Pittsylvania celebrates rocket motor factory

Hurt Mayor and Pittsylvania County native Gary Hodnett remembers the families who had to pack up their lives and move to find work after Burlington WorldWide shut down its operation there in 2007, laying off about 500 employees.

And so, Hodnett certainly celebrated in February when Avio USA, the Arlington County-based U.S. subsidiary of Italian aerospace company Avio SpA, announced it had selected the former site of that textile plant as the home of its $500 million, 860,000-square-foot manufacturing facility.

While Pittsylvania officials have enjoyed several economic development wins over the years, this one felt special to Hodnett.

“A site in town that I have driven past many times, that just reminded me of the good old days, will now be filled with cars, jobs and opportunity for so many,” he said in a statement.

The Staunton River Regional Industrial Facility Authority was formed in 2017. A collaboration between Pittsylvania, the Town of Hurt and the City of Danville, the RIFA redeveloped the former Burlington site into the Southern Virginia Multimodal Park, which now spans more than 1,000 acres. Hodnett serves as the authority’s chair.

Avio’s facility will produce solid rocket motors for defense, missile systems and the commercial space sector. It is expected to create more than 1,000 jobs.

The RIFA operates under an agreement in which Pittsylvania foots 61% of costs related to the park and receives that much in revenue, while Danville gets a 35% share and Hurt receives 4%. In December 2025, former Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Avio USA had selected Virginia for the plant, but he did not specify where.

To persuade Avio USA to select the industrial park, the localities provided a performance-based incentive package worth more than $33.6 million, according to Hodnett. The company will also be eligible to receive a state allocation of up to $97.7 million, subject to approval by the General Assembly.

Additionally, support for Avio USA’s job creation will be provided through the Virginia Talent Accelerator Program at no cost to the company.

Founded in 1912, Avio S.p.A. specializes in the design, development and production of space launch systems and propulsion components. In 2022, the company created an American unit based in Arlington.

Staunton River Plastics, a subsidiary of Ohio-based Rage Custom Plastics, became the first tenant of the Southern Virginia Multimodal Park when it opened there in 2024.