A few weeks after taking over as Arlington’s new economic development chief, Telly Tucker’s office in Ballston is still largely empty, save for a few chairs and his Magic Bullet blender tucked away in a corner. It makes for an apt metaphor for Tucker’s new challenge.
Tucker is stepping in at Arlington Economic Development just as the department is experiencing a bit of a brain drain, in many ways becoming a victim of its own success.
Since landing perhaps the biggest economic development prize in Virginia’s history in Amazon.com Inc.’s new headquarters, AED has watched prominent staffers leave for other jobs in the region. Former AED Director Victor Hoskins took the top job in Fairfax County, with one of his top deputies and interim replacement, Alex Iams, following him soon afterward. And the department lost another part of the team that won Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) when Christina Winn took over economic development efforts in Prince William County.
In stepped Tucker in mid-January, hired away from the city of Danville, Virginia, to keep up the momentum and build on the work of his predecessors. Tucker is well aware he has big shoes to fill, and some staffing up to do, but he says he isn’t daunted by the challenge.
He has already hired a replacement for Winn as head of the department’s business investment group, promoting Marian Marquez from within. And he expects to make other hires in the coming weeks, as he simultaneously gets up to speed with his new community.
“The good thing is, with everything positive that’s happened in Arlington, there will be people that are attracted to work for an economic development office which is forward-thinking and doing some things the right way, as evidenced by some of the success we’ve had,” Tucker said in an interview. “And already there have been some team members here who are now taking on more responsibility who worked intimately on the projects that were successful.”
It helps too that none of AED’s old staffers have left the region entirely. Tucker says they all still have a “soft spot in their hearts for Arlington,” and have been more than willing to offer tips on the occasional phone call. Plus, he fully expects to work closely with Arlington alumni through the new regional partnership among Northern Virginia’s economic development agencies.
His own imprint
But, inevitably, Tucker will need to put his own stamp on the department. He says it’s a bit “premature” to say what needs to change, though he does fully expect to maintain some of the priorities that marked Hoskins’ tenure: reducing the county’s office vacancy rate and boosting Arlington’s workforce development.
The rest of Tucker’s new priorities will spin out of meetings he has planned in the coming weeks. He said he’s already huddled with most of the Arlington County Board and some executives from Amazon.
“There’s still a lot of heavy lifting that has to happen, naturally, in order to bring in billions of dollars of investments and thousands of jobs,” Tucker said. “So I think one of my strengths is just as a collaborator and communicator and trying to make sure they always feel like we have an attentive ear to what their concerns are.”
Tucker said he’s seen indications of the “heavy interest” from developers across Arlington in this post-HQ2 environment, and he’s also ready to pick up the county’s efforts to convince Crystal City property owners to refresh their aging office buildings and meet demand from companies looking to locate near Amazon.
Tech growth
He said AED is fielding plenty of such interest already, though he cautioned the county is still a long way off from realizing the surge in tech investment local leaders predicted with HQ2. Tucker expects achieving Hoskins’ lofty vision of a new “Silicon Valley on the Potomac” will be the central challenge of his tenure.
“Naturally, it takes quite a bit of time to nurture those relationships and to identify exact locations and see who’s the right fit,” Tucker said. “And many of those companies, they’ll want to see a critical mass of Amazon employees here and business units. They’re still determining which business units they want to bring here. So if there’s one myth I could dispel, it’s that there’s one light switch that you flip and then everyone comes. It doesn’t work like that.”
At the same time, Tucker is pledging not to lose focus on helping the county’s existing businesses, particularly its small, family-owned companies. Critics of AED have long accused it of pursuing large corporate tenants at the expense of supporting mom-and-pop shops, a perception Tucker is keen to reverse.
As commercial rents and property tax rates have crept higher, some small businesses have reported trouble staying. And Tucker is eager to explore ways to help, particularly if he can work with county leaders to ensure a more systemic approach than simply handing out one-time tax breaks or grants to legacy businesses.
“If you give someone a one-time infusion of cash to provide rent relief, when that’s gone, the business is typically in the same situation,” Tucker said. “How do we help them produce more of a price, product and promotion strategy that helps them sustain themselves beyond a few months rent?”
Maestro Telly
If Tucker can find any spare time amidst all that work, he may finally be able to find a place to call home in Arlington — he’s currently staying with friends in D.C. — or even renew his passion for music.
Tucker has played the piano since he was 8 years old, first learning after his mother told him he had to take up a more artistic hobby if he also hoped to play football. He acquired such a taste for tickling the ivories that he briefly studied classical music for his first year in college, even performing at the Kennedy Center.
He opted to pursue a different career path instead, leaving the piano as merely a way to pass time, but he hopes to get a chance to scratch his musical itch once he gets settled. Tucker said County Manager Mark Schwartz has already joked about finding a Steinway for his new office to fill it up/
“I have had some requests to come down and test out a piano down at a theater or an arts space and I’ve managed to wiggle my way out of those so far,” Tucker said. “But at some point, I will.”
