Amazon Not Considering The Boro, Scotts Run As Part Of NoVa HQ2 Bid
The two Tysons mixed-use developments that independently submitted bids for Amazon HQ2 are not under consideration as part of the company's 20-city shortlist.
Amazon is only considering bids submitted by local governments, excluding the independent bids from the developers of The Boro and Scotts Run, the Washington Business Journal reports.
The Meridian Group and Kettler had submitted a bid for The Boro, a 15-acre, 4.2M SF mixed-use development near the Greensboro Silver Line Station. The team broke ground on the first phase in September 2016 and has already signed major retail anchors such as a 70K SF Whole Foods, the region's largest, and a Showplace Icon movie theater, plus two office tenants totaling over 100K SF. The bid also included Meridian's Tysons Metro Center office park.
CityLine Partners put in a bid for Scotts Run, a planned 8M SF mixed-use project at the McLean Metro station. The developer reached a deal to make boutique hospitality brand Archer the flag of its 200-room hotel, and has been working with Cushman & Wakefield to court office tenants.
The commonwealth did not include either site in its official Northern Virginia submission, which made the shortlist for the 8M SF, $5B second headquarters. Fairfax County and Loudoun County joined forces to put forward the 26-acre Center for Innovative Technology site near Dulles International Airport. Tysons Partnership Interim President Sol Glasner told Bisnow on Monday he thought Amazon would still consider the two independent bids, but he expressed frustration they were not included in Virginia's submission.
"My opinion is that it was very short-sighted," Glasner said. "The political system made a decision I think was a mistake from the perspective of the commonwealth. Why would you not put it into the hopper? You don't have to favor it, but at least put it into the hopper."
