Southern Va. Year-in-Review: Major projects landed in region

For Danville and Pittsylvania County, 2024 was a monumental year.

In November 2024, battery-component manufacturer Microporous broke ground on a $1.3 billion plant at the Southern Virginia Megasite at Berry Hill, where it expects to create 2,015 jobs. The following month in Danville, Caesars Virginia hosted the grand opening of its $750 million casino.

“All indicators point to continued growth and momentum,” says Corrie T. Bobe, Danville’s director of economic development and tourism.

It’s a long way from Danville’s past as a textile manufacturing town, an identity that collapsed by the early 2000s as Dan River Mills entered bankruptcy and closed. Partnering with Caesars Entertainment to bring a casino to the city has proven to be a winning hand for Danville. It received more than $34 million in gaming tax revenue and supplemental payments from when Caesars opened a temporary casino in Danville in May 2023 through December 2024, according to City Manager Ken Larking.

The casino had 1,200 employees on opening day, according to Barron Fuller, regional president for Caesars Entertainment. It’s projected to attract more than 2 million visitors annually.

“This project represents a transformative … investment, converting an 80-acre blighted and historic former textile site — previously generating no revenue — into a world-class entertainment venue,” says Bobe.

Nestled next to the “Three Sisters” smokestacks, remnants of the shuttered Dan River Mills textile facility, Caesars Virginia may be the most obvious symbol of the evolution of Southern Virginia’s economy.

Far from putting all their economic development eggs into the casino basket, area officials have poured time and money over the last two decades into creating sites with supporting infrastructure to attract advanced manufacturing companies such as Microporous. More than $200 million has been invested in development at the Southern Virginia Megasite at Berry Hill alone, making it one of the largest megasites on the East Coast.

The casino and Microporous project were enough good news to offset some bad news in February, when Goodyear announced it would be laying off 850 workers at its tire plant in Danville. Larkin said the city would work with state and regional partners to assist displaced employees.

Leaders in Southern Virginia are also hard at work to make sure they can support the area’s growing workforce. Danville began holding housing summits for the entire region in 2022.

“Since then, we’ve brought in 1,112 multifamily housing units and 912 single family [homes] and townhouses,” says Linda Green, executive director for the Southern Virginia Regional Alliance and vice president of economic development at the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research. “And that doesn’t normally happen in a rural area. In addition to that, we’ve currently got 23 projects ready to go.”

Late in 2024, residents began moving into Dan River Falls, the $85 million multiuse project in the city’s White Mill, a striking former warehouse on the banks of the river. A public-private project between the city’s industrial development authority and The Alexandria Co., Dan River Falls includes 150 apartments and 147,000 square feet of office and retail space. An adjacent $14 million riverfront park is slated to open in the spring.
“These developments will fully revitalize our riverfront, further enhancing the region’s appeal and quality of life,” Bobe says.

Danville and Pittsylvania

Announced in August 2024, RBW Sports & Classics, the United Kingdom’s only manufacturer of hand-built electric sports cars, is investing $8 million to establish a manufacturing plant in the Cane Creek Centre, an industrial park owned by Danville and Pittsylvania. It is expected to create 144 jobs.

The facility, the company’s first U.S. location, will produce its first left-hand drive electric classic sports cars — Roadster and GT models —for the U.S. market.

RBW Sports & Classics will open its facility at the Cane Creek Centre in the second quarter of 2025, according to Matt Rowe, economic development director for Pittsylvania County.

Cambridge Pavers announced in December 2024 its plans to invest $47.35 million to establish a 150,000-square-foot facility at Ringgold East Industrial Park, just outside of Danville in Pittsylvania. The New Jersey-based company manufactures pavers, slabs and wall systems used for patios, landscaping and pool decks. The Ringgold East operation is expected to create 55 technical, manufacturing and customer service jobs with an average pay of $58,151 annually.

Speyside Bourbon Cooperage is investing $16.85 million to build a stave mill in Brosville Industrial Park in Pittsylvania. The mill will produce staves, or strips of wood, from white oak, which are used to make bourbon barrels. It is expected to create 40 jobs and source 40% of the timber needed from Virginia forest owners.

A division of Scotland’s Speyside Cooperage, the bourbon barrel maker has three other Virginia facilities, and the Pittsylvania mill will supply wood for the company’s presence in Smyth County.

EPL America, a specialty packaging manufacturer, is investing $34.7 million in new printing lines, a tubing line, and molds for producing closures and caps to boost capacity at its Airside Industrial Park facility in Danville, creating an estimated 24 jobs. This will allow the company to grow into the beauty and cosmetic markets and serve customers interested in replacing existing plastic products with laminate tubes.
“Market demand for its products in the [United States] remains robust, and the company has successfully tapped into Southern Virginia’s skilled labor force to support its continued growth and meet this increasing demand,” says Bobe.

The rest of the region

Danville and Pittsylvania are not the only Southern Virginia localities focused on drawing new business. In April 2024, Henry County supervisors awarded a $24 million contract to Chatham’s Haymes Brothers Construction to prepare a 172-acre pad site in Commonwealth Crossing, an industrial park in Ridgeway.

In January, Press Glass announced it would be closing its Stoneville, North Carolina, fabrication operations and moving them to Ridgeway in Henry County. That’s expected to increase Press Glass’ Virginia employee count to about 500. In 2023, the company announced a $155.2 million addition to its Ridgeway facility, and construction started last year.

Also, Hitachi Energy is investing $26 million to expand its South Boston facility, which manufactures transformers. This will pay for new equipment, upgrades and other production line improvements, which will expand capacity for producing distribution transformers.

Work started on the expansion in September 2024. It’s expected to be completed and new production underway by the end of 2026, says Kurt Steinert, Hitachi’s head of external communications in North America.

The facility currently has 585 employees, and the expansion is expected to create about 100 jobs. Hiring has begun, Steinert says.

In Mecklenburg County, Shalag US is investing $16.6 million to open a manufacturing and production facility in the former Global Safety Textiles building.

Shalag purchased the 154,000-square-foot building and associated property in August 2024 for $5.75 million.

The Oxford, North Carolina-based company manufactures a wide range of nonwoven fabric for use in products including diapers, feminine hygiene, air filtration and cleaning wipes. Its Mecklenburg facility is expected to create 52 jobs and allow the company to increase overall production capacity in the U.S. by 25%, according to a news release.

“They have started working on upfitting the building to their needs,” says Angie D. Kellett, director of the Mecklenburg County Office of Economic Development.