Residents interested in learning more about the $1 billion Virginia Tech campus moving in near Potomac Yard will be invited to a series of community meetings in April, Alexandria City officials announced Thursday night.
The City of Alexandria will launch a series of community meetings about the new Innovation Campus coming to Alexandria, according to Karl Moritz, the City's director of Planning and Zoning.
"Look for an announcement very shortly," he said. "We're anxious to get started too."
Screen capture of live-stream that aired Thursday night.
Panel discussion of Virginia Tech campus coming to Alexandria.
Moritz took part in a panel discussion broadcast online Thursday night. It was moderated by Melissa Riddy, a communications officer with the City, and focused on plans for the campus and Amazon's new second headquarters coming to the area. Other panelists included Stephanie Landrum, president and CEO of the Alexandria Economic Development Partnership (AEDP) and Brandy Salmon, managing director of the Virginia Tech Innovation Campus.
Amazon HQ NOVA (also known as HQ2) will locate in National Landing, which encompasses parts of Pentagon City, Crystal City and Potomac Yard in Alexandria. In the Q&A session, Landrum pointed out that any investments that will be made to infrastructure and transportation will not only benefit Amazon and its 25,000 new employees but also the "existing community and businesses."
Virginia Tech will develop an "Innovation Campus" in National Landing at Oakville Triangle, within walking distance of the new Potomac Yard Metro Station. It will be about two miles down Richmond Highway from Amazon and be connected by metro, bus, bike and pedestrian paths. Salmon said to expect about 40 to 50 faculty members and an administrative staff of "maybe less than 200." She noted that the university is "starting to have those conversations" with corporations and government entities about co-locating in space with the school.
The campus is meant to create a pipeline of tech talent for Amazon and other tech companies in the area. Virginia Tech will offer masters' degrees in computer science and software engineering and eventually grad-level programs for research enterprise, Salmon said.
Salmon and the panel discussed the run-up to how the proposal went from idea to reality, as part of a package to lure Amazon to the area. "We as local economic developers, went to university representatives to see if they were up to the challenge," said Landrum. "And Virginia Tech said 'we've been thinking about this for three years. This is a great concept for us.'"
Salmon called plans for the school "the best kept secret" when Amazon was considering where to locate their second headquarters.
Why was Alexandria the best place for the new Virginia Tech campus? "The culture, the ethos, the location, the beautiful spaces and places are part of why we think it's such a special place," she said.
Other reasons included Alexandria's "proximity to government," as well as "serving the needs of the Commonwealth," and being in on "the policy of tech" and coming up with "big ideas" to "help us think about the future ahead."
This month, Alexandria's City budget proposed by City Manager Mark jinks included three new positions in AEDP to work on bringing even more business to the City of Alexandria. AEDP was central in landing both Amazon and the Virginia Tech campus.
