BRAC Impact

Terry Holzheimer
Director, Arlington Economic Development
Monday, May 21, 2007 1:00 PM

Terry Holzheimer, director of Arlington Economic Development, was online to discuss efforts to address the potential effects of the federal Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission plan.

Holzheimer was joined by Washington Post staff writer Kim Hart, who examines Arlington's plans to transform affected office space in an article today.

A transcript follows.

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Silver Spring, Md.: My company is moving to Crystal City in the near future. It's disconcdering to see it as a potential ghost town.

We once were told that Crystal City was going to have a publisher's row. Not much seems to have come of that. In Silver Spring, where I live the county built a theme of the video industries around the AFI theater and getting Discover in. It seems to me that you need more than a few companies to create a publisher's row. The county might look to creating an infrastructure conducive to publishers, like a lecture area or something.

In addition, I have been a volunteer facilitator with AmericaSpeaks, which did citizen summits in the District. It seems to me that a similar citizens summit, where you got residents and employees to come together to talk about their ideas for what Crystal City should be like would be worthwhile.

Terry Holzheimer: Crystal City is undergoing substantial change, with many new employers such as PBS, Conservation International and the Bureau of National Affairs in or coming soon. A Task Force is working on an exciting plan for the future. We are planning to avoid problems and are ahead of the game and plan to stay there.

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Arlington, VA: I thought I read somewhere that the BRAC was going to temporarily put a hold on all transfers from Crystal City to Ft. Belvior until the infrastructure (in Fairfax County) can handle it? Is this the case? How long is "temporarily"?

Kim Hart: Yes, the House of Representatives passed a provision last week to bar the movement of jobs from Crystal City to Fort Belvoir until more transportation improvements have been made. It goes before the Senate next month. If it is passed, the relocation will be delayed, although it is unclear for how long.

Terry Holzheimer: Congressional action may delay BRAC but Arlington is planning for a new Crystal City regardless.

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Fairfax, VA: Crystal City has always felt cold and sterile to me - what plans are in place to make it move lively?

Thanks

Terry Holzheimer: The plan in process now is extremely exciting, offering some new buildings, renovations and an entirely new streetscape. Crystal City will become the Urban Village of the 21st Century and a national model of smart growth and quality design. You can see these plans at www.plancrystalcity.org or simply walk down Crystal Drive to see these plans as they evolve.

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Vienna, VA: What effect do you forsee for the Fairfax County Public School system? Do you forsee a vast influx of new family's arriving into Fx Cty in the Ft Belvoir area, and thus necessitate add'l school expeditures for building add'l classrooms, which are not in today's budget. Thank you for your time & opinion. Have a great day

Best regards, Tom

Kim Hart: The Post reported earlier this month that about 3,200 new students would be flooding into Fairfax County near Fort Belvoir. Two new elementary schools will be needed, as well as more middle school space. And adjustments to school boundary lines are also possible. This, of course, will cost a lot of money--$77 million. Fairfax is already the largest public school system in the Washington area, and this will certainly have a big impact.

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Rockville, Maryland : I am no expert, but I have thought that the predicted effects of the base moves in Virginia to be so over exaggerated that it would be obviously wrong when the move is made. Now if they delay it, we will not have these mistakes demonstrated. I also think had the area is under served by roads and that the projects are necessary, but I do not see the base movement as a major problem. Am I wrong? It has been years since I lived in Virginia.

Terry Holzheimer: BRAC takes 27,000 employees off of Metro and requires billions in new transportation infrastructure near Ft. Belvoir. There was neither a military mission or real threat that drove this action and it seems to us to be wasteful and unneccessary.

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washingtonpost.com: www.plancrystalcity.org

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washingtonpost.com: Fairfax Braces for 3,200 New Students (Thursday, May 3, 2007)

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Crystal City employee: Just a comment, my agency (not under a BRAC/but a different law) is required to move to the Navy Yard by 2011. I'm an Arlington resident and enjoy the convenience of working and living in this area.

I will be looking for another job to stay in Arlington.

