Washington Business Journal by Daniel J. Sernovitz

The Advisory Board Co. will be eligible for up to $60 million in tax breaks as part of its move to Mount Vernon Triangle after the D.C. Council gave final passage to a bill aimed at retaining the publicly traded technology company and supporting its growth in the District.

The council voted Tuesday to approve the Local Jobs and Tax Incentive Act of 2015 with one dissenting vote from Councilwoman Elissa Silverman, I-At Large,who previously expressed her concerns about whether the District was incentivizing a company for doing what it might have done anyway. The bill's final adoption sets the stage for the Advisory Board to relocate to a planned development site at 655 New York Ave. NW near Mount Vernon Triangle.

Representatives for the Advisory Board (NASDAQ: ABCO) said it was too early to discuss their next steps but hope to provide an update later this month.

The Advisory Board has committed to creating at least 1,000 new jobs in the District and to lease at least 425,000 square feet from Douglas DevelopmentCorp. at the developer's long-planned Square 450 project. The performance-based incentives — about $6 million a year conditioned on the company meeting annual job creation goals — would be in effect for the first 10 years of the 15-year lease.

The question remains of how Douglas Development will move forward with the project, which would be one of its largest ground-up mixed-use developments ever. As I reported Nov. 17, the company has been in negotiations to bring Brookfield Property Partners LP (NYSE: BPY) on as an equity partner after its talks with Tishman Speyer failed to result in a deal.

Representatives for Douglas and Brookfield could not be reached for comment.