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Tag: Augusta County

Dairy products manufacturer to expand in Augusta

Shamrock Farms, an Arizona-based dairy products manufacturer, will invest $59 million to expand its Augusta County manufacturing operation, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Tuesday.

Shamrock Farms expects to create 28 jobs through the expansion, which will add 81,000 square feet to the manufacturer’s 250,000-square-foot facility in Mill Place Commerce Park.

The company opened its Augusta facility in 2014, and the facility focuses on producing extended shelf-life dairy products, serving East Coast markets. In the expansion project, the company will reconfigure space to allow for a new production line and will add incremental cold storage.

“Shamrock Farms’ decade of growth and investment in Augusta County is a powerful endorsement of Virginia’s business climate,” Youngkin said in a statement. “By enhancing their production capabilities here, Shamrock is helping to ensure that high-quality, locally produced dairy products continue to reach markets across the East Coast.”

Established in 1922 in Phoenix, Shamrock Farms is a family-owned business with about 6,000 employees and two milk manufacturing plants. Its products are available across the U.S. and sold in 135,000 retail grocery and quick-serve restaurants.

“We are deeply grateful for the dedication and support from our associates and partners in Virginia — they have been instrumental in fueling remarkable growth for Shamrock Farms and allowed us to innovate in both products and processing,” Kent McClelland, chairman and CEO of Shamrock Foods, said in a statement.

Shamrock Farms previously expanded its Augusta facility with a $40 million investment in 2017 that created more than 70 jobs.

“During this decade of expansion, Shamrock has added nearly 170 jobs in Virginia, and we remain committed to long-term economic growth and investment in this community for years to come,” McClelland said in a statement. 

Because of the expansion, the company will buy an additional $32.87 million worth of milk — about 16.55 million pounds — from Virginia dairy cooperatives over the next four years, according to a news release.

The Virginia Economic Development Partnership and the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services worked with Augusta County to secure the project. Youngkin approved a $600,000 Virginia Investment Performance Grant, a performance-based grant for existing Virginia manufacturers or research and development service providers supporting manufacturing for projects generating at least $25 million in capital investment. Youngkin also approved a $300,000 grant from the Governor’s Agriculture and Forestry Industries Development Fund to assist Augusta County with the project.

Shamrock Farms will also participate in VEDP’s Virginia Jobs Investment Program, which provides services related to recruitment and training and cash grant reimbursements for associated human resources costs after a company has had new employees on the payroll for at least 90 days.

Cava opens Verona production and packaging facility

Nearly three years after announcing its initial plans, Mediterranean fast-casual restaurant brand Cava has opened a production and packaging facility in Augusta County’s Mill Place Commerce Park. The company held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the facility in May.

The Washington, D.C.-based company invested roughly $35 million to open the 55,000-square-foot facility to help centralize production of Cava’s signature packaged dips and spreads. First announced in September 2021, the Verona operation now serves 323 Cava restaurants across the country, with capacity to serve up to 750 locations. The facility features a low-emissions, energy-efficient carbon dioxide refrigeration system and high-pressure processing, a cold pasteurization technology that helps retain flavor and nutrition. Those equipment investments increased Cava’s initial capital outlay, but the company says it will save costs over time, eliminate third-party shipping and control a critical food safety step.

“We are really excited to welcome Cava to Augusta County and specifically our commerce park. Recruiting manufacturers is one of our top priorities, so Cava is a good fit for the county,” says Rebekah Castle, Augusta County’s director of economic development and marketing. “Around 22% of the county’s workforce is in manufacturing, so our local labor pool is well-trained to support Cava’s goals as well.”

As of May, the facility employed 32 Virginians, with plans to staff up to 52 employees working a couple of daily shifts, says Cava Chief Manufacturing Officer Chris Penny.

“We built the Verona facility with expansion in mind, including our physical footprint. We expect a very linear growth over the next five or so years, and plan to steadily invest more capital into the facility, whether storage [or] equipment, as we open new restaurants,” Penny explains.

The Augusta County facility is strategically located along the Interstate 81 corridor, an important artery for East Coast commerce.

Its break room “overlooks the mountains and has a beautiful sunset. We really wanted to design a welcoming environment for our employees and consider how they feel when they show up to work, as well as how we show up to them,” says Penny.

