Albemarle seeks to expand region’s defense sector

It’s no secret: Albemarle County is banking on the $58 million purchase of 462 acres around a military spy outpost to anchor the region’s defense community.

On May 24, the county Board of Supervisors approved a contract to acquire the undeveloped and former farmland tract along along Route 29 adjacent to Rivanna Station — a sub-installation of Fort Belvoir in Fairfax County — where three of the top military intelligence agencies, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the National Ground Intelligence Center and the Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, have a presence. The contract is currently in due diligence.  

The project, Rivanna Station Futures, would give the 75-acre Rivanna Station room to grow while buffering it from encroachment, including from “bad actors,” like a hostile foreign power that could impact the base’s mission, says Deputy County Executive Trevor Henry. Board Chair Donna Price has said the deal “may be the most significant economic development opportunity ever in Albemarle County.” Part of the county’s plans also call for establishing an Intelligence Community Innovation Acceleration Campus (ICIAC), where defense contractors, academia and the Defense Department could cooperate on solutions to national security problems. 

According to an economic impact projection, developing the ICIAC could add 873 jobs and generate more than $975,000 in local tax revenue and $2.2 million in state tax revenues. Albemarle’s work on the project, part of a county strategic plan set in 2017, dovetails with a report released in April by the University of Virginia and the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce that shows the defense industry had a $1.2 billion regional economic impact in 2021, making it the region’s second largest industry, behind higher education. 

“We believe that this will give assurances to our defense partners that Albemarle County is a preferred partner, and we’re in it for the long haul to support their work,” Henry says.

Any build-out on the project is likely a few years away. And while the county’s final decision on the purchase of the land could come by the end of the year, Henry says, it would still require rezoning.

George Foresman, executive director and senior adviser at U.Va’s National Security Policy Center, says the project complements a focus on national security along U.S. Route 29, which includes U.Va.’s North Fork research park, and in Greene County, where a defense production zoning overlay provides incentives to defense contractors.

“It’s a recipe made in heaven,” he says.