Terry Holzheimer: That's great to hear. We hope many of your colleagues will have the same response. There are many opportunities in Arlington that would not require anyone to relocate.

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Cynical Point of View: Mark my words, give it 5-8-10 years, but the military will return to Crystal City.

Why? For the same reason that they ended up there:

- It's proximity to the Pentagon and Washington, DC,

- Proximity to contractors,

- And, the inability of the military to provide adequate services to contractors on their bases.

Terry Holzheimer: We agree. As long as the Pentagon is in Arlington there will be demand for DOD space nearby.

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Reston, VA: I've always enjoyed going to Crystal City to eat at a couple of ethnic restaurants, but the parking has always been horrible - are there any plans to expand parking in CC?

Terry Holzheimer: Parking is plentiful and free in most garages on nights and weekends. Try it.

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Alexandria VA: I find it somewhat surprising that building owners are agonizing over tenants. Crystal City would be a prime location for residential/commercial development. Why maintain it as a 'dead after 5pm' office park?

Terry Holzheimer: We need to keep the buildings full and expand our office market with some new Class A buildings. The new plan for Crystal City would also add thousands of new apartments and create a truly 24/7 urban place.

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Arlington, VA: Terry - what have you learned from the development of the Rosslyn/Clarendon/Ballston corridor that might be applied here?

Terry Holzheimer: We know that a good mix of residential, office and retail uses keeps the streets vibrant and the retail/restaurants full. We will use these principles that work in Clarendon and Ballston in Crystal City.

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Rosslyn, Virginia: Can you comment on the recent House of Representatives provision delaying the BRAC move until the necessary transportation improvements are in place? Do you think it will pass?

Kim Hart: It's really uncertain if it will pass. Rep. James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.), who introduced the legislation, even says that the outcome is "iffy." Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.), a key player, will likely be urged by the Army to keep the provision out of the bill.

Terry Holzheimer: We support Congressman Moran's position because we believe that the BRAC action is bad public policy. If Moran's motion improves base planning then it is a good thing to do.

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Annapolis, MD : Who is funding the $200,000 marketing campaign?

Terry Holzheimer: Arlington County will be marketing as our competition does. The budget is provided by Arlington Economic Development.

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Arlington, VA: Will there be extra office space available after the contractors move out? Will any of it be replaced with more retail?

Kim Hart: Yes, there is expected to be about 3 million square feet of office space available as contractors and agencies move to Fort Belvoir. Crystal City's business improvement district is working on livening up the area. Charles E. Smith/Vornado, which is the largest landlord in Crystal City, said its top priority is redeveloping the area's look and feel as companies vacate space. As buildings empty out, it's a good opportunity to renovate or rebuild altogether to add more "people-friendly" establishments, like restaurants and retail. Crystal Drive has already begun to show some improvments in that respect.

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Arlington, VA: Is Arlington County still going to develop the huge recreational area in that part of town? Can you comment on this?

Terry Holzheimer: The North Tract project is in the planning phase and should have some construction beginning next year. It is a large scale project that will be done in phases, but it is a priority with Arlington County.

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Manhattan, KS: What is the timeline for the next base realignment or is there one? Bob Strawn, City Commissioner

Terry Holzheimer: We don't know of another round - we have our hands full with this one!

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Kim Hart: Terry, a lot of government contractors have said they don't have immediate plans to move out of Crystal City as a direct result of BRAC. Do you think the fears of Crystal City becoming a ghost town are overstated?

Terry Holzheimer: Arlington has always characterized BRAC as serious but manageable. We hope to minimize the dislocation of existing federal workers and those employed by contractors. Based on our surveys, the BRAC impact may be minimal, especially if most contractors stay in place and if many federal workers find alternate employment with other agencies and contractors. Our efforts are directed at minimizing the impact and if we are successful it will indeed be minimal.

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Alexandria, VA: I'm a little confused by Arlington's great lament about the eventual wind-up of a large number of Government leases.

