National Landing
National Landing is an area in Northern Virginia encompassing parts of the Crystal City and Pentagon City neighborhoods of Arlington County and the Potomac Yard neighborhood in the city of Alexandria. It is the location of Amazon's second headquarters.
In 2018, the neighborhood was branded and announced as "National Landing" as part of a local economic development plan to bring Amazon HQ2 to the area. The announcement also included plans to build a graduate-school satellite university campus of Virginia Tech in the area. The "National Landing" name derives, in part, from the area's proximity to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
Branding campaign
When the name "National Landing" was announced on November 13, 2018 for the Amazon HQ2 launch, it was met with significant confusion, and mockery since locals had never heard this name before and did not feel that "National Landing" was a real place. Prior to the Amazon announcement, "National Landing" was not used by locals.While initial comments suggested Amazon was changing the name of Crystal City unilaterally, local officials explained that the region included more than just Crystal City, and that the name and branding campaign came from the local jurisdictions and their economic development committees, in partnership with Amazon and developer JBG Smith. The rebranding is not expected to change the names of the existing neighborhoods, like Crystal City, but instead to serve as an umbrella term.
Redevelopment history
Oakville Triangle redevelopment and Virginia Tech Innovation Campus
Even before the Amazon HQ2 announcement, development in the National Landing area had been in the works. In June 2013, The Blackstone Group acquired industrial properties from First Potomac Realty Trust. StonebridgeCarras, on behalf of landowner The Blackstone Group was employed to redevelop the Oakville Triangle, a 20-acre industrial park. Consultations about the Oakville Triangle development began with the local community groups in 2014 with groundbreaking to occur summer of 2017 and first 1 million-square-foot phase to open in Summer 2019.In March 2018, the Oakville Triangle project reportedly stalled, while Virginia Tech officials met with Amazon to discuss "Project Cooper," Virginia Tech's plan for an "innovation neighborhood." On November 3, 2018, Virginia Tech signed a memorandum of understanding with the City of Alexandria to put its new Innovation Center at Oakville Triangle, a decision announced in tandem with the HQ2 announcement on November 13.