At full capacity, the facility can process more than 100,000 pounds of product a day, amounting to over 4 million pounds of tzatziki alone annually. The Verona facility joins an existing Laurel, Maryland, production hub, focused on Cava’s rapidly expanding retail business in grocery chains like Whole Foods Market and Giant.

Agriculture 2023: NEIL A. HOUFF

Founded in 1975, family fertilizer business Houff Corp. expanded to provide a variety of agricultural and industrial services to farmers in the Shenandoah Valley, including crop fertilization and trucking. “We don’t fit in a box,” says Houff, president since the early 1990s. “We are a third-party logistics company that uses warehousing, rail and trucking to service our clients.”

In the past year, the company acquired 14 acres to expand its Doswell rail transload yard and is growing its soybean transload facilities in Weyers Cave. It also expanded its retail ag fertilizer and crop protection business. The corporation is owned by a family holding company, Railside Enterprises, which also owns IDM Trucking, run by Houff’s brothers. Houff has a degree in agriculture from Virginia Tech.

IF I HAD A TIME MACHINE, I’D MEET: Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter. Both men were not historically the best presidents we have had, but both were true servants, humble and doing what they thought best for their people at the time. I do not see that trait in national leadership today.

A time to build

The Shenandoah Valley Partnership had more economic development activity than “anyone anticipated in 2022,” says Jay Langston, the partnership’s executive director.

During the calendar year, the partnership saw close to $140 million in investment and 520 jobs. 

In Fishersville, Amazon.com Inc. is building a $120 million, 1 million-square-foot nonsortable fulfillment center, which handles bulky or large items such as patio furniture, outdoor equipment or rugs. The building, 85% complete as of late January, is expected to be finished this spring, according to Langston.

“I’ve been in this business for 38 years and never had a project like that come in so fast,” he adds. “It was the right place and the right time. Augusta County did a superb job working with consultants and engineers. It was a huge team effort.”

Additionally, Rockingham Cooperative in Rockingham County will invest nearly $17 million to upgrade and expand its grain handling and feed manufacturing operations, adding up to 20 jobs.

“This is a major investment because of the growth of agriculture in the region,” Langston says. “We have four of the top five agriculture top-producing counties in Virginia in this region.”

Augusta County

Augusta County’s economy held strong with the February 2022 announcement of Amazon’s nonsortable fulfillment center.

With 21% of the county’s workforce in manufacturing, “job openings in that sector, particularly, continued to grow,” says Rebekah Castle, the county’s director of economic development and marketing. “There continues to be great potential for growth with growing job openings and programs like Blue Ridge Community College’s Job Starter, paid training providing the skills … needed to be successful starting a job in advanced manufacturing.”

Harrisonburg

“Active and productive” are the words Brian Shull, Harrisonburg’s economic development director, uses to describe the city’s economic development in 2022.

Farmer Focus completed construction on its organic chicken packaging facility, a $65 million-plus project in northern Harrisonburg, in February 2022.

“This project led to enhanced business interest in surrounding greenfield sites,” undeveloped land that can be used for commercial or residential development, Shull says. 

Lauf Cycling, an Icelandic high-end bicycle manufacturer, selected Harrisonburg for its U.S. headquarters, including a showroom and distribution center. The company made the announcement in April 2022 and signed a five-year lease for a 6,500-square-foot shell building in downtown Harrisonburg at 156 E. Washington St., which the bike maker plans to build out. Lauf’s projections call for hiring approximately eight employees in three years. Capital investment figures for the facility build-out have not been released.

“Harrisonburg has such a strong cycling and outdoor recreation culture,” Shull says. “Lauf quickly recognized this asset and wanted to be part of it.”

Harrisonburg Innovation Hub (HIH), a coworking center, is expected to open in the former Wetsel Seed building downtown late this year. The HIH team purchased the 25,648-square-foot building for $2.88 million and expects the purchase and renovation costs to total $4.5 million. The space will offer up to 60 offices, rooftop event space and an AV production studio, developers say.

