Peraton Inc., a national security contracting and tech company, is moving part of its operation from a Metro-accessible site in McLean, Virginia to Bowie.
The privately held company, one of Greater Washington largest employers, has inked a lease for a little over 18,000 square feet at 16901 Melford Blvd., an office building that’s part of St. John Properties Inc.’s and its partners’ mixed-use Melford Town Center. By December, Peraton will move its Global Health & Financial Solutions division headquarters from its current office in McLean to the new Maryland site.
The division that’s moving will vacate its current space 7575 Colshire Drive near the expanding Silver Line’s McLean Metro Station and the amenities at Capitol One’s shiny new campus, not to mention Northern Virginia’s tech and defense apparatuses — whereas Bowie is well outside the Beltway and far from Metro and the future Purple Line.
So why Bowie?
While Peraton’s main corporate headquarters will remain in Northern Virginia — in coming months it’ll move from Herndon to Reston Town Center — suburban Maryland is in fact more central to this particular division’s customers, Peraton spokesman Brian Wagner said. Those customers include the Food and Drug Administration, IRS, and the Departments of Health and Human Services, Education and Treasury — not necessarily their headquarters, but large regional offices in Prince George’s and Montgomery counties and beyond, such as in Baltimore.
“We often don’t realize how much of the federal government is not in D.C.,” Wagner said.
“Melford Town Center continues to attract companies like Peraton, who desire a centralized location and easy access to both Washington D.C. and Baltimore,” Matt Lenihan, St. John Properties’ senior vice president of leasing said in an email.
He also noted that Melford recently added retail and has a 388-unit apartment building under construction.
The Peraton division that’s moving was initially located in McLean by default, according to Wagner. Peraton acquired Northrup Grumman’s federal IT and mission support services business, which was located there, in 2021 for $3.4 billion. Its core, including its head, Tarik Reyes, came over from Northrup, so Peraton sublet the space and kept them in place temporarily during the transition. But Peraton never intended to keep the division there.
Wagner also said Peraton, due to COVID, has pivoted toward being a more of a hybrid work model and plans to stay that way. Though that’s less a driving force for moving from McLean than being nearer to customers.
The move is good news for Prince George’s, which has increasingly wanted to bolster its commercial and industrial footprint in the region.
About 70 people will work at the new Melford site, though not all of those will come from McLean. Peraton plans to increase that number over time and, particularly with respect to its work with the IRS, believes “Melford is ideally located” for new recruitment, Wagner said.
“Peraton is exactly the type of company that Prince George’s County has targeted in its new Economic Development Strategic Plan, and we foresee significant growth in the cyber/IT sector,” David Iannucci, president and CEO of the Prince George’s County Economic Development Corporation, said in an email.
Prince George’s didn’t offer any incentives to Peraton, but “will explore various State and County tax credits that they may be entitled to,” Iannucci added.
Bill Jautze of St. John Properties represented the landlord and Daniel Rasmussen of Cushman & Wakefield represented Peraton in the Melford lease deal.
SOURCE: Washington Business Journal