economy

Afternoon Notes: Another Good Economic Omen for Arlington

By ARLnow.com

Arlington Makes AP’s “Least Stressed” List — Arlington has placed 12th on the Associated Press’ list of the 20 least economically stressed counties in the U.S.

County Gov’t Getting Paid By Feds — Arlington County will be reimbursed more than $300,000 for expenses associated with President Obama’s inauguration, the Sun Gazette reports. The county government is now turning its attention to securing about $800,000 in reimbursements from FEMA for December’s “Snowpocalypse” snow storm.

Affordable Housing Lawsuit Dismissed — A judge has dismissed a lawsuit that challenged the constitutionality of the county’s plan to partner with Clarendon’s First Baptist Church for an affordable housing development. More from ABC7.

Health Dept. Asks “How Are We Doing?” — The Arlington County Public Health Division wants public feedback on how it handled its H1N1 vaccination campaign. Fill out the online survey here.

Optimism for Arlington’s Economic Present and Future

By ARLnow.com

The current state of Arlington’s economy — recession and all — would make most other jurisdictions jealous, even during good years. And the county’s director of economic development sees even better times ahead.

“Arlington is still a highly attractive market,” Terry Holzheimer, the head of the county’s Arlington Economic Development (AED) office, told a gathering of developers, real estate brokers and business leaders this morning.

Citing a new AED study, Holzheimer said he expects job growth to continue (Arlington was the only local community with significant job growth from 2007 to 2009), residential and commercial rents to rise, and development to soldier on, eventually.

“Arlington is not built out by any stretch of the imagination… we have a lot more to build,” especially when the commercial lending markets clear out, Holzheimer said.

Holzheimer expects a lull in new construction over the next couple of years, since projects currently in the development pipeline have stalled due to a lack of financing. He does not expect the financing issues, which have been plaguing the entire economy, to be fixed this year.

Counting both residential and commercial development, 24 projects are currently under construction or beginning construction this year. 32 projects have been approved and are awaiting financing or site plan changes. 13 projects are in the review stage.

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