In addition, Blue Ridge Rubber & Industrial Products Co., an industrial rubber hose fabricator, is investing $700,000 to expand its Harrisonburg manufacturing facility on Acorn Drive, near Eastern Mennonite University.

Thanks to increased tourism spending and James Madison University’s first year in the Sun Belt Conference, Harrisonburg also experienced a healthy bounce in hospitality sector tax revenue in 2022. Compared with 2021, Harrisonburg saw a 15.8% jump in meals tax revenue, a 12.1% rise in lodging tax revenue and a 9.2% increase in sales tax revenue.

Rockbridge County

The past year was the most productive year Rockbridge County had seen in economic development over the last five years.

“In addition to establishing an office of economic development, the county started developing its first strategic economic development plan to guide future economic development efforts,” reports Brandy Flint, the county’s director of economic development. “We have two new commercial construction projects underway and two more to start next year.”

The estimated value of all 2022 commercial building permits, including new construction and renovations, was “approximately $18.6 million,” she adds.

The conversion of a Modine Manufacturing Co. warehouse into a manufacturing plant was a $7 million project that kicked off in 2021, with work completed in November 2022. “That project has continued into 2022 with an increased scope of work and additional employment,” Flint says, noting the plant’s projected 60 jobs has increased to 73 because of an increase in sales.

Rockingham County

Rockingham County’s growth in 2022 was a balance of new and existing business expansions and announcements.

“The county is fortunate to have such a diverse economic base of manufacturing, food and beverage and service-related businesses throughout the community,” says Joshua Gooden, the county’s economic development and tourism coordinator.

In 2021, Veronesi Holding S.p.A. selected the county to become the first North American location for its cured meat processing facility located in Innovation Village @ Rockingham. The Italian company broke ground in February 2022 on the facility, which is anticipated to be completed this spring. The plant is expected to bring 150 jobs to the county.

Meanwhile, Gooden says, the $6.5 million expansion of Virginia Industrial Plastics Inc.’s plant in Rockingham, a project that was expected to create 92 jobs, has been delayed. The project was announced in 2021.

Shenandoah County

Shenandoah County saw a dramatic increase in the number of leads and interest in properties throughout 2022, says Jenna French, the county’s director of tourism and economic development.

“Our industrial development authority entered into an option-to-purchase agreement on a 21-acre parcel in the Northern Shenandoah Business Park in Strasburg, and one of our larger parcels of industrially zoned land recently sold in the Toms Brook area,” she says.

Shenandoah crossed the finish line with one of its larger tourism projects, a $109 million wellness and nature resort known as Simply Shenandoah, which is slated to break ground this spring and open to guests in 2024. The deal is expected to create 125 jobs.

“With tourism being the second largest industry in our county, this is a welcome addition that fills a unique niche for the county, offering a higher end experience and additional lodging opportunities,” French says.

Waynesboro

Waynesboro’s economic development wins were a bit smaller than those in other localities, but Greg Hitchin, the city’s director of economic development and tourism, notes, “We opened five businesses this summer, and all are doing well.”

Also, the Virginia Museum of Natural History’s Waynesboro campus is moving forward, with the design phase set to end in June 2023. Contingent on General Assembly funding, groundbreaking is tentatively scheduled for 2024, with a spring or summer 2026 opening. The city expects the museum to draw more than 65,000 visitors annually.

Winchester

In Winchester, one of 2022’s major economic wins was the redevelopment of the Winchester Towers property, with Lynx Ventures LLC leading a mixed-use project with 175 residential units and a structured parking facility, as well as retail and dining space.

“Combining the housing with the services enhances socialization and provides the businesses with ready consumer activity. It’s a win-win for all involved,” says Winchester Mayor John David Smith Jr.

The city’s economic development authority leveraged the state’s enterprise zone program to facilitate an $11 million expansion of Continental AG, generating 67 manufacturing jobs as well as other investments. The authority didn’t provide incentive details.

In December 2021, TFC Poultry LLC announced it would invest $31.5 million to establish its second U.S. production facility in Winchester at the former Sunshine’s Pride Dairy facility, which was expected to open by April. The project is anticipated to create 111 jobs.

Trex Company Inc., one of the major brands of composite decking, is building a $7 million, 64,000-square-foot global headquarters and adding 200 employees. (See related story.) Announced in January 2022, construction is underway with completion anticipated in the third quarter of 2023.

