WASHINGTON, DC-After months of speculation and anticipation, Northrop Grumman decided to buy a building for its soon-to-be established headquarters operations here: 2980 Fairview Park Dr., a 14-story building owned by ING Clarion Partners that is partially occupied by Verizon. The purchase price hasn’t been recorded yet. 

The decision to buy came as something of a surprise to the market, which had been led to believe Northrop would lease the space. "I think its decision represents its commitment to the region," Cassidy Turley's Kevin Thorpe tells GlobeSt.com. In general, he says, buying versus leasing--even in the current helter skelter environment--comes down to an individual company’s situation and balance sheet. 

That said, Northrop Grumman follows a handful of deals where companies opted to buy their building instead of leasing, Jones Lang LaSalle’s, Scott Homa, tells GlobeSt.com. He points to Kaiser Permanente acquisitions in Tysons Corner, VA and Gaithersburg, MD; Inova in Falls Church, VA; and CoStar in the District. Like Thorpe, Homa says the decision to buy versus lease must be based on a company’s individual financial factors--as well as its tax situation--and, in the case of Northrop, the financial incentives the local jurisdiction is offering. However, for companies with cash on their balance sheets, he adds, many are finding now to be a particularly good time to buy. 

It was at the beginning of the year when when Northrop announced it was moving its headquarters from Los Angeles to the Washington region to better serve its government and government contractor customer base. Immediately, economic development agencies for the District, Maryland and Northern Virginia began vying for the plum site selection decision. By the end of April, it opted for Northern Virginia.

Northrop will open the new corporate office by summer 2011. It was originally expected that the office would house approximately 300 people, but according to a report in the Washington Post, the company is considering consolidating some of its local offices at the building as well. Other locations here include Monday Properties' 1000 Wilson Blvd. in Rosslyn; Northrop Grumman Information Technology at 7575 Colshire Dr. in McLean, VA; Mission Systems at 12011 Sunset Hills Rd. in Reston, VA; and Electronic Systems at 1580-A West Nursery Rd. outside of Baltimore.