Crystal City was largely paid for by taxpayers. With the wind-up of leases, yes, you'll have lots of vacant office space. But given the excellent public transit access and convenient location (better than anywhere around DC except for DC Downtown, I think), and given the age of the buildings involved, isn't the real complaint here that landlords will have to take a little less cash per square foot?

Why should the region have to subsidize them for that?

Terry Holzheimer: Arlington is looking out for its future i Crystal City as we have in Rosslyn. Constant renewal and a push for a quality environment is important to the current and future tax base. We do not ask the region to do anything but support our efforts as a place of smart growth and good planning practices. Arlington is planning its own future and being good stewards of our tax base.

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Anonymous: Terry, what is the ultimate vision for Crystal City? And what do you think Arlington's advantage is in attracting workers and employers to replace those who are leaving?

Terry Holzheimer: Arlington's advantage is great location and great planning. Neither will change. We envision Crystal City to be the urban village of the future, with new street level transit, walkable streets, good retail lining these streets and every block and attractive places to stroll, window-shop, and just enjoy a park or plaza. We also will keep the best of what is there now, including the convenience of the underground.

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Kim Hart, Post: In speaking with several local supervisors last week, one said that Arlington had the opportunity to sell some of this real estate to the government a while back, but that the county opted out in order to continue earning tax revenue from leasing to commercial tenants. Now Arlington is faced with losing a big chunk of that money as agencies are moving to non-leased space. Can you comment on this?

Terry Holzheimer: As Arlington replaces government tenants with non-government ones, our tax yield on each building increases. So far we have beed successful in this transition, replacing PTO with PBS, BNA, NCB and several other major tenants. Crystal City has proven to be attractive to the private sector and we do not envision any revenue losses as we re-plan and re-build the community.

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Arlington, VA: How is Rosslyn and the entire Orange line corridor affected by BRAC? There seem to be quite a few military offices on the trail up Wilson Boulevard.

Kim Hart: Of the 4 million square feet of office space Arlington is expected to lose as a result of BRAC, only 1 million square feet are coming from the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor. That's still significant, but Crystal City will be hardest hit.

I spoke with a few of the largest contractors in that corridor--Stanely Inc., SAIC, General Dyanmics, etc--and they said there are no immediate plans to shift employees out of Arlington. That could change down the road.

Many companies have said that, even though it's not as convenient, Fort Belvoir is not that far away. It will change where employees travel, but it still makes sense to stay in the Arlington area, where transportation is available.

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Alexandria, VA: Any chance of these moves driving down housing prices in the area?

Terry Holzheimer: Not a chance that we will see any negative consequences on the residential market beyond what the overall market is doing.

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Arlington, VA: Technological advances enable companies and employees to telework more than ever. If congested, overpriced locations can't make an attractive appeal, why would anyone want to deal with it when they don't have to? Shouldn't the vacant office spaces focus on converting to residential real estate rather than trying to plug new companies into places that can no longer sustain a productive business environment?

Terry Holzheimer: We need to have a balanced commercial/residential base. Our market studies show that we have a strong Class A market in our future and we need to respond to that opportunity. At the same time, we need to add some additional residential development to aid in the dynamics of "place."

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Arlington, VA: Terry, I feel that the Virginia Square area is really under-built and under-utilized relative to other places along the R-B corridor. What do you think--any plans to change that in the works? Thanks.

Terry Holzheimer: Virginia Square will continue to develop according to the plan approved a year ago. It took 30 plus years for the Corridor to get where it is today and it is not done by any means.

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Public Garage Parking: I'm an Arlington resident who works in Crystal City - but I never come into the area on the weekend because of the parking situation.

I think Arlington should consider a public parking garage that keeps parking low (for evening & weekend visitors).

Terry Holzheimer: There is no shortage of parking for night and weekend visitors and it is free, something we could never offer in a public garage.

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Kim Hart: Thanks for your great questions today, everyone. And thank you, Terry, for your time!

Terry Holzheimer: It has been a great opportunity to answer questions from the community. Be sure to look for the THINK ARLINGTON campaign in the Metro starting today. Thanks for your time Kim.

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