Posted on 04/27/2010 10:41:27 AM PDT by HokieMom
Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell says quality of life and a business friendly government ultimately wooed Northrop Grumman Corp. to choose Northern Virginia for its corporate headquarters.
He also says the commonwealth is giving the company $12 million to $14 million in various incentives.
Speaking on WTOP's "Ask the Governor" program Tuesday morning, McDonnell stressed life issues over cash in what won Northrop.
"The biggest thing they get is a great place to do business and honestly, at the end of the day, that's really what they cared about," McDonnell told WTOP's Mark Seagraves. "They wanted a great place for their executives to live, good quality of life, good amenities, good real estate values and, hopefully, a business friendly government."
McDonnell said the incentives offered to Northrop were in line with those given to Hilton and Science Applications International, which both recently moved their corporate headquarters to Northern Virginia.
Incentives include up-front cash from the Governor's Opportunity Fund of $3 million to $4 million, as well as job creation grants through the Virginia Job Incentive Investment Program.
McDonnell told WTOP that Northrop Grumman's move to Virginia will create a minimum of $30 million in tax revenue over the next ten years, and believes it will help the commonwealth attract more companies to the region.
"It is a huge win for Virginia," the governor told Seagraves.
Read more: Governor: Quality of life attracted Northrop Grumman to Virginia - Washington Business Journal:
BS, they moved there so they could be closer to the Pig Trough!
It also caused BAE Systems to relocate their corporate HQ from Rockville to Rosslyn, VA.
That and the CA anti-business climate.
They could have chosen Maryland and still been close to the trough.
MD has higher Taxes than VA.
On the Radio in Washington they are saying that it was a real estate decision.
Amen. In addition, Northern Virginia is slowly transforming into the same mess of high prices and regulation that drove business out of California. Give it a little time and Northern VA will kill the goose that lays the golden eggs too and Northrop Grumman will move somewhere else.
Like Boeing went from Seattle to Chicago(figure THAT one out).
They are already in Maryland. Northrup/Grumman has large research and manufacturing facility near the Baltimore-Washington International airport (BWI).
I was laughing my butt off this morning since the Baltimore Sun on Sunday ran an article claiming that employment in MD and the fact that it has grown in comparison to other states had nothing to do with it being close to DC. Said their higher corporate tax rates don’t negatively impact the state and though it was a shoe in for NGC.
BWAHAHAHA VA has a lower tax rate and won plus they also have more sectors and bldgs in the northern VA area. If MD was smart they would have tried harder to offer more incentives. I used to worked for NGC - lol!
Don't worry, Bob. Obama will change that shortly.
Virginia is a fine, fine state, but lets cut the bullsh*t. NG moved to Virginia so they could be as close as possible to Sugar Daddy Numero Uno... the Federal Government.
Of course the cost of living is very high and the good quality of life is only accessible to the executives and a layer or two of management immediately below. I feel for the people on the lower rungs of the ladder who will have to move there plus a bad job market, they won’t be able to get much for relocation.
I worked for NGC’s competitor and the reason I don’t work for them anymore was being ordered to relocate to the Northern Virginia area or being shown to the door, same pay of course. I looked at houses there and a basic townhouse without a garage, something like around 1500 to 2000 sqr ft was around $300,000. I refused to move there, lost my job.
On the relo package, enough money to rent my own moving truck, no money for realtor fees and management strongly wanted me to sell my house. I would have lost money on it since the housing market was tanking.
Moving to Conference Center Drive in Chantilly. Right up the street from the NRO.
Ultimately, yes, they wanted to be close to DC. But they were favoring Maryland (close to Lockheed), and had also considered DC.
So, yes, compared to DC and Maryland, they chose the favorable business climate.
That makes sense. Local media is saying it's either Fairview Park in Falls Church or Glebe Road in Arlington.
You’re right. It’s a high cost of living and the pace is extreme. Some people are smart to turn it down and let it go.
What about adding to the gridlock traffic just to get their snouts nearer the trough. Why not move them to any other part of the state where the unemployment is high and the traffic is low?
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