival jurisdictions, but now represents the greatest tax and fee burden in the entire region. Heckuva job, Brownie!
13 comments:
I made trip to New Jersey the past week. Another pretty blue state. For some reason NJ has more business large and small than Maryland does. More independent eateries. Could it be that MD has put all it's eggs in the Federal Government basket?
This is silly. Maryland has BWI if you're arguing they are locating next to any airport. The freeway connection would not have made being directly next to Dulles less appealing than the probably 20-30 min drive it would take to get from Moco
11:28: BWI is not comparable to Dulles. It does not offer the number of direct flights to international business destinations that Dulles does. It does not offer flights to as many cities worldwide as Dulles. And it does not offer the frequency of departures that Dulles provides.
These 3 factors, along with the superior air cargo operations out of Dulles, are why international business executives favor Dulles over BWI.
With Express Lanes on a new I-370 extension to Dulles, the travel time from the I-270 corridor - where we have the most available sites for aerospace and defense firms - would be very competitive with Northern Virginia.
They located right next to the airport. In no way is anywhere in Maryland competitive with that
5:41: Without the new Potomac crossing to Dulles, no. But that's the whole point - we need that direct connection to Dulles, and we need new leaders who understand that.
Could it be that corporate thinking and future investment folks just don't have much faith in Maryland hovernance and the recent election decisions? Does flyover America and especially the White House think Maryland is going the way of California, Illinois, and Washington state? Our ebullient but mediocre (at best!) Governor pretty much shot himself in the foot with our President, too. Electing Alsobrooks too, was indicative of furthering PG mentality throughout the rest of our vacillating state.
It wouldn't have made a difference. Nobody is going to want to drive an extra 20 to 30 minutes and locate in a different state from what they're trying to be close to. It's a fantasy. Marylanders who are upset about the trajectory of the state need to stop naming it a "steal and compete with Virginia on everything" thing and instead find companies to attract that don't depend on expecting them to drive to another state. Virginia doesn't need to market jobs by telling people they can drive over the state border.
5:00: Complacency is no longer an option. A new bridge to Dulles, along with sensible changes to the State and County's tax schemes, would make us very competitive with Northern Virginia for these firms. A 55 or 65 MPH highway from Gaithersburg to VA 28 is not going to be a 30 minute trip. There would be no red lights at all.
MD business owner here. Proximity to IAD is a benefit, but not necessarily a deal-breaker. In the case of Heven Aerotech, they have a West Coast office located in WA and the nearest airport is PDX, which is about 60 miles away.
The bigger issue is MD just isn't a great state to do business in. Too many regulations and taxes. If you search online for best states to do business in, MD will always rank below 40.
The situation is not changing either. As of 7/1, MD has a digital services tax, so we have to charge our customers 3% extra in taxes, while our competitors in VA do not have to, when selling to the same customers.
Looking at MoCo, there are multiple offices (REDI, MCEDC) set up to help you establish a business in MoCo. They have these because the regulations and permitting requirements are so complicated that you'll need help to get it done. Imagine if instead they didn't have so many regulations? For example, maybe barbers do not need to hold a separate barber license on top of their existing business license? (Ok, that's a state law, but still).
This entire blog is just a Marylander upset he doesn't live in Northern VA. If Maryland's only hope to attract new companies is to market they're close to Virginia, it's already lost. Clearly it has nothing going for it. Even NJ and Connecticut have more of an argument than being close to NYC.
801 is correct as we moved our business out of MD in the last quarter of 2024. It becomes so burdensome to do business in MD and the future doesn't look bright as Rockville and Annapolis look to generate more revenue from uncontrolled spending that started in early 2023.
Just finished reading about the (hopefully) grand opening of BabyCat Brewery + Kitchen in Bethesda. Original opening was Spring 2025, then July 2025 and now (again hopefully), mid to late October. Extreme permitting and regulatory hurdles were absolutely brutal to the owners of the business. Good luck to them, but why anyone would choose to open a business in MoCo is beyond me. Full disclosure, I'm a Bethesda resident and own a business in Tysons Corner. Don't get me started on Maryland's inaction on the American Legion bridge :(
711, re-distribution is their religion.
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