Va. localities win $126M in grants for industrial sites

Gov. Glenn Youngkin this week announced $126 million in Virginia Business Ready Sites Program development grants to fund work on 23 industrial sites in the commonwealth.

Virginia’s growing inventory of project-ready sites was a factor in CNBC naming the commonwealth America’s Top State for Business in July, Gov. Youngkin noted in a Thursday news release. The financial news network weighted infrastructure heavily this year in its rankings and rated the state third in the nation for infrastructure, saying that Virginia is a good spot for “companies that want to build fast.” 

“Before we took office, Virginia was significantly behind our competitor states,” Youngkin said in a statement Thursday. “We must continue the concerted effort we’ve made to invest in sites over the course of my administration.” 

Localities can apply for matching grants from the Virginia Business Ready Sites Program to assist with the initial assessments of sites and to develop project-ready sites. The program is administered by the Virginia Economic Development Partnership. In January, 21 projects received $90 million in grants for site preparation. 

The City of Chesapeake got the largest grant of those announced Thursday: a $35 million award for its Coastal Virginia Megasite, which encompasses more than 4,000 acres near the Virginia and North Carolina lines. 

The site is currently designated Tier 3 by the state, meaning it is zoned for industrial or commercial development and that due diligence has been completed on the property, according to Steven Wright, Chesapeake’s director of economic development for Chesapeake. Wright says the $35 million will help the site move toward a Tier 4 designation, meaning all infrastructure is within a year of being in place and that all permitting issues have been identified. Tier 5 is the highest designation, meaning land is “shovel-ready.” 

“So that’s a pretty heavy lift,” Wright said. “This $35 million is really going to help us do that and expedite that process.”

The City of Roanoke received a $7.5 million grant that will be combined with a $2.5 million match of city funds to develop its 82-acre “Tract 8” property that is located near Blue Hills Drive. It’s one of the last developable properties in the city for manufacturing.

Currently, the property is designated Tier 3, according to Alicia Cundiff, an economic development specialist for the city. 

“This funding will help it get all the way up to a Tier 5, which is great, because once it’s a Tier 5, it’s deemed shovel-ready, and we can start showing it to prospects,” she said. 

In the project’s first phase, design and permitting work will be completed. The second phase will be construction. “So clearing the land and grading the land and finishing the access road,” Cundiff noted.

Other Virginia Business Ready Sites Program development grants announced Thursday included:

• Chesterfield County received $13 million for Upper Magnolia Green
• Prince George County received $10 million for Crosspointe Logistics Centre
• The City of Staunton received $9 million for Staunton Crossing
• The City of Danville received $9 million for the Coleman Site
• Greensville County received $8.5 million for the Mid-Atlantic Advanced Manufacturing Center
• Pittsylvania County received $6 million for the Southern Virginia Megasite at Berry Hill
• Franklin County received $5.5 million for the Summit View Business Park
• Wythe County received about $5.1 million for lot 10 of Progress Park
• Rockingham County received $4.5 million for Innovation Village at Rockingham
• The City of Suffolk received $3.5 million for the Port 460 Logistics Center
• The City of Radford received $3.5 million for the VCI Property
• Sussex County received $1.5 million for Sussex Green Enterprise Park
• Bedford County received $1.5 million for the New London Business and Technology Park
• Brunswick County received $1 million for Stonewall