$1.2M grant approved for Dickenson County industrial site

A grant for up to $1.2 million in infrastructure improvements to the Red Onion Industrial Site in Dickenson County was recently approved by Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority board.

The funds, which will be given to the Dickenson County Industrial Development Authority, will be used to help finance site grading, site development, access road construction and storm drainage improvements at the Red Onion site, which is also known as the Coalfield Regional Industrial Park. The funds will also be used for the extension of utilities, including water, sewer, electric, natural gas and broadband to the property.

“Infrastructure availability is a key piece in the marketing of an industrial site to a prospective new business,” said Jonathan Belcher, VCEDA executive director/general counsel. “A site equipped with roads, storm drainage, utilities, natural gas and broadband — ready and waiting for a potential new business — provides additional incentive for a prospect eyeing many different pieces of property to ultimately make the decision to choose the property which already has many of its basic needs met.”

Created by the General Assembly in 1988, the Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority is an organization that provides funding for regional economic development projects from a percentage of the coal and natural gas severance taxes paid by coal and natural gas companies operating in the region. Located in Southwest Virginia, the region includes Buchanan, Dickenson, Lee, Russell, Scott, Tazewell, and Wise counties and the city of Norton.

“The funding to develop the Red Onion Industrial Site will give the IDA a prime piece of marketable property,” said Larry Yates, Dickenson County IDA chairman. “This opportunity is one of the last pieces of the puzzle.”

Yates noted the property will offer redundant broadband services, which he said will make the site more attractive to data center businesses.

“The data center industry is a very competitive, up-and-coming market,” Yates said. “The Red Onion site is a multilayer site and could be the home of more than one industry. The IDA looks forward to bringing more job opportunities to the residents of Dickenson County, as well as to surrounding counties.”

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