The Tech Space Race
The District is all in on becoming a tech haven within the next five years. But Northern Virginia, long the kingpin, is not resting on its laurels--led by one of the sector's giants. (The cities are fighting for the love of the nation's prettiest damsel: the Millennial techie.)
Gov. Bob McDonnell made the official announcement yesterday:Amazon is bringing 500 employees to Fairfax County through its Web Services group. Actually,sources tell us, the move already took placelast month. (They shipped themselves in overnight for $3.99 using Amazon Prime.)Employees work in 108k SF at Monument IV at the Worldgate complex in Herndon. With traditional DoD-related space under budgetpressure, growth in the tech sector could help prop up NoVa over the next 12 to 18 months, with locally HQ'd firms Cvent and Opower, among others, poised for growth.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos may not be finished growing in the area either, as sources say it is on the hunt for an additional 20k SF of office space in NoVa. The 108k SF it's taking down at Monument IV also started out as a mere 25k SF requirement, sources tell us, further proof that the firm wants to spread its wings in the Commonwealth. By the way, Bisnow covers the Seattle market closely, and we can verify first-hand how monumental the impact is of Amazon spending on the commercial real estate economy. They have a need and appetite for virtually limitless space.
