Montgomery County is eager to best Northern Virginia by landing defense contractor Northrop Grumman and reversing a recent trend of high-profile corporate losses to the Old Dominion.
Northrop announced earlier this month that it plans to move its corporate headquarters and 300 high-paying jobs from Los Angeles to the Washington area, citing a desire to be closer to the federal government.
The chance to nab Northrop provides the county with an opportunity to show that it is serious about competing with other jurisdictions and isn’t willing to rest on its laurels, according to some County Council members and business advocates.
That group was critical of the county’s failed efforts last year to compete with Virginia over the Hilton Hotels chain’s corporate relocation. The company chose to move to Fairfax County after receiving an incentive package that was nearly twice the offer of Montgomery County, home to the Marriott International, Host Hotels & Resorts and Choice Hotels companies.
“This is the first big test to show we are really going to engage in economic development in a meaningful way,” said Councilman Mike Knapp, D-Germantown, who heads the County Council’scommittee on economic development. “We should be doing all that we can to make sure that happens.”
The county also lost the biotech startup Ignite Institute for Individualized Health, along with its 500 high-paying jobs, to Fairfax last year.
The Hilton loss contributed to the ouster of former County Economic Development Director Pradeep Ganguly. His successor, Steve Silverman, said the county has been aggressive in efforts to attract businesses but said the worsening economic situation has heightened every jurisdiction’s interest in attracting Northrop.
“There’s a lot more attention being paid to job creation than a year ago,” Silverman said.
Northrop’s leading competitor, Lockheed Martin, has its headquarters in Bethesda.
Business leaders have consistently said that the lower corporate tax rate in Virginia has been a major factor in relocation decisions. And in Northrop’s case, office space the company already leases in Arlington that is a “stone’s throw” from the Pentagon and an easy drive to the Capitol is a natural advantage, said Arlington Economic Development spokeswoman Karen Vasquez.
Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett said the county will make a competitive bid for Northrop but noted that the company is planning to add only 300 jobs to the area.
“It’s important, but I don’t think we should overstate it,” Leggett said.
