Montgomery County Development News

[uptn1bx2hrlm5blyn]

Originally Posted by fissure226

That would no be my decision. And please, don't take my opinion so seriously.

I never stated that it was your decision....

I am expressing my disgust with the local powers that be that continue to block Prince Georges County(btw of Eastern Montgomery County) from Accelerating in Business/Economic Growth to the Level on NOVA and Western MoCo.....

[sovman]

The Monty: St. Elmo's Spire

According to the architects at SK&I, the "owner is working on getting financing like anyone else," but they are "hoping to break ground by September or October of this year."

[Dank City]

Originally Posted by Business Gazette

Planners approve apartment project at Wheaton Safeway

The Montgomery County Planning Board approved a preliminary plan for an 18-story apartment tower atop a new Safeway in downtown Wheaton, clearing the way for construction to start on the project by the spring of 2011.

Wow, start by Spring of 2011 and the developer pushed it through the planning board quickly so it sounds like they're serious. 200ft in Wheaton, crazy.

That 15 story building on the Grosvenor Station really sneakily finished up this winter too...


Also, to pose this question to the forum: How much do you think the residential population of "Downtown Montgomery County" has grown this past decade? I'd define "Downtown Montgomery County" as anything within a half mile of mass transit. This definition fits DT Bethesda, Silver Spring, Friendship Heights (MD), Grosvenor, North Bethesda, Twinbrook, Rockville, Wheaton, Takoma Park and other suburban stations (including MARC stations). Also, what do you think transit oriented job growth numbers look like in the county over the past decade. What about in Fairfax/PG County?

I think Grosvenor, Rockville, Friendship Heights(including DC side), Bethesda, North Bethesda, Twinbrook and Silver Spring have all added at least 1,000 residential units each that are walkable to rail. Each of those residential units probably averages 2-3 occupants. All but Grosvenor and Rockville have added at least one hotel, although Grosvenor added a huge performing arts venue. Medical Center is densifying intensely with BRAC and all the renovation at NIH earlier in the decade.

Throw in visions for Wheaton, Rio/Washingtonian Center and DT Gaithersburg into the above discussion and MoCo is really developing a wealth of urban nodes and downtowns (I named 8 not counting the decidedly suburban Kentlands, King Farms, Montgomery Village, Clarksburg TC and future Science City). The Purple Line, and secondarily the CCT, are vitally important to foster further TOD. Our biggest infrastructure improvements over the past decade have been Route 29 upgrades, ICC, Montrose Parkway and Public Parking, it's time to reemphasize mass transit in MD. Many DC residents are calling for a streetcar line from Gtown up Wisconsin Ave to be added to the city's plans, why not just send it all the way up Wisconsin onto MD355 on through Rockville just like the trolleys from the "old timey days" in the time of "long long ago." Hopefully as the county becomes more urban, the voices demanding more mass transit will be a bit louder.

[sovman]

Well in the past 10 years the county's grown from 873k to 971k, probably about a third of which has happened in downtown areas (near mass transit). There's been a lot of dense in-fill developments in the past 10 years, such as King Farm (which is across 355 from the Shady Grove metro station... also, the CCT will cut through King Farm, with a station on the east side (the residential area) and the west side (the commercial office area) along King Farm Blvd) and that big development across the street from Shady Grove hospital (I can't recall the name of it, but it's similar to King Farm but a little smaller... it's got a shopping center, townhomes, single family homes and apartments). Also, the Gallery and Sterling towers at White Flint were built in the early 2000s.

The county's new growth policies put further emphasis on dense downtown development like that since only about 3 or 4% of the vacant land in the county is open to new development (about 50% of the county's area is taken up by the parks system and the agricultural reserve). Also, it's too expensive to build new highways and schools and such to new areas, versus building where the infrastructure already exists.

[diplomat74]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...042300120.html

This and the recent job numbers pretty much cements the fact that NoVa has/is quickly becoming the economic engine of the region. With Suburban MD losing relevance economically in the DC Metro Area. The only realistic answer to the massive corporate job growth that is happening now and in the future in NoVa is for Western MoCo and perhaps eastern MoCo to step up economic development. Lets face it PG is not even competing and from the looks of future planning it shows no signs that it is ever going to compete. Will this be the final wake up call for state and county leaders to get serious about changing the way state attracts, retains and grows business if they want to be a relevant player in the future?

