Development Continues to Push Boundaries of Greater Washington

Washington, D.C., April, 2007 –Not all that long ago, Tyson’s Corner was a remote corner of a city that was even more “inside the Beltway” focused. With more car dealerships than office buildings or high end-retail, Tyson’s was not on the radar screens of many corporate tenants a few years ago. Now, with the debate still raging over an above or below ground metro stop, The Ritz Carlton, Tysons II, The Palm and large construction cranes all over the horizon, Tyson’s is certainly far from remote. Yes, the limits of what can now be considered “Greater” Washington are certainly expanding. The more prescient question these days would appear to be: Where is the next Tyson’s Corner?

The housing boom, although certainly not booming like it did several months ago, was a major factor in fueling the geographic expansion of the National Capitol Region. The major push in both the Virginia and Maryland suburbs has undoubtedly been to the west, with Virginia’s Loudon County leading the way in approving vast housing tracks where farmland was once the highest and best use. In Maryland, Frederick and Hagerstown and communities pushing west towards Interstate 81 have witnessed development of a similar magnitude. Despite the recent cooling off of residential building, commercial construction has continued at an unprecedented pace in these communities. Why?

Because new subdivisions attract new homeowners, many of whom traded off urban living for more space, and these homeowners are now demanding the services to which they were accustomed. The drycleaners, the restaurants, the banks and the developers who group them into organized strip centers are seeing a surge in demand unlike no other that they have ever seen. Barry Lake, President of Rollins-PCI Construction, the D.C. region’s bank construction experts, attests to this trend. “Even 2 or 3 years ago, we were building more “in-line” branches – on the ground floor of office buildings – as opposed to stand-alone prototypes in suburban shopping plazas. Today, the tide has completely turned. We just finished branches in Hagerstown and Fredericksburg and are now underway on a second location in Spotsylvania County.”

Located about a good 45-minute drive south of D.C. down I-95, Spotsylvania is one of the fastest growing counties in Virginia and is pulling the Capitol Region’s limits to the south just as Loudon and the western Maryland counties have sparked a westward migration. The Department of Defense with its focus on Base Realignment and Closing (B.R.A.C.) will continue to fuel the growth of Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania County over the long term as defense contractors angle to line up next to their clients in Quantico and Fort A.P. Hill in Maryland’s Caroline County just east of Fredericksburg and I-95. The community seems to be embracing the growth as evidenced by the full page spread just taken out by the Fredericksburg Regional Alliance, a joint venture between the City of Fredericksburg and its neighboring counties in both states, that seeks to attract leading businesses and government tenants to the “Strategic Location for Homeland Security.”

With the limits of what locales are considered “Greater Washington” spreading in all directions, it certainly doesn’t seem like our daily commute is going to get any easier!