Incubator hopes to grow Virginia winemaking

Tim and Ben Jordan are first-generation grape growers on a Shenandoah Valley farm that has been in their family since the 1700s. 

Although the brothers “leapt off the ground quite blindly” to pursue their passion, Tim Jordan says — first planting grapes in 2007 — their dream of building a winery on the farm proved “a wall of investment” they couldn’t scale.

Instead, with business partner Patt Eagan, they opened Common Wealth Crush Co., a collaborative winemaking business in Waynesboro’s Virginia Metalcrafters complex. Over three years, the company plans to invest $1.5 million in ongoing renovations of 17,000 square feet of space, including a tasting room expected to open this spring.

Their vision, Jordan says, is to provide the resources needed for growth “for others like us who were bootstrapping every step of the way.” 

The facility provides a range of services for small-scale growers to build their brands, from full production to helping experienced growers who lack the equipment to make their own wine, Eagan says.

The winery began operation in August 2022 with the necessary equipment — from grape presses to fermentation tanks — to produce 11,000 cases of wine from the 2022 harvest. The vintage represents eight distinct brands, in addition to their own house wines.

The goal over the next three years is to process an estimated 450 tons of Virginia-grown grapes with a market value of $1.1 million and create six jobs, likely five full-time and one seasonal.

If it meets those metrics, the company will receive a $25,000 grant from the city of Waynesboro matching an award announced in October 2022 from the state’s Agriculture and Forestry Industries Development Fund.

The city’s contribution will come primarily as reimbursement of local taxes and fees paid by the company during its first three years, says Greg Hitchin, director of Waynesboro’s Office of Economic Development.

The city expects the winery and a brewery already located in the complex to attract tourists from the Shenandoah National Park corridor. The state has more than 300 wineries that draw 2.64 million visitors and contribute $1.7 billion to the economy annually, according to the governor’s office.

Eagan says the winery is focused on but not limited to the Shenandoah Valley.

Virginia’s varied geology produces “really dynamic and interesting wines,” he says. “Wine as a beverage is such as great storyteller of the place it comes from.”

Return to form

In terms of business activity and economic development wins, 2021 turned out to be a stellar year for the Shenandoah Valley.

“We have exceeded what we anticipated from a business activity perspective,” says Jay Langston, executive director of the Shenandoah Valley Partnership, which promotes economic development from Shenandoah County to Rockbridge County. “When government shut down in 2020, we thought, ‘What in the world are we going to do?’ That lasted about a month. We only saw a temporary blip in business activity, and it came back in a big way.”

Last year, the partnership collaborated with localities and businesses on more than $165 million in investments, expected to bring in 650 jobs. Those deals include a $30 million investment from the D.C.-based Mediterranean restaurant chain Cava to open a processing and packaging facility near Staunton, and bringing in Veronesi Holding S.p.A., an Italian manufacturer and producer of cured meats, which will establish its first U.S. production operation in Rockingham County.

The partnership is finding that some of the measures it adopted during the pandemic are ones it will continue to maintain.

“Doing business the same old way doesn’t work in the current dynamic environment,” Langston says. “The virtual environment allowed us to deliver our message in more efficient ways. Also, we are much more heavily engaged in outreach marketing with high return-on-investment programs, and we are paying much more attention to talent retention and attraction, as well as quality-of-life messaging.”

There is tremendous cohesion in the valley regarding the area’s economic prosperity, even though “sub-regions have different goals and means of achieving them,” Langston says. “We have been blessed by a region that collaborates and works to solve problems.”

Rockingham County and Harrisonburg

“Securing the deal with Veronesi was a substantial win for us,” says Casey Armstrong, assistant county administrator and director of economic development. “It will help to diversify our financial portfolio. We are dependent on the agricultural and food and beverage industry, and this facility will diversify us and makes us more resilient.”

Veronesi plans to invest more than $100 million and create more than 150 jobs during the next four years. The company’s new facility, located in Innovation Village, will be used to age, process and package products for distribution, increasing its cured meat and charcuterie customer base in the U.S. market.

