By Adam Pagnucco.
The State of Maryland and Montgomery County are together offering more than $700,000 in incentives to retain Sodexo, a French food services and facility management company that maintains its U.S. headquarters inside MoCo. County Executive Marc Elrich is asking for approval of the incentives by the county council.
Sodexo’s U.S. headquarters is currently located in Gaithersburg’s Rio development and employs 275 full-time employees there. The company plans to move to Pike and Rose where it will occupy 52,000 square feet and spend $6 million on relocation costs. The state is offering Sodexo $687,927 in assistance through its Maryland Economic Development Assistance Authority and Fund. That fund requires counties to offer a 10% funding match and pass a resolution of support for the state money. Accordingly, the county government is offering Sodexo a $70,000 conditional grant and Elrich has sent a draft resolution of approval to be acted on by the council. If the company continually employs an average of 275 full-time employees in each of the next ten years, it will not need to pay back the grant.
The structure of this deal is typical of state and county corporate welfare grants. Given the fact that Sodexo is a prominent international company, the money on offer is less than many other similar arrangements. For example, Marriott received $62 million from the state and county when it agreed to move from one Bethesda location to another in 2017.
Elrich’s memo to the council outlining the deal along with supporting documents can be downloaded below.