The task force's new report, its first since it began meeting at the beginning of the year, suggests several directions in which these submarkets could move in order to attract private development to fill the void that will be left by BRAC when its process is complete in 2011. The overarching goal for the county, the panel recommends, is a transformation of Crystal City's landscape from the suburban glass, box-like office buildings that characterize it today to a more mixed-use neighborhood.
To reach this goal it made a number of preliminary suggestions including the establishment of a BRAC transition center to provide workforce and business assistance. According to a spokeswoman for Arlington County's economic development department, the county is currently looking for office space to establish this office. Other suggestions include streamlining the permitting process to facilitate tenant occupancy and building construction and introduce new business incentives to attract tenants.
The former suggestion, the spokeswoman tells GlobeSt.com, was already under way. "Arlington County has been tremendously busy with development and what has resulted are some delays in our permitting process within our inspection services division." She says the county is in the process of adding new personnel and streamlining processes for speedier approvals.
The potential business incentives for new tenants have generated much discussion, she says, although the county appears to be approaching this subject with some caution. "The Board has said it doesn't want to throw money away--that there are already great incentives to move to this area for businesses." It is, though, examining the current incentives already offered to business to see what can be added to target BRAC-affected submarkets.
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Erika Morphy
Erika Morphy has been writing about commercial real estate at GlobeSt.com for more than ten years, covering the capital markets, the Mid-Atlantic region and national topics. She's a nerd so favorite examples of the former include accounting standards, Basel III and what Congress is brewing.