[fissure226]

Originally Posted by diplomat74

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...042300120.html

This and the recent job numbers pretty much cements the fact that NoVa has/is quickly becoming the economic engine of the region. With Suburban MD losing relevance economically in the DC Metro Area. The only realistic answer to the massive corporate job growth that is happening now and in the future in NoVa is for Western MoCo and perhaps eastern MoCo to step up economic development. Lets face it PG is not even competing and from the looks of future planning it shows no signs that it is ever going to compete. Will this be the final wake up call for state and county leaders to get serious about changing the way state attracts, retains and grows business if they want to be a relevant player in the future?

*cough* Ehrlich *cough*

No but really, I don't think the point is to not compete at the same game (defense contracting), what we need to do is become the world epicenter for medical research (which I believe would currently be Boston, MA)...Gaithersburg West is only a good start. I also think we are poised to foster a healthy cyber-security sector, anchored to NSA and hopefully this "Green Energy" industry can take off as well, as MoCo has recently landed two major HQs in that field.

Yeah it would have been nice to have landed N.G. But realistically, no amount of buisness friendliness could compete with the fact that the Pentagon is in NOVA, that's probably the biggest reason why all these defense contractors have set up shop there.

[Balmurfan]

Originally Posted by diplomat74

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...042300120.html

Will this be the final wake up call for state and county leaders to get serious about changing the way state attracts, retains and grows business if they want to be a relevant player in the future?

Are you serious?? Most of the politicians in Annapolis can't find their way out of a paper bag! Hell.. you don't have to look any further than the slots debacle to know they are idiots! For God's sakes... look at all the crap given to Under Armour for putting their logo on a hill side. They are a good corporate citizen, so they must be ran out of town!

People are in business to make money... Maryland wants as much of that money as possible, so what's the incentive for people to relocate or expand in the state?

We had a fortune 500 company knocking on the door and we still couldn't close the deal. Maryland needs to take a page out of Georgia's playbook. Every time you turn around a corporate headquarters is relocating somewhere in the state. Things will not change until we get rid of the tax and spend idiots. Unfortunately, I don't for see Montgomery County or the state as a whole changing the way it votes, so ultimately we get what we deserve!!

[Dank City]

I mean realistically though, can anyone see a company the size of Northrop put their headquarters in a city called "Gaithersburg" or "Germantown"? Even Rockville doesn't sound too good for a headquarters. Bethesda has a boatload of huge companies and Silver Spring is getting there, but generally Maryland place names just aren't as cool, but I think VA might have the coolest place names in the country. Eastern Shore place names are pretty cool

Fairfax has pretty sick place names with Vienna, Tysons Corner, Annandale, McLean, Langley and oh yeah, fuckin Mount Vernon.

[diplomat74]

Originally Posted by fissure226

*cough* Ehrlich *cough*

No but really, I don't think the point is to not compete at the same game (defense contracting), what we need to do is become the world epicenter for medical research (which I believe would currently be Boston, MA)...Gaithersburg West is only a good start. I also think we are poised to foster a healthy cyber-security sector, anchored to NSA and hopefully this "Green Energy" industry can take off as well, as MoCo has recently landed two major HQs in that field.

Yeah it would have been nice to have landed N.G. But realistically, no amount of buisness friendliness could compete with the fact that the Pentagon is in NOVA, that's probably the biggest reason why all these defense contractors have set up shop there.

The problem is Maryland and MoCo are not even competitive in industries they were thought to be strong in, remember they lost the bid for Hilton and VW in addition to numerous defense contractors. Any sane person has to realize that something has to be done to make the state more competitive, whatever they are doing now isn't working. If they don't do something to change the corporate tax structure or regulations MD has pretty much giving up being competitive for private business with VA and will solely rely on it's federal and education institutes

[sovman]

Originally Posted by diplomat74

This and the recent job numbers pretty much cements the fact that NoVa has/is quickly becoming the economic engine of the region. With Suburban MD losing relevance economically in the DC Metro Area. The only realistic answer to the massive corporate job growth that is happening now and in the future in NoVa is for Western MoCo and perhaps eastern MoCo to step up economic development. Lets face it PG is not even competing and from the looks of future planning it shows no signs that it is ever going to compete. Will this be the final wake up call for state and county leaders to get serious about changing the way state attracts, retains and grows business if they want to be a relevant player in the future?

