Falls Church NEWS BRIEFS

F.C. First in Virginia in Income Investment, Study Shows

The City of Falls Church is far outperforming all other jurisdictions in Virginia in terms of income investment, a new study from SmartAsset shows. SmartAsset has released its annual study on the places receiving the most incoming investment. The study measures growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP), new business launches and new building permits to determine the places receiving the most investment locally.

According to the study, Falls Church City ranked first among the places in Virginia with the most incoming investment.

The study identifies the places across the U.S. which are receiving the most incoming investment. The study measures investment in counties across three metrics: business establishment growth, gross domestic product (GDP) growth and new building permits.

Smart Asset looked at the change in the number of businesses established in each location over a 3-year period. This shows whether or not people are starting new business ventures in the county. The second factor it looked at was GDP growth. They used real growth (inflation adjusted) in the local economy.

Nine GOP Challengers Line Up To Oppose Sen. Kaine in ‘24

Ahead of next year’s election, Virginia Senator Tim Kaine, who is seeking a third six-year term, has already drawn nine declared GOP opponents who will vie in a primary next spring, according to reports.

The challengers include multiple MAGA candidates who support statewide and national abortion bans, oppose expanding voting rights and removing health care protections for 1.3 million Virginians with pre-existing medical conditions.

Announced last week were Navy veteran Hung Cao, who gave Rep. Jennifer Wexton a run for her money last year, attorney Jonathan Emord and Scott Parkinson, a former aide to Ron DeSantis.

New Tax Credit Push Coming To Help Newspapers

According to Brier Dudley of the Seattle Times Free Press, one of the more promising policy ideas to stop the decimation of local newsrooms is back in play. Federal tax credits to preserve newsroom jobs, and incentivize publishers to create more of them, were nearly approved as part of federal spending packages in 2021 and 2022.

Now a scaled-back version is pro - posed by U.S. Reps. Claudia Tenney, a New York Republican, and Suzan DelBene, a Washington state Democrat.

The “Community News and Small Business Support Act,,” H.R. 4756, on Friday will bid for passage in the coming year. “We have 218 million Americans who access news from their local papers every month but since 2004, while our population has grown, the number of newsroom employees has dropped by 57 percent,” DelBene said.

Fairfax Co.: Huge Office Market But With 16.7 Percent Vacancy Rate

Fairfax County is currently the second largest suburban office market in the nation, with an inventory of 120 million square feet, but the current office vacancy rate sits at 16.7 percent, topping the county’s previous 10-year high, according to Stephen Tarditi, director of market intelligence at the Fairfax County Economic Development. Tarditi presented the data to the Fairfax Board of Supervisors’ economic advisory committee last week.

He said that despite the county’s vacancy rate, the demand for office leasing is increasing. “Last year, we had 6.6 millionsquare-feet of office space leased, so we’re 37 percent below our pre-pandemic average,” he said. “And comparing that to 2021, we were about 4.5 million square feet.”

Fairfax Named No. 1 ‘Digital County’ in U.S.

Fairfax County has been named this year’s No. 1 jurisdiction in the Digital Counties Survey’s One Million or More Population category.

The Digital Counties Survey Awards provides an annual measure of technology performance and innovation conducted through an in-depth review of the programs and initiatives created and implemented by counties across the nation. The awards recognize the best practices in the areas of open government, transparency, strategic planning, public engagement, shared services, cybersecurity, and operations.

Fairfax County has made continuous improvements, rising through the ranks of the Digital Counties Survey Awards through the years. Over the past three years they shot up from fifth, to second, to finally first place, according to Fairfax Board Chair Jeff McKay. “Our County continues to emphasize data management that is supported by both a Data Analytics Advisory Group and a Data Governance Council,” he reported this week.

Continued from Page 1 building that will house Virginia Tech’s Coalition for Smart Construction with a robotics lab and HITT Construction’s international headquarters.

It will be situated right on the new Mustang Way access road that many students at Falls Church’s new Meridian High School will walk along, being able to look inside the structure while on their way.

The approval Tuesday culminated five years of planning and effort to put the overall plan together. The chief spokesman for the project, called “Converge West Falls,” that has come before the Supervisors has been Falls Church resident and local F.C. Chamber of Commerce activist Andrew Painter of the Arlington law firm of Walsh Colluci Lubeley and Walsh.

Painter described the principal building on the site as characterized by its “defining architecture” on six floors below the solar array up at 118 feet providing 1.1 to 1.4 megabytes of electricity. Supervisor Penny Gross commented that she found it “almost otherworldly,” and Foust called it “the most attractive in the entire region” that will be “iconic, a statement in itself about the importance of sustainability.”

“This represents a bold vision, a cutting edge of construction innovation and sustainability,” Foust said. “This is fabulous.”

The second building on the site will rise to 145 feet and provide 440 residential units with 18,000 square feet of retail on the first floor.

A last minute proffer from HITT offered $500,000 for improvement of the intersection at Haycock and Mustang Way. Running between the two buildings on the site will be the West Falls Station Boulevard, the unifying element of the three properties that will run seamlessly through their center from Route 7 to the West Falls Church Metro station. Along it will be two pocket parks and a unifying “innovation civic plaza” with a moveable “cloud pavilion.”

Painter said, “This is much more than a redevelopment, it is a partnership of many critical elements coming together to make the entire area work.”

“This is absolutely a first class project,” Foust added. There were nine citizens who spoke about it Tuesday and another 13 who spoke at the earlier Planning Commission meet- ing where it was also approved unanimously. Some nearby residents objected to what they claimed were violations of the county master plan, but Foust and others said they disagreed with that assessment.