GeoEye moves down the road into Fairfax County

GeoEye Inc., a provider of satellite and aerial geospatial information and services, is moving its Loudoun County, Va., corporate headquarters to Herndon in Fairfax County, Va., a move that ensures the company remains in the commonwealth.

The company will spend $10 million for the new facility and another $5 million for infrastructure to accommodate the planned addition of 100 new employees during the next three years.

The current 230 employees in Virginia will move into the expanded corporate headquarters facility during the first few months of 2011.

A recent announcement from Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell’s office said Virginia had successfully competed against Colorado and Maryland to keep the company in the commonwealth.

GeoEye provides vital satellite imagery and geospatial intelligence products to a wide range of government, public safety, and commercial clients for applications in mapping, intelligence, agriculture, forestry management, oil and gas, mining, infrastructure and many other industries, an announcement said.

"The new headquarters will provide a showcase of GeoEye’s innovative, exciting technology for customers, and allow us to improve service for our key customers in the Washington, D.C. area, particularly the National Geospatial- Intelligence Agency [NGA]," Matt O’Connell, GeoEye’s chief executive officer and president, said in the announcement.

“GeoEye has experienced tremendous growth over the past 13 years; our satellite imagery business helped fuel our 84-percent revenue growth from fiscal 2008 to 2009. This move reflects the continuing growth of our company,” he said.

In August, GeoEye Imagery Collections Systems Inc. won a 10-year contract to provide a range of satellite services to the NGA that could be worth up to $3.8 billion over 10 years.

That month, GeoEye also was named one of Fortune Magazine’s “100 Fastest-Growing Companies” in the United States.