Boeing appears ready to move its headquarters to the Washington, D.C., area, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal Thursday.
Citing people familiar with the matter, the planemaker would move its headquarters to Arlington, Va., from Chicago in the near future, the Journal reported. The change would locate Boeing leadership just miles from the seat of U.S. government, which is the largest customer for its defense and space businesses. Additional details are expected in as little as a week.
Boeing opened a new 322,000-square-foot regional headquarters in Arlington in 2014. Moving its headquarters to that facility, and closing its downtown Chicago office — something that that would certainly be a blow to the Windy City — could help it realize the goal of reducing its office footprint by 30 percent that then Chief Financial Officer Greg Smith outlined in October 2020. Boeing relocated its headquarters to Chicago from Seattle in 2001.
If Boeing does move its headquarters to Arlington, it would be in good company. Amazon is building its so-called second headquarters just blocks from Boeing’s offices in the same neighborhood of Arlington.