This article is sponsored by Arlington Economic Development’s Business Investment Group.
By Ryan Touhill, Director, Arlington Economic Development
By all accounts, Arlington is a great place to live, work, and visit.
Our economy is strong, with a 2.2% unemployment rate, high per capita incomes, a highly educated workforce and consumer and tourism spending remain on the rise. While our economic base remains solid, Arlington is also facing significant challenges and opportunities in the coming years. Most notably, the shift to remote work has reduced the demand for office space and slowed the return of daytime workers to our commercial centers.
This is creating a glut of empty office space, impacting our small businesses and the hospitality industry and eroding the County’s commercial tax base. Left unchecked, these issues will result in declining commercial tax revenue and shift more of the tax burden of funding programs and services that support Arlington’s excellent quality of life to Arlington residents. Arlington must pivot to new strategies to expand our local economy and commercial tax base.
This is why, during Economic Development Week, Arlington Economic Development (AED) is excited to announce the rollout of our new strategic plan. This plan, crafted with input from community members and stakeholders, charts a course for the next five years through five key goals and actionable strategies, all of which will guide decision-making at AED.
The plan calls for Arlington to become a destination for job creators, thinkers, entrepreneurs and creatives. It includes forward-thinking strategies to meet the evolving needs and economic challenges of tomorrow. We, as a department and as a County, are proud that our plan focuses on creating an economy that bridges educational, experiential and wealth gaps, ensuring prosperity and an excellent quality of life are accessible to all residents.
We plan to achieve this vision through the following strategies:
Thriving Commercial Areas
National Landing, Rosslyn-Ballston Corridor, Columbia Pike and Langston Boulevard are Arlington’s major commercial centers and corridors. Historically, 50% of the County’s property tax revenue has come from taxes on commercial properties. Yet as of 2023, that percentage decreased to 45%. If offices remain empty, values will decline, causing more tax burden to shift to residential properties or reductions to County services and programs.
Our plan calls for the continuation of the Commercial Market Resiliency Initiative to modernize Arlington’s development and land use regulations, practices and processes to help the private market reposition obsolete office buildings or redevelop them into other uses. Redevelopment, combined with more robust placemaking strategies, will support activated business districts that attract residents, visitors and workers alike. Lastly, AED will leverage our expert knowledge of the real estate market to push for development projects that address major County priorities such as business attraction, housing and hospitality.
Business Investment and Tech Jobs
Driving business growth and diversifying the economy is another critical economic development objective. We see opportunities on this front to continue growing our tech sector, particularly in partnership with Virginia’s higher education investments like George Mason’s Digital Innovation Center in Virginia Square and Virginia Tech’s New Innovation Campus just south of National Landing.
AED will focus on tech job creation and plans to support our growing tech ecosystem using tools like the Arlington Innovation Fund to support entrepreneurship. We will also explore new workforce initiatives to attract and train tech talent. Traditional business attraction and retention efforts will also persist so Arlington continues to be a destination of choice for top-tier companies like CoStar, Amazon and Nestlé.
Small Business
Small businesses are the lifeblood of our community and a major part of what makes Arlington unique and inclusive. There are 15,000 small businesses in Arlington. At least 22% of these essential, community-serving businesses are owned by residents of color. Small businesses and small business ownership provide pathways to wealth generation and contribute to building a community’s culture and character — creating a strong sense of place.
They also provide jobs, fill retail and office space and generate tax revenue, which is important to delivering County services. AED supports small business growth and expansion through efforts led by our team. Future efforts will include new ways to connect businesses to capital and pop-up retail programs. We also seek to build stronger bridges between our entrepreneurs and large, anchor institutions and businesses through contracting and procurement opportunities to help small businesses scale in Arlington.
Placemaking, Arts and Tourism
Destination assets, places to gather and unique arts and cultural experiences are crucial for engaging residents, attracting and retaining a high-quality workforce and bringing tourists to Arlington. Great public art and civic design drive foot traffic and contribute to our unique sense of place. Arlington’s arts, cultural and hospitality ecosystem is a significant contributor to Arlington’s identity and economy.
We will work to enhance the impacts of this ecosystem in the coming years through increased destination marketing and promotion along with tailored services to support the growth of arts and cultural organizations. We will also explore public-private models for creating and preserving creative spaces in Arlington.
Recognizing the fluid nature of economic landscapes, AED’s plan is designed to evolve alongside Arlington, with regular assessments and updates to ensure alignment with emerging needs and opportunities. We invite leaders, businesses and residents to explore our Strategic Plan and join us in shaping Arlington’s future.
You can also look at our Annual Report video to learn more about AED’s journey and successes over the past year. Let’s continue to go “All In” on Arlington’s success.