Commonwealth Crossing plays ‘long game’ for success

Commonwealth Crossing Business Centre’s first two tenants — Polish flat-glass processor Press Glass Inc. and Pennsylvania-based aluminum beverage can manufacturer Crown Holdings Inc. — have invested at least $218 million into facilities at the industrial park in Henry County, creating about 400 jobs, according to Mark Heath, president and CEO of the Martinsville-Henry County Economic Development Corp.

“Over the last many years, we have [seen] proven success at the park that is very visible,” boasts Dale Wagoner, Henry County’s administrator.

In January, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Commonwealth Crossing would receive about $22 million from the Virginia Business Ready Sites Program, an effort to grow the state’s inventory of project-ready industrial sites larger than 100 acres. The award was the second largest among the 21 funded projects, which received a total of $90 million.

Officials plan to use the money to grade 93 acres sitting next to 57 already graded acres in the county-owned industrial park. During the past two years, the lot has had 14 inquiries and four site visits from prospects, Heath says.

Declining to reveal what types of businesses expressed interest in the park, he notes that 71% of those prospective businesses required at least 70 acres, and 50% required more than 100 acres. “We fall short on both, which points to our great need to grade the balance,” Heath explains.

About 276 acres of the industrial park’s 740 acres will be graded once work is complete. When finished, it will be the only site in Virginia offering more than 100 developable acres with rail access and all utilities in place, according to Wagoner.

“As it will be the only pad-ready site of its size in Norfolk Southern’s mid-Atlantic territory, Commonwealth Crossing Business Centre is a unique asset for Virginia” and the Southeast, says Virginia Economic Development Partnership President and CEO Jason El Koubi.

The idea for the industrial park was born around 2006, with it being seen as a needed booster for the Martinsville region’s flagging economy, which suffered after area textile manufacturing jobs were eliminated in the 1990s and early 2000s.

The park’s success took a while. It came as “a great relief,” Heath says, when Press Glass signed on as the park’s first tenant in 2018, followed by Crown Holdings in 2021.

“Successful economic development is a long game,” he adds. “Very little is accomplished quickly.”