Virginia destroys Montgomery County, Maryland on 2024 Fortune 500, Global 500 lists

Montgomery County and Maryland continue to find mis-fortune in the world of business, as Virginia - and Northern Virginia in particular - have completely wiped the floor with both in Fortune magazine's 2024 Fortune 500 and Fortune Global 500 lists. The magazine published the latter list this past Friday. For 2024, seven Virginia-based companies rank in the Global 500; Maryland has only one: Lockheed Martin. 

This past May's Fortune 500 list, which is limited to American companies, was equally bad for MoCo and the Old Line State. Virginia has 24 Fortune 500 firms, more than half headquartered in Northern Virginia. Maryland has just four. Montgomery County remains down to only two, after Discovery fled to Knoxville and New York City in 2019. 

Perhaps the most humiliating aspect of Discovery's exit was that the Montgomery County Council was not engaged with the company's leaders at all, and was laser-focused on outlawing the use of animals in circuses during the very days that New York and Tennessee were sealing their deal with Discovery.

Montgomery County not only has failed to retain, much less grow, its stable of Fortune 500 companies in recent years, but hasn't attracted a single major corporate headquarters in over a quarter-century. "We don't need the Lockheed headquarters," former County Councilmember Nancy Floreen infamously declared in 2010. The Council's wish could come true: Lockheed recently announced it is shrinking - not growing - its footprint in Montgomery County, selling off its Rockville campus. 

Lockheed seems intimately aware that MoCo's elected officials are putting all their effort into helping their developer sugar daddies continue to transform the County into a bedroom community, rather than attracting and keeping high-wage jobs and corporate headquarters like theirs. The aerospace firm is marketing its Rockville campus as a site for townhomes, not corporate offices or research facilities. If that pitch isn't "peak 2024 Montgomery County," I don't know what is. Of course, even former County Executive Ike Leggett sounded the alarm that we were becoming a bedroom community before he left office, an incredible moment of political bravery and candor that surely did not sit well with the Montgomery County cartel.

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin hasn't released a statement yet regarding the Fortune Global 500. But he did issue a press release to announce $126 million in State grants to fund preparation of business-ready sites across the Commonwealth. It's important to remember that the paradigm of Virginia crushing Montgomery County and Maryland in economic development predates Youngkin and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore. The issue isn't necessarily partisan, either. While Montgomery County's Republican residents have been denied any representation on the County Council through clever gerrymandering of Council districts since 2002, Virginia's booming business growth and 21st-century corporate HQ haul have come under one GOP and two Democratic governors. And several of America's top states for business have Democratic governors.

In contrast, Montgomery County and Maryland continue to self-sabotage their own "fortunes" in economic development. We have to be honest that this sabotage has been fully intentional. A new Potomac River crossing could have long ago given us direct access to Dulles International Airport, the only airport in the region with the flight frequency and global destinations demanded by CEOs and top executives. We've never completed our master plan highway system, when so many large companies are rightly focused on logistics, and seek states that invest in infrastructure like Virginia has. "Business-ready sites? What's that?" Most of our County elected officials have been tasked by their developer sugar daddies to convert as many existing or planned office and retail properties to luxury housing as possible. And they are delivering, as a quick drive around the Montgomery Mall, Wheaton, Germantown, Tower Oaks, or King Farm areas in recent years will reveal.

As a result, our County economy has been moribund since shortly after the MoCo cartel seized a majority of seats on the Council in 2002. The destruction of our business sector that began in December of that year has only accelerated over time. They're laughing at us in Arlington, Fairfax, Herndon, Manassas, and Richmond. But as more and more of the region's highest regressive tax burden shifts onto the shoulders of Montgomery County residents, the only smiles here are on the faces of the MoCo cartel, and the elected officials they totally control.

Purse snatched at Rockville hotel

Rockville City police were called to a hotel after a purse was reported having been snatched there Friday afternoon, August 9, 2024. Officers responded to the Best Western at 1251 W. Montgomery Avenue at 4:40 PM Friday. No force was used in taking the purse from the victim, reportedly.

Armed robbery at Walgreens in Rockville

Rockville City police responded to a report of an armed robbery at Walgreens at 1075 Seven Locks Road on Wednesday night, August 7, 2024. The robbery was reported at 9:17 PM Wednesday. @MoCoPGNews on Twitter posted that the suspect was wielding a knife, and grabbed money out of a cash register. If you have any information about this incident, call police at 240-314-8900.

Assault at Montgomery Mall in Bethesda

Oh, no, not again! Montgomery County police responded to a report of a 2nd-degree assault at Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda on Thursday afternoon, August 8, 2024. The assault was reported at 3:16 PM. Like some of the assaults at the mall in 2024, Thursday's was related to a shoplifting attempt. This was the ninth assault police have responded to at the mall this year.

There were 12 assaults reported at the popular retail center in 2022. That number dropped to 5 last year, after the Montgomery County Police Department opened a "resource room" at the mall, in response to the 2022 numbers. But the violence has rebounded this year, with the mall now on pace to more than triple last year's assault total. 

Umi Hotpot Sushi & Seafood Buffet sets opening date in Rockville

Umi Hotpot Sushi & Seafood Buffet at 1471 Rockville Pike will welcome its first customers this weekend. The restaurant will open tomorrow, Saturday, August 10, 2024. Promising "the largest and most elegant Chinese, Japanese and American cuisine restaurant," Umi is opening several new locations in the U.S. this year. This building was formerly home to Miller's Ale House.

Rockville Pike Arby's conversion to McDonald's moving forward

The conversion of the vacant Arby's restaurant at 11710 Rockville Pike into a McDonald's has stalled out since the lease of the building by the Golden Arches came to light this past February. Construction work is now expected to begin by early fall. The nearby McDonald's at 11564 Rockville Pike will move to this location when the work is completed, with the major benefit of now offering drive-thru service, which is great news for McDonald's fans in the White Flint area. I've learned that the planned addition to the Arby's building will expand its size by about 170-square-feet.

Arby's closed here in May of 2021. Shake Shack was said to have interest in leasing the building a month later, but ultimately decided to settle for locations at Cabin John Village Center and Westfield Montgomery Mall, and pulled out by September of 2021. Despite its prime location and drive-thru configuration, the Polinger Company-owned building then sat vacant until McDonald's came aboard this year. Saul Centers owns the existing McDonald's property at 11564 Rockville Pike.

Claire's opens at Montgomery Mall in Bethesda

Claire's has opened at Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda. The piercing studio also offers jewelry, piercing and hair accessories, beauty products, and toys. It hosts birthday parties, too. Operating hours are 10:00 AM to 9:00 PM Monday through Saturday, and 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM on Sundays. Look for Claire's on Level 1 of the mall, outside of Macy's.