Steve Burns
WMAL.com
ROSSLYN – (WMAL) The skyscraper at 1812 North Moore Street in Rosslyn tops out at 390 feet, the tallest in the D.C. Metro area with its distinctive pyramid-shaped roof. Construction was completed in late 2013, and since then, it’s been sitting vacant. But this week, news finally came of a tenant that looks to sweeten the surrounding area.
“This was started before sequestration, then sequestration hit,” Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe said. “This is all part of what we talk about, diversifying the new Virginia economy.”
McAuliffe heralded the announcement of Nestle Corporate’s arrival to Northern Virginia Wednesday, giddily pointing out his childhood favorite Nestle Quick on a board detailing the company’s history.
“There’s not a better company in the globe that we know of, than what we have here with Nestle,” McAuliffe said.
Nestle’s deal brings its corporate headquarters from Southern California to Rosslyn, occupying ten floors of the 33-story building.
“This building, and Arlington, really checked all the boxes for us,” Nestle Corporate Affairs President Paul Bakus said. “This is a phenomenal place for business, it’s a great place for our employees, and it’s a great place to find new talent.”
Most employees working in California will get the opportunity to relocate to Rosslyn, Bakus said, but they also expect about 750 new jobs to be created through the move.
While it took over three years to gain a single tenant in the building, Rosslyn Business Improvement District President Mary-Claire Burick saw it differently.
“We’re just grateful that (the developer) held out for such a great blue-chip tenant like Nestle,” Burick told WMAL. “We really think that that is the right type of tenant that’s going to propel this neighborhood forward.”
Rosslyn has been looking to transform itself for a while as it tries to move past a reputation as a sterile neighborhood of nondescript offices and parking garages.
“We have always been a very successful commercial district,” Burick said. “More recently, the vision and the strategy is to move towards a mixed use, vibrant, urban downtown area.”
The kinds of workers Nestle hopes to attract, Burick said, want to work and live in that kind of a place.
“You’ll see an influx of residential (development). You’ll see a lot more retail,” she said. “We can’t wait to welcome the Nestle employees. We hope they’re going to love Rosslyn as much as we do.”
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