Business is booming in Northern Virginia. It is the home of many big U.S. companies and corporations already, and now the region can add one more name to its brag list: Nestlé. The company, which is the biggest packaged food manufacturer in the world and the parent of such well-known names as Haagen-Daaz and Lean Cuisine, is moving its American headquarters from Glendale, California to Rosslyn, adjacent to Arlington. Nestlé’s global headquarters are situated in Switzerland.
The move will bring 750 new jobs to the Arlington metro area. Nestlé’s new headquarters will be at 1812 N. Moore Street, downtown Rosslyn’s biggest office building. It was built in 2013. Nestlé will occupy 206,000 square feet of the edifice and will invest $39.8 million into making its offices.
Founded in 1866, Nestlé employs more than 300,000 people worldwide. It brought in revenue of $88.8 million in 2015, along with profits of $9 billion.
According to the Arlington Patch, Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe is just one of many who are excited about the development: “Adding a global brand like Nestlé USA to Virginia’s corporate roster is a huge win for our commonwealth,” McAuliffe enthused. “Nestlé USA’s decision to relocate its corporate headquarters to Arlington County clearly demonstrates the competitive advantage that our Commonwealth enjoys thanks to our world-class workforce, education system and infrastructure. As we continue to work to diversify our economy, I am particularly proud that this great company will locate in a property that has sat empty as the area and our entire state grappled with defense cuts and sequestration.”
What brought Nestlé to Northern Virginia? According to the Washington Post, it was state and county subsidies to the tune of $16 million.
About 90 percent of Nestlé’s California workforce are being given the option to move to the Northern Virginia area. Like NoVA, Glendale is known for its heavy traffic congestion, so that is nothing that current Nestlé employees should dread. According to Paul Bakus, president of Nestlé Corporate Affairs, employees will actually have more options for places to live than they do in Southern California. That, plus the existence of the Metro, means that employees may actually enjoy a more reasonable commute. Bakus points out that, even with the Metro’s current construction headaches, it will be a “new and welcome way to get around” for the area’s new residents.
Nestlé is expected to begin moving its offices across the country within a “few months.”
