Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, continuing his aggressive recruiting of Maryland businesses, announced Monday that Frederick-based Bechtel Corporation will shift 625 jobs to the Old Dominion by mid-2012. The move comes as speculation mounts that McDonnell’s administration is actively trying to lure Lockheed Martin away from Maryland just months after Northrop Grumman chose Virginia over Maryland and opened its new headquarters in Fairfax County.
Bechtel announced this summer that it was looking for a new location for its Global Operations headquarters although the company decided to keep its 1,250-employee power division in Maryland for seven years after the state gave it $9.5 million to stay.
Similarly, Virginia will give $6.5 million in economic development grants as part the incentive package that will bring Bechtel to the Reston Tower Center. Bechtel, one of the country’s largest privately owned companies and an international powerhouse in construction and engineering, reported $27 billion in sales in 2010.
The move, an $18 million investment for Bechtel, had nothing to do with the favorable tax rates that McDonnell publicly touts when promoting Virginia to businesses, said Raquel Guillory, spokeswoman for Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, a Democrat.
“If that was the case they would have taken all 1,250 jobs,” Guillory said. “We knew that when we reached the agreement with them to retain the 1,250 jobs that a smaller portion of employees needed to be closer to Pentagon, so we were aware of those.”
But Bechtel spokeswoman Michelle Michael said the entire D.C. area was considered for the new headquarters, including Maryland, and proximity to the Pentagon wasn’t necessarily a sticking point.
“I wouldn’t put it in those terms,” she said, adding that the Fairfax County location provides better access to airports and Washington customers. Bechtel could not comment on whether the states’ differing tax rates factored into the decision.
Bechtel’s is based in San Francisco with 53,000 employees and operations in nearly 50 countries. It will set up its government service headquarters and other offices at the Reston location.