You're acting like Moco is somehow irrelivant. It's not. Is NoVa more competitive in the business world? Sure. Do they have a higher number of corporate headquarters? Probably. Are they where the economic center of the region is? Quite likely. But is MoCo somehow now an irrelivant footnote in history, as you seem to indicate? Not quite. MoCo is still a significant economic driver in the region. We have the headquarters for several large national and international organizations, including:
Lockheed Martin, Rockville
Marriott International, Bethesda
Choice Hotels International, Silver Spring
QIAGEN, Germantown (North American HQ)
Human Genome Sciences, Rockville
Host Hotels and Resorts, Bethesda
Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, LLC, Chevy Chase
United Therapeutics, Silver Spring
Discovery Communications, Silver Spring
GEICO, Chevy Chase
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase
And then of course several major corporations have large offices (not necessarily corporate headquarters) in the area, such as URS Corp (Gaithersburg), Microsoft (Chevy Chase), IBM (Gaithersburg). Other large employers are federal headquarters and offices, such NIST (Gaithersburg), FDA (Silver Spring/White Oak), NOAA (Silver Spring), NIH/Bethesda Naval (Bethesda), US Dept of Energy (Germantown), and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (White Flint).

Are we still the region's number one? Doubtful. Do we have room for improvement? Obviously. But are we some forgotten irrelivant backwater? Hardly.

[Dank City]

Originally Posted by diplomat74

The problem is Maryland and MoCo are not even competitive in industries they were thought to be strong in, remember they lost the bid for Hilton and VW in addition to numerous defense contractors. Any sane person has to realize that something has to be done to make the state more competitive, whatever they are doing now isn't working. If they don't do something to change the corporate tax structure or regulations MD has pretty much giving up being competitive for private business with VA and will solely rely on it's federal and education institutes

To be fair, Hilton and Northrop probably didn't even consider Bethesda because each ones archrival is already headquartered there. Funny how that worked out...

[diplomat74]

Originally Posted by sovman

You're acting like Moco is somehow irrelivant. It's not. Is NoVa more competitive in the business world? Sure. Do they have a higher number of corporate headquarters? Probably. Are they where the economic center of the region is? Quite likely. But is MoCo somehow now an irrelivant footnote in history, as you seem to indicate? Not quite. MoCo is still a significant economic driver in the region. We have the headquarters for several large national and international organizations, including:
Lockheed Martin, Rockville
Marriott International, Bethesda
Choice Hotels International, Silver Spring
QIAGEN, Germantown (North American HQ)
Human Genome Sciences, Rockville
Host Hotels and Resorts, Bethesda
Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, LLC, Chevy Chase
United Therapeutics, Silver Spring
Discovery Communications, Silver Spring
GEICO, Chevy Chase
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase
And then of course several major corporations have large offices (not necessarily corporate headquarters) in the area, such as URS Corp (Gaithersburg), Microsoft (Chevy Chase), IBM (Gaithersburg). Other large employers are federal headquarters and offices, such NIST (Gaithersburg), FDA (Silver Spring/White Oak), NOAA (Silver Spring), NIH/Bethesda Naval (Bethesda), US Dept of Energy (Germantown), and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (White Flint).

Are we still the region's number one? Doubtful. Do we have room for improvement? Obviously. But are we some forgotten irrelivant backwater? Hardly.

What do you mean probably and quite likely? This has already become reality. Those list of companies that you and the county leaders always fall back on have been the same since the 90's where has all the recent growth been occurring? I didn't say MoCo is some back water mess, but if they don't watch out they will find themselves economically irrelvelant in the region. Ill quote again what Stephen Fuller (a pretty well known local regional analyst) has said. “Current forecasts show Montgomery County jobs growing, but at a slowing rate. The County will grow more slowly than the metropolitan region average. Fairfax County jobs growth will be twice as fast, and as a result, Montgomery County’s economy is becoming a smaller part of the region. We are losing share.” He also has “the kind of jobs we will be adding do not pay as much as the jobs that are here now. Wage growth in Montgomery County will increase 21%, but in the region as a whole, wages will increase 23%.”
“Montgomery County is becoming below average,” Fuller predicted. “The average salary in Montgomery County will be $16,000 less than in Fairfax County, and $5,000 less than in the whole region.”
Fuller has projected, that Montgomery County is not going to get the “high value jobs.” alot of “local jobs: service, retail, legal. but not high skilled labor"

