By Andrei Login
Nestlé recently celebrated the grand opening of its new headquarters in Arlington, Va. The office building located at 1812 North Moore St. in North Rosslyn houses the company’s corporate functions, eBusiness team, Center for Marketing Excellence, as well as its beverage, baking and global foods divisions—roughly 750 employees from its previous Glendale, Calif., location.
1812 North Moore Street, Arlington, VA (Yardi Matrix)
Next year, Gerber Products Co. will join its parent company in Virginia, eventually bringing the number of employees to 900. Gerber’s current corporate headquarters is at 12 Vreeland Road in Florham Park, N.J.
The 35-story, 535,000-square-foot North Rosslyn building is the tallest office property in Arlington. The high-rise was a Monday Properties speculative development, and had been vacant since its completion in 2013. Commonwealth and county authorities have been intent on diversifying the business mix in the region, to strengthen the local economy.
Arlington officials incentivized Nestlé’s move with roughly $16 million in grants, complemented by further relocation assistance, such as covering costs of training new employees, and moving. Nestlé initially signed a 15-year lease for 196,000 square feet, plus an additional 9,000 square feet of retail and lobby space, and has subsequently added three more floors to its original occupancy footprint. The food giant’s build-out investment was estimated at nearly $40 million.
Nestlé is the anchor tenant, occupying nearly 40% of the building. Gerber is expected to occupy an additional 23,392 square feet, and Monday Properties has also signed a 38,000 square-foot lease with Kansas City, Mo.-based Cerner Corp.
Nestlé CEO Steve Presley stated that “Moving our headquarters across the country is a true catalyst for transforming our business as we create a new Nestlé.” Presley added that the ribbon-cutting ceremony “is about more than our building, it’s also about our biggest asset: our people. We’re celebrating our drive to create a culture that embraces the speed, courage, agility and collaboration necessary to win in the marketplace. And relocating here to Arlington helps to fuel that drive.”
The Rosslyn office submarket has seen high vacancy rates in recent years, despite being located right across the river from some of Washington, D.C.’s most desirable neighborhoods. In addition to great connectivity to the capital’s center via three metro lines, access to good schools in the area is a big plus for the families of current employees, as well as a potential future source of skilled workers for Nestlé.
