Loudoun’s economic development efforts aren’t limited to within the county and D.C. region. While Loudoun is home to numerous startups of different sizes, Loudoun’s highly-educated workforce, robust fiber network and proximity to Washington Dulles International Airport also make it an excellent choice for business relocation. RagingWire, Mil-tek and Metron Aviation are just a few examples of businesses who have chosen to make the move to Loudoun from outside the region.
Throughout the year, representatives from the Department of Economic Development travel to trade shows, summits, and the like in order to tell Loudoun’s story and talk to decision makers about why they should relocate to DC’s technology corridor. Recently, DED Director Tom Flynn attended the CoreNet Global Summit in San Diego, a three-day event targeted to commercial real estate professionals.
Flynn said of attending CoreNet, “We used this opportunity to set up meetings with a number of companies – both ones who already have operations here, and those who are thinking of relocating.”
In addition to meetings, there were many workshops and discussions of commercial real estate trends. Some key trends include:
- Downsizing physical office space in favor of “hotelling,” a practice that allows teleworkers and employees who are out in the field to sign up for office space on an as-needed basis.
- Re-shoring of industry out of China.
- The growing importance of data centers to the corporate real estate portfolio.
Business retention was also a focus at the summit. Flynn met with senior real estate staff for existing Loudoun companies, including SAS Institute Inc., Lockheed Martin and Iron Mountain. Although these businesses have operations in Loudoun, the senior real estate staff in attendance were based in other states, including Florida, North Carolina and Massachusetts.
Flynn categorizes CoreNet as a success, saying, “Out of this, we’ve received two active prospects and generated two additional leads.”
In addition, a number of site selectors and other real estate professionals left San Diego with Loudoun, Virginia on their radar.