So you and county leader can continue to state past accomplishments of MoCo and rest those laurels but I am more concerned about the counties future and it certainly looks more insignificant. There needs to be more aggressive view on job growth etc. jobs won't simple come to MoCo and the rest of Suburban Md just as Prince George's county.

[sovman]

Originally Posted by diplomat74

What do you mean probably and quite likely? This has already become reality. Those list of companies that you and the county leaders always fall back on have been the same since the 90's where has all the recent growth been occurring? I didn't say MoCo is some back water mess, but if they don't watch out they will find themselves economically irrelvelant in the region. Ill quote again what Stephen Fuller (a pretty well known local regional analyst) has said. “Current forecasts show Montgomery County jobs growing, but at a slowing rate. The County will grow more slowly than the metropolitan region average. Fairfax County jobs growth will be twice as fast, and as a result, Montgomery County’s economy is becoming a smaller part of the region. We are losing share.” He also has “the kind of jobs we will be adding do not pay as much as the jobs that are here now. Wage growth in Montgomery County will increase 21%, but in the region as a whole, wages will increase 23%.”
“Montgomery County is becoming below average,” Fuller predicted. “The average salary in Montgomery County will be $16,000 less than in Fairfax County, and $5,000 less than in the whole region.”
Fuller has projected, that Montgomery County is not going to get the “high value jobs.” alot of “local jobs: service, retail, legal. but not high skilled labor"

The point of the matter is that with that large number of companies and federal agencies, it's impossible for Montgomery to become "irrelivant" like you say.

So you and county leader can continue to state past accomplishments of MoCo and rest those laurels but I am more concerned about the counties future and it certainly looks more insignificant. There needs to be more aggressive view on job growth etc. jobs won't simple come to MoCo and the rest of Suburban Md just as Prince George's county.

Resting laurels? Who said anything about that? The county bagged Microsoft last year, that's when Microsoft decided to locate their DC area offices in Chevy Chase (500 jobs). Just because we didn't get Northrop (which has much more reason to locate in Fairfax anyways, with its proximity to the Pentagon) doesn't mean the county is sliding into oblivion like you seem to say.

[adelphi_sky]

Originally Posted by sovman

The point of the matter is that with that large number of companies and federal agencies, it's impossible for Montgomery to become "irrelivant" like you say.



Resting laurels? Who said anything about that? The county bagged Microsoft last year, that's when Microsoft decided to locate their DC area offices in Chevy Chase (500 jobs). Just because we didn't get Northrop (which has much more reason to locate in Fairfax anyways, with its proximity to the Pentagon) doesn't mean the county is sliding into oblivion like you seem to say.

While this action by Northrop SHOULD be yet another wake-up call to Maryland planners and businesses leaders, it is by no means a deathknell to Maryland as a noticeable competitor in the national and international marketplace. Remember, we're comparing apples to apples here. The D.C. area as a whole is not doing all that bad compared to the rest of the country. It's like we're comparing Apple, to IBM, to Microsoft. All are doing pretty well though Apple may be a bit farther ahead than IBM and Microsoft. That doesn't mean Microsoft is a slouch.

[diplomat74]

Originally Posted by sovman

The point of the matter is that with that large number of companies and federal agencies, it's impossible for Montgomery to become "irrelivant" like you say.



Resting laurels? Who said anything about that? The county bagged Microsoft last year, that's when Microsoft decided to locate their DC area offices in Chevy Chase (500 jobs). Just because we didn't get Northrop (which has much more reason to locate in Fairfax anyways, with its proximity to the Pentagon) doesn't mean the county is sliding into oblivion like you seem to say.