“This is the company’s first facility in the U.S., and it will be their U.S. headquarters,” Armstrong says. “Phase 1 of the project is scheduled to open by the end of 2022 or the first [part] of 2023.”

Merck & Co. Inc.’s $1 billion expansion of its Rockingham County pharmaceutical manufacturing plant, announced in 2019, is underway and is providing revenue for local tradespeople, restaurants and hotels. “They have over 1,000 employees on the job alone,” Armstrong says. “That deal was a big win for us.”

Additionally, Virginia Industrial Plastics Inc. is investing more than $6.5 million to expand its manufacturing facility in the county, a deal announced in September 2021. The plastic thermoforming and fabrication company will add 92 jobs with the expansion, which will allow the company to increase capacity for its company-owned product lines, Cabinet Savers and VIP Golf Cars.

The city of Harrisonburg worked with more international companies last year than in previous years. For example, Sibo Group, a Slovenian manufacturer of closure solutions, will invest $2.6 million to establish its U.S. corporate headquarters and a new manufacturing operation. The project is set to create 24 jobs. 

“Sibo USA has been a great project for Harrisonburg,” says the city’s economic development director, Brian Shull. “The lead was generated by Montebello Packaging, a city manufacturer of plastic tubes for the pharmaceutical and health care industries. Sibo has been supplying caps and closure to Montebello for years, but they were being manufactured in Slovenia and shipped to the Harrisonburg facility. Montebello offered manufacturing space to Sibo within its city facility.”

The city also is assisting with Shenandoah Valley Organic’s construction project, a $65.5 million deal that was inked in 2020 and will create 110 jobs.

The rapidly growing organic chicken company, marketed as Farmer Focus, has reached substantial completion of its 76,000-square-foot retail packaging facility, where production was slated to start in the first quarter of this year.

Augusta County and Waynesboro

Augusta County’s efforts to target advanced manufacturing companies, particularly in the food and beverage industry, paid off in September when Cava, the Washington, D.C.-based fast-casual Mediterranean restaurant chain, announced its decision to open a 57,000-square-foot processing and packaging operation to produce its dips and spreads in Mill Place Commerce Park, the county’s publicly owned business park. Cava plans to invest more than $30 million and create 52 jobs.

“It’s a great fit for the county,” says Rebekah Castle, Augusta’s director of economic development and marketing. “The company is wonderful to work with, and we are looking forward to their opening in the next few years.”

Meanwhile, Waynesboro is in a renaissance phase, working with small local businesses, as well as courting expansions and new development, says Greg Hitchin, the city’s director of economic development and tourism. “We have weathered the storm of COVID-19 pretty well. Most of our manufacturing firms are in hiring mode now.”

Waynesboro, Augusta County and North Carolina-based private developer Mitchener Properties LLC worked together on the sale of the former Ladd Elementary School, which will become Waynesboro Marketplace, scheduled to open this spring or summer.

Another highlight of the year is the Waynesboro campus of Virginia Museum of Natural History. The Virginia General Assembly included funds in its 2022 budget for detailed planning drawings. If all goes as planned, the museum is expected to open in 2025, drawing an expected 65,000 visitors annually, Hitchin says.

Also, electronics manufacturer Virtex added a new product line to its Waynesboro location in 2021, creating about 50 jobs.

Warren, Shenandoah and Winchester

In December 2021, Minnesota-based TFC Poultry LLC said it was investing $31.5 million to establish its second U.S. production facility in Winchester. The project is expected to create 111 jobs. The company is hoping to open the facility this fall.

In December 2020, International Automotive Components Group, a global supplier of automotive components and systems, announced it would invest
$4.6 million to expand its manufacturing operation in the town of Strasburg, creating 47 jobs. The company met its capital investment goals in 2021 and is currently in the midst of hiring, which is expected to be complete by June 2023.

“We foresee a lot of additional growth in our county for 2022 based on current prospect activity,” says Jenna French, Shenandoah County’s director of tourism and economic development.

In Warren County, Montreal-based Nature’s Touch Frozen Foods LLC has broken ground on a $40.3 million expansion, creating an anticipated 67 jobs. The 126,000-square-foot building, which is being built by InterChange Group Inc., should be completed this fall, says Jeff Browne, chair of the Front Royal Warren County Economic Development Authority.

