City of Alexandria, Virginia
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MEMORANDUM
DATE: SEPTEMBER 7, 2016
TO: THE HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF CITY COUNCIL
FROM: MARK B. JINKS, CITY MANAGER /s/
DOCKET TITLE:
TITLE
Consideration of Acceptance and Allocation of $350,000 from the Commonwealth Opportunity Fund.
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ISSUE: Consideration of acceptance and allocation of $350,000 from the Commonwealth Opportunity Fund (COF) to support an economic development incentive grant to The Motley Fool.
RECOMMENDATION: That City Council authorize the City Manager to:
1. Accept a $350,000 grant from the COF that will be transferred to The Alexandria Economic Development Partnership (AEDP) and then to The Motley Fool (TMF), subject to the terms and conditions of the Performance Agreement among the City of Alexandria, the AEDP, and TMF.
2. Allocate the $175,000 in City economic development incentive monies set aside as part of the FY 2017 budget process as the City's share of the COF matching grant requirement1.
3. Execute a Performance Agreement among the City of Alexandria, AEDP, and TMF that outlines the disbursement and management terms and conditions of the COF grant and the City/AEDP grant.
BACKGROUND: The Motley Fool was founded in 1993 in Alexandria, and the company's headquarters and a majority of its employees have been sited in the City ever since. They currently occupy space in the Carlyle section of the City, where they are completing a 10-year lease at 2000 Duke Street that began in 2006 to meet their expansion plans at the time. The Motley Fool's operations are largely U.S. focused, but they also have offices in Australia, Canada, Germany, Singapore and the United Kingdom. TMF describes itself as a "multi-media financial services company" which includes publishing newsletters in order to enable "the world to invest better."
As TMF evaluated their options as their lease expiration approached, they decid...
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