Those 500 microsoft jobs that everyone seems to brag about were already in the county, in chevy chase to be exact. They actually just upgraded facilities to that new wisconsin place office building across the street from their old office. Its not like MoCo was chosen for a brand new Microsoft office because of it's unbeatable location. So I dont even know why that is being mentioned. And MD has lost alot of other company Headquarters, Northrop is just an addition to an ever growing list so I would be concerned if I was economic development official. But it's like getting an drug user to admit they have an addiction they never do. People in Maryland never want to admit that their state has a big problem attracting business, even though it is pretty clear they do.

[fissure226]

Originally Posted by diplomat74

The problem is Maryland and MoCo are not even competitive in industries they were thought to be strong in, remember they lost the bid for Hilton and VW in addition to numerous defense contractors. Any sane person has to realize that something has to be done to make the state more competitive, whatever they are doing now isn't working. If they don't do something to change the corporate tax structure or regulations MD has pretty much giving up being competitive for private business with VA and will solely rely on it's federal and education institutes

I'm all for lowering taxes and removing bad business polices. but I'm just saying, you don't see Merrill Lynch moving their headquarters to business friendly North Dakota, when Wall Steet is clearly a better location from a logistical standpoint, that the only point I'm trying to make

[diplomat74]

Originally Posted by fissure226

I'm all for lowering taxes and removing bad business polices. but I'm just saying, you don't see Merrill Lynch moving their headquarters to business friendly North Dakota, when Wall Steet is clearly a better location from a logistical standpoint, that the only point I'm trying to make

True but when both MD and VA have the same prime location next to the federal gov't what is going to compel a company to set up shop in md over va?

[sovman]

Originally Posted by diplomat74

Those 500 microsoft jobs that everyone seems to brag about were already in the county, in chevy chase to be exact. They actually just upgraded facilities to that new wisconsin place office building across the street from their old office. Its not like MoCo was chosen for a brand new Microsoft office because of it's unbeatable location. So I dont even know why that is being mentioned. And MD has lost alot of other company Headquarters, Northrop is just an addition to an ever growing list so I would be concerned if I was economic development official. But it's like getting an drug user to admit they have an addiction they never do. People in Maryland never want to admit that their state has a big problem attracting business, even though it is pretty clear they do.

Microsoft Opens New Office in Chevy Chase

Montgomery County Department of Economic Development Director Steve Silverman will join Microsoft executives and employees to celebrate the opening of Microsoft’s first Montgomery County location – a new 134,000 square foot office in the heart of Chevy Chase.

Microsoft’s new office, which the company moved into in June, houses a portion of Microsoft’s U.S. Public Sector, including federal, state, local and educational divisions and Microsoft’s Health Solutions Group, which is focused on health IT products and services. The new facility will ultimately house some 500 new and relocated employees within the next 12 to18 months.

[sovman]

Originally Posted by diplomat74

True but when both MD and VA have the same prime location next to the federal gov't what is going to compel a company to set up shop in md over va?

Except the Pentagon is located in Virginia. All the locations in Arlington, Alexandria and Fairfax automatically have an increased benefit and likelihood of housing defense contracting related industries because they're right there, whereas Maryland counties are a (relatively speaking) long commute across the potomac or through DC. It's about a 10 mile drive from the Pentagon to Tysons, vs about a 20 mile drive from the Pentagon to Rockville.

Instead of being upset over not getting a defense industry (which we weren't likely to get in the first place), we should work on getting industries focused on biosciences that work with the FDA and NIH (which is what the County is doing with things like the Gaithersburg West plan).

[diplomat74]

Originally Posted by sovman

Microsoft Opens New Office in Chevy Chase

Microsoft Corp. has signed a deal to lease 134,000 square feet in an office building being developed by Boston Properties Inc. in Chevy Chase.

The Redmond, Wash.-based company (NASDAQ:MSFT) will move two groups — its government affairs and health services offices — into the new building, 5400 Wisconsin Ave., above the Friendship Heights Metro station. The 11-story building contains 305,000 square feet and is scheduled to deliver in June.

The government affairs group is now based in about 55,000 square feet at Chevy Chase Pavilion across the street. The location and size of the health services group was not available.

Read more: Microsoft inks office deal in Chevy Chase - Washington Business Journal:

http://washington.bizjournals.com/wa...4/daily12.html


Next time do some more research then the MoCo govt website.