Rockbridge County

Rockbridge County is prioritizing economic growth and developing a strategic economic development plan.

During 2021, the county had two major economic development expansion announcements: White’s Travel Center is investing $8 million to expand its building by 27,250 square feet and reconfigure the parking lot for additional retail and service space. And Modine Manufacturing Co., a thermal system manufacturer, will expand its operations in Rockbridge County with an investment of $7.03 million, adding 60 jobs. The project includes reconfiguring and remodeling the company’s existing warehouse into a manufacturing space.

“This project included participation in the [Virginia Economic Development Partnership’s] Virginia Talent Accelerator Program, which is the first time one of our projects has utilized that program,” says Brandy Flint, the county’s director of economic development. 

Shenandoah Valley’s recent deals

Innovative Refrigeration Systems Inc.

Augusta County

177 jobs

Veronesi Holding S.p.A.

Rockingham County

161 jobs

TFC Poultry LLC

Winchester

111 jobs

Virginia Industrial Plastics Inc.

Rockingham County

92 jobs

Evolve Services Inc.

Frederick County

84 jobs

Nature’s Touch Frozen Foods LLC

Warren County

67 jobs

Modine Manufacturing Co.

Rockbridge County

60 jobs

Cava Group Inc.

Augusta County

52 jobs

Valley Guard Supply LLC

Harrisonburg

45 jobs

Ryzing Technologies LLC

Staunton

31 jobs

Source: Virginia Economic Development Partnership

Amazon to open Augusta County distribution facility

Amazon.com Inc. will open a 1 million-square-foot, nonsortable fulfillment center in Augusta County, creating 500 jobs, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Wednesday.

The facility at 32 Trader Road in Fishersville will open in spring 2023 and will pick, pack and ship bulky or larger-sized items, such as patio furniture, outdoor equipment or rugs.

“This new 1 million-square-foot fulfillment center in Augusta County will enhance Amazon’s supply chain and create 500 valuable jobs for the Shenandoah Valley,” Secretary of Commerce and Trade Caren Merrick said in a statement. “Virginia’s position as a premier logistics destination is bolstered by continued investments from industry leaders like Amazon, which is catalyzing economic development in regions across the commonwealth.”

Amazon has more than 30 fulfillment and sorting centers and delivery stations in Virginia. The first opened in Sterling in 2006.

“We are proud to expand our Virginia operations with this Fishersville fulfillment center,” said Amazon’s Vice President of North America Customer Fulfillment Melissa Nick. “This facility joins two recently launched delivery stations in Waynesboro and Louisa and will be vital to our ability to serve customers and provide great selection and fast Prime shipping speeds across the region.”

The Virginia Economic Development Partnership worked with Augusta County and the Shenandoah Valley Partnership to secure the project for Virginia. Amazon is eligible to receive benefits from the state’s Major Business Facility Job Tax Credit for new, full-time jobs created.

Other Amazon projects coming in 2022 include an inbound cross-dock fulfillment center in Chesapeake and a robotics fulfillment center in Suffolk, both opening in spring.

“Jump-starting the economy is a top priority for my administration, and we celebrate the 500 new jobs in Augusta County and a strengthened partnership with Amazon,” Youngkin said. “Amazon’s new fulfillment center in Virginia is a testament to the commonwealth’s exceptional infrastructure, competitive business costs and long-term commitment that I’ve made to make sure we are developing talent and training workers to make Virginia the best state for business.”

Daikin dojos offer workforce training

In the U.S., the Japanese word “dojo” generally refers to a martial arts training space, but in recent years, the term’s also been adopted in business for workforce development.

In October 2021, Daikin Applied, a Minneapolis-based commercial HVAC equipment manufacturer, expanded the training dojo program at its Verona production facility, doubling the number of welding stations to four and the number of brazing stations to eight. Daikin also converted a room into a “universal dojo,” which currently hosts sheet-metal brake operator trainings but will later offer trainings on general manufacturing equipment and safety and electrical wiring. Started in 2008, Daikin’s dojos are for new employees or any worker requiring training for a new position.

