United Therapeutics Could Cease Headquarters Because Of Montgomery’s Anti-business Climate (Updated)
By Silver Springer • Sep 28th, 2007 • Category: Business and Economic Development, Government and Politics, Real Estate
One of Montgomery County’s most profitable and largest independent biotech could give a no-go to it’s headquarter expansion in downtown Silver Spring.
New impact fees targeting biotechs across the County are making United Therapeutics skittish.
According to the Washington Business Journal, there are new biotech impact fees recommended in the new County Growth Policy Draft.
The news is gaining attention now because of the planning board’s stance to push and support the new Growth Policy as is.
Because United Therapeutics wants to expand with a new headquarters, the new policy states that they would have to pay an impact tax. Biotechs have been exempt in the past because they are considered a fledgling industry just now starting to mature.
Montgomery County has over 200 biotechs, the largest cluster in the nation. They could be at risk if the laws change.
Karl Moritz, Research Director responsible for the new Growth Policy at Montgomery’s planning deptartment doesn’t see a problem. “a break on the impact tax was not going to be the thing that decides whether a company comes to Montgomery County”, Mortiz told the Business Journal.
Paul Mahon, general counsel at United Therapeutics told the Business Journal, “We love Silver Spring, but we’ve got a lot of shareholders who expect a return on their investments,”
United Therapeutics wants to build 108,218 square feet of corporate office space, 12,947 square feet of retail and 73,424 square feet of laboratory space.
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Hello,
I’m Karl Moritz, a staff member with Park and Planning, and quoted in the Washington Business Journal’s article about the Planning Board’s recommendation that the impact tax exemption for bioscience companies be lifted.
The article incorrectly suggested that United Therapeutics’ expansion in Silver Spring would be subject to the impact tax. It won’t be, because the Silver Spring Central Business District is an enterprise zone, and development in enterprise zones does not pay the impact tax.
I had mentioned this to the WBJ reporter, and after the article appeared, they agreed to print a correction. If you haven’t seen it, it reads, “An article in the Sept. 28-Oct 4 issue incorrectly indicated that United Therapeutics Corp. would be subject to a proposed expansion of the county’s impact tax to include biotechnology companies. Because United Therapeutics is in a designated enterprise zone, which includes Silver Spring, Wheaton and Long Branch-Takoma Park, it would still be exempt from the impact tax, according to Montgomery County officials.â€
Thanks for the clarification.