Attracting Development, Retaining Businesses In Economic Roadmap For Alexandria

ALEXANDRIA, VA — A roadmap to support Alexandria's future economy has been drafted and is up for public feedback.

The city government released a draft of ALX Forward: A Strategic Framework for Economic Growth, which it describes as "a roadmap designed to strengthen our economy, support and grow local businesses and entrepreneurship, and ensure Alexandria continues to thrive equitably and inclusively for years to come." The plan is intended to shape the next five years and beyond.

The plan follows the Alexandria Economic Summit hosted in May. Austin-based consultants TIP Strategies prepared the framework, guided by community members providing feedback in focus groups and surveys.

The report notes that Alexandria "faces both opportunity and uncertainty." The city has identified "catalyst development sites" that could spur future development, like the Virginia Tech campus, Northern Virginia Community College, Inova Hospital, and the five Metrorail stations. However, the city acknowledged challenges like high housing costs, an overreliance on residential property tax revenue, a trend toward remote and hybrid work causing office vacancies, and changes in federal policies.

The plan identifies three main goal areas: place-based development, business retention and recruitment, and entrepreneurship and innovation.

For catalyst site developments, the report calls for prioritizing Potomac Yard, Old Town North, West End, Carlyle and Eisenhower East, launching a targeted catalyst marketing campaign and working with developers to attract anchor projects, consider investments like infrastructure, and use incentives to get development sites ready.

Other strategies for place-based development identified in the draft plan are leveraging city assets, streamlining development and placemaking efforts, and focusing on the experience economy.

For business retention and recruitment, the draft plan calls for positioning the city as a top business destination. Strategies on that front include auditing economic development websites to provide a consistent value statement and strengthen brand recognition, boosting Alexandria's digital presence to support sports and entertainment tourism leads, showcasing business success stories and leveraging Virginia Tech to attract investments from innovative industries. The draft also outlines strategies to strengthen the talent pipeline and foster a collaborative business environment.

In the entrepreneurship and innovation category, the draft plan seeks to build the entrepreneurship ecosystem, expand incubator and accelerator spaces, and foster entrepreneurship skills.

Along with these strategies, the draft includes an action plan, identifying current and new strategies for achieving the key goals.

New strategies recommended in the plan are:

Place-Based Development

• Coordinate peer city tours with City or [Alexandria Economic Development Partnership] staff and key business or community leaders to focus on building relationships; increasing collaboration; and learning from one another’s best practices, successful initiatives, and specific projects.
• Facilitate quarterly forums devoted to timely topics in economic and real estate development. These forums are an opportunity to share information and receive public feedback.
• Launch a targeted catalyst marketing campaign and collaborate with developers to attract and secure anchor projects.
• Expand the site and building search tool and use it to create a public-private investment guidebook to market high-priority development sites. The playbook would be shared with potential developers and would contain information on relevant incentive programs, existing infrastructure needs, zoning constraints, potential barriers to development, and intended outcomes.
• Deploy underutilized assets using a strategic approach that considers highest and best use to inform trade-offs.
• Launch a Neighborhood Partner Program modeled after the City’s Community Matching Fund, extending potential project areas beyond City-owned property.
• Expedite activation through design standards or a playbook of pre-approved designs for permitting applicants to follow.
• Include experiential retail, entertainment, and youth sports facility developers in a dedicated catalyst marketing campaign.

Business Retention and Recruitment

• Develop a [business retention and expansion] toolkit and start-up guide with partner agencies such as City departments, business chambers and associations, and workforce partners that would serve both new and existing businesses.
• Develop an annual BRE strategy and joint business visitation schedule to prioritize outreach, track results, and resolve issues.
• Conduct a competitiveness scan of the City’s business processes (i.e., zoning, permitting, tax rates) and policies; introduce changes as needed to ensure the City maintains a business-friendly environment.
• Publish joint annual BRE impact reports or dashboards showing outreach metrics, business feedback, and outcomes-related economic impact.
• Conduct a regular business survey to identify current employer needs.
• Launch and promote a centralized business portal or hub with resources, programs, and points of contact. It should serve as a single online access point for businesses to find services, request assistance, and connect with the appropriate support agencies (see strategy 3.1).
• Establish a business expansion or economic growth fund to incentivize firms that do not qualify for startup funding or incentives directed toward large employers. The fund would provide grants or loans to for-profit entities within the target industries for the purpose of undertaking activities that encourage and support economic growth, job creation, or other stated goals such as adaptive reuse of vacant office space.
• Audit all economic development partner websites to present a consistent value proposition for the City and to strengthen brand recognition.
• Reduce barriers for businesses.
• Circulate BRE insights to guide workforce and training providers in aligning their offerings (career tracks, credential programs) with employer demand and closing skill gaps in high-demand fields.

Entrepreneurship and Innovation

• Develop, market, and maintain a webpage that acts as a one-stop hub for entrepreneurial resources in Alexandria.
• Act as a convener for the local entrepreneurship ecosystem.
• Work with regional partners in ongoing efforts to establish resources for entrepreneurs, including contributing to the creation of a regional accelerator or incubator.
• Utilize recently approved City of Alexandria funding for an accelerator or incubator space to better understand the profile of potential users and better define needed support services.
• Identify potential sites for incubator and accelerator development and market them to potential tenants.
• Establish incentives and partnerships (university anchors, corporate sponsors, landlord MOUs) to provide in-demand shared services and resources for high-growth companies, including innovation space.
• Convene representatives from K–20 (e.g., ACPS and higher education institutions) via an entrepreneurial learning consortium to align curriculum offerings with needed skillsets and enable work-based learning.
• Connect students with local resources in entrepreneurship through site visits to higher education campuses, incubators, and accelerators.
• Host student entrepreneurship events and competitions (e.g., business plan or pitch competitions and hackathons) to grow the pipeline, form new teams, and increase follow-on funding exposure.
• Conduct a strategic assessment of establishing a Fed2Founder Accelerator to support the conversion of federal talent into startups and spinouts.
• Expand access to capital for potential entrepreneurs.
• Celebrate and publicize Alexandria’s entrepreneurial successes, raising the City’s profile as an innovation destination.

Residents can review the draft framework and see a presentation of the draft plan to City Council on Nov. 25. Feedback can be shared through an online form by Dec. 5.