About 20 years ago, Daikin’s Osaka, Japan-based parent company, Daikin Industries Ltd., set out to create an in-house workforce training program for its operations, which include sheet-metal processing, machine maintenance, painting, coating, dye making, mill working and chemical processing.

Daikin purchased the Verona facility, which produces air-cooled chillers and water-cooled chillers for industrial-scale HVAC systems, in 2006. In 2008, it opened a dojo devoted to training workers in brazing, a high-temperature process for joining metals. The company added a welding dojo in 2013 to support production of pressure vessels used as heat exchangers, such as evaporators and condensers. Both dojos are led by “meisters” — certified specialists who have been trained at Daikin’s global headquarters in Japan.

Site leader Scott Crickenberger says the dojos are designed to help Daikin meet the demand for technical skills, and no prior manufacturing experience is necessary. After earning initial certifications — typically a two-week process for welding and one week for brazing — workers are re-tested regularly — every six months for welding and annually for brazing.

In late October, the facility had 379 production workers, and Crickenberger says the goal is to reach 401. “But like a lot of manufacturers,” he says, “we’re seeing a lot of attrition right now.”

Rebekah Castle, Augusta County’s director of economic development and marketing, says Daikin’s training dojos demonstrate a commitment to its workforce.

“What a great investment and pledge to train employees and provide internal opportunities for upskilling,” Castle says. “The dojos offer Daikin a strong retention tool and a workforce that fits the manufacturing economy we have here in Augusta County and the Shenandoah Valley.” 

CAVA to build $30M facility in Augusta County

Washington, D.C.-based fast-casual Mediterranean restaurant chain CAVA will spend more than $30 million to establish a new processing and packaging facility in Augusta County, a project expected to create 52 jobs, Gov. Ralph Northam announced Thursday.

CAVA will build the 57,000-square-foot facility in Mill Place Commerce Park in Verona.

“Food and beverage processing is at the heart of the Shenandoah Valley’s manufacturing sector,” Northam said in a statement, “and it is an honor to welcome CAVA to the region.”

CAVA, which has more than 130 restaurants nationwide, serves a customizable Mediterranean menu and sells dips and spreads through grocery retailers. Its owner, Cava Group Inc., bought Zoës Kitchen, another Mediterranean chain, in 2018. Between CAVA and Zoës Kitchen, the company has more than 900 employees in Virginia.

“As a Washington, D.C.-based business, the commonwealth of Virginia is a part of our hometown community,” CAVA CEO and co-founder Brett Schulman said in a statement. “We opened our first restaurant in Virginia in 2012, and today we operate more than 30 CAVA restaurants. With the opening of our new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility, we look forward to the opportunity to continue our support for Virginia and its communities.”

The Virginia Economic Development Partnership worked with Augusta County and the Shenandoah Valley Partnership to secure the project, which Virginia competed against North Carolina to land. Augusta County received a $200,000 grant from the Commonwealth’s Opportunity Fund. Northam approved a performance-based grant of $300,000 from the Virginia Investment Performance Grant, which encourages existing Virginia companies to continue investing capital. The Virginia Talent Accelerator Program, an initiative run by  VEDP and the Virginia Community College System, will support CAVA with free customized workforce recruitment and training services.

Shenandoah Valley Partnership Executive Director Jay Langston said in a statement, “CAVA’s focus on extolling the virtues of food and family and the company’s entrepreneurial spirit perfectly resonates with the quality of life and philosophy of people in the Shenandoah Valley. It has been a pleasure assisting Augusta County and the CAVA team in choosing a location that embraces the spirit of wholesome food and the value of working hard, playing hard and giving back to the community.”

Virginia, other states sue Augusta County company Nexus Services

Updated 3:30 p.m. Feb. 22

Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring joined Massachusetts and New York in suing Virginia-based bonding company Nexus Services Inc., alleging in the suit that its Libre by Nexus subsidiary “preys on consumers held in federal detention centers by offering to pay for consumers’ immigration bonds to secure their release.”

In exchange for those services, the suit alleges, “Libre demands large upfront fees and hefty monthly payments while concealing or misrepresenting the true costs of its services.”

