3
Quote
A startup tech company has chosen Suffolk as its headquarters, the city announced last month, the second new company from the modeling and simulation industry to open shop there in less than two months within an incubator program run by the Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center.
Quote
The announcement of CPT opening there illustrates the importance of the M&S industry in the region, particularly in the I-664 corridor at the center of which is VMASC's shiny headquarters and the MAST Center business development, created to attract companies because of the proximity to VMASC and the U.S. Joint Forces Command. Contracts from and collaboration with JFCOM have been the primary drivers of the industry's growth in North Suffolk.
While the MAST development, which sits on the Suffolk/Portsmouth border, was touted for its collaborative nature between the neighboring cities, the economic development potential of the M&S industry at the campus has proven attractive enough to entice the two cities to separately create tax incentive zones within the same complex to coax and retain M&S firms in either of the cities.
On the Suffolk side of the development is VMASC and its incubator. Suffolk, at the urging of VMASC, in December created a technology zone providing rebates on business license and property tax for qualifying businesses. The push for that tech zone was largely driven by the desire to retain graduates of the incubator once they are ready to lease market-rate space.
Across the parking lot on the Portsmouth side is MAST Center One, prime commercial space that also has a goal of attracting M&S firms. Keeping pace with Suffolk, Portsmouth last month declared MAST One and the 16 acres of the MAST development within its border an enterprise zone with incentives specifically geared toward tech-related firms, according to Mallory Kahler, development manager at the Portsmouth Department of Economic Development.
