As the City of Manassas continues to navigate the disruption caused by the pandemic, the Department of Economic Development remains focused on our core mission of business attraction, retention and expansion. We have shifted most of our efforts to assisting existing businesses with innovative initiatives to provide grants, jobseeker/employer services, marketing, and business counseling. Of course we continue to closely monitor and report on key data points such as unemployment and real estate occupancy/rental rates.
The City’s industrial market remains very strong and manufacturing continues to support our local economy. The office market is still healthy with vacancy in a more “normal” range and rents are stable. Retail vacancy however has broken out of the 5-7% range we consider healthy and represents a sector of the economy we are monitoring closely. The 4th Quarter is very important for retail so please make a conscious effort to Shop Local – especially during the holidays. #ManassasStrongerTogether