Joined by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the three states filed suit Monday against the company, the Libre subsidiary and its co-owners, CEO Micheal Donovan, Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President Richard Moore, and Nexus Services Director Evan Ajin, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia. The suit alleges they violated the federal Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 and “engaged in deceptive and abusive acts or practices in connection with Libre’s offer of credit to consumers for their immigration bonds,” and that Nexus and the three individual defendants “knowingly or recklessly provided substantial assistance to Libre in its deceptive and abusive acts or practices.”

In a statement issued Monday afternoon, Donovan said, “Libre by Nexus categorically denies all allegations in the complaint filed against the company today and looks forward to our day in court.” The company, he adds, “is committed to fighting for immigrants scarred by the torture of ‘civil’ immigration detention. While we have fought to release tens of thousands of immigrants from detention, especially during the last four years, the AGs have taken time and money to investigate our company. These same AGs have defended their police and prison guards in abuse cases, some of which have been funded by Libre. The result of their years-long investigations is a poorly drafted complaint that rehashes allegations the company has successfully defended in three different legal actions. They are still defending the corrupt prison guards.

“While the federal government continues to detain scores of immigrants, the AGs have ignored the fact that these detention centers operate within their own borders. From Buffalo, [New York], to Farmville to Suffolk, [Massachusetts], immigrants are tortured while Herring, [New York Attorney General Letitia] James and others conduct a shadowy investigation into the only company helping the immigrants they claim to be protecting,” Donovan’s statement says. He adds that the company funded lawsuits against Virginia on behalf of prisoners’ rights. “Libre is proud of its work and believes sunlight is the best disinfectant. We plan to vigorously defend this suit and prevail at trial.”

Nexus has been based in Atlanta since 2019, but its founders are residents of Fishersville and its principal place of business is in Verona, according to the complaint. Since its founding in Augusta County in 2013, the company has drawn considerable scrutiny from multiple states, which accused it of taking advantage of immigrants caught in the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement system and their family members. As of late last year, the U.S. Justice Department and several other federal and state agencies were investigating the company.

The company worked with bail bond agencies to pay bonds on immigrant clients so they could leave federal ICE custody, using GPS ankle monitors to insure their clients would appear in court. Clients of Libre by Nexus paid $420 per month for their monitors, although in June, the company announced it would switch from ankle monitors to a mobile app on clients’ phones, after a client in Florida died of COVID-19 in a hospital while still wearing a monitor.

According to the suit, “from at least 2014 until at least late 2017, Libre used a multi-part, written client agreement of over 20 pages, all written in English except for a single page written in Spanish,” although “the vast majority of Libre’s clients and their co-signers are Spanish speakers, most of whom do not read or write English and many of whom cannot read or write in any language.”

In December, Nexus settled a case with the state’s Bureau of Insurance, which claimed that Libre was acting as an unlicensed insurance agent, by agreeing to pay $425,000 and limiting its ability to collect monthly fees in Virginia. In November, the company reached a $5.5 million settlement with the California Department of Insurance.

The suit filed this week alleges that Nexus Services and Libre by Nexus are not licensed bail-bond agents in any state; according to news reports, founders Donovan and Moore, who are married, were convicted of writing bad checks and are not eligible to become bail bondsmen. They previously worked as lobbyists in Richmond representing the bail bond industry.

The suit also alleges that because immigration cases can languish in court for an average of three years, “Libre’s clients may have to make $420 monthly payments for that long, or longer,” incurring up to $17,000 in fees. Also, the company’s written agreement misleads clients to believe nonpayment will lead to re-arrest or other consequences, the suit says, even though “neither ICE nor any other agency is a party to Libre’s agreement.”

Further, since February 2018, “Libre has not provided any GPS monitoring service to thousands of consumers … because Libre’s GPS vendor cut off Libre’s remote access to the monitoring software at that time,” the suit says. The following month, the vendor decommissioned all of Libre’s monitors, due to delinquent payments, according to the complaint.

CFPB, Massachusetts, New York and Virginia have filed 17 counts against the company and asked the court to award Virginia up to $2,500 per violation, as well as $1,000 per violation in legal fees, along with other damages and restitution. The plaintiffs also seek to “enjoin defendants from making material misrepresentations … and engaging in other deceptive, abusive and unlawful conduct alleged in the complaint.”

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