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Tag: Cane Creek Centre

Hand-built electric classic sports cars to be built in Danville

RBW Sports & Classics, a United Kingdom manufacturer of hand-built electric vehicles that have designs inspired by British sports cars from the 1960s and 1970s, plans to invest $8 million to establish a manufacturing facility at Cane Creek Centre in Danville, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Thursday. 

The project is expected to create 144 jobs. Those workers will produce RBW’s first left-hand drive, electric Roadster and GT models for the U.S. market. 

Peter Swain founded the company — which is named after his children, Rose, Becs and Wesley — in 2017. 

“Already selling in Europe, Asia and even Bermuda, the new facility in Virginia supports RBW’s entry to the U.S. market,” Swain, who is CEO, said in a statement. 

RBW delivered its first cars in 2022 and opened its first factory in the United Kingdom in 2023. The company currently manufactures electric Roadster and GT models, and its electric vehicle architecture and systems can be installed under other body shells.

The company unveiled its left-hand drive Roadster and GT models at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in California, which ran from Aug. 15 to Aug. 18. Starting prices for RBW cars run between $139,000 to $151,000.

In July, Swain, who previously worked in security systems, was featured in a Financial Times article about whether the United Kingdom’s Labour Party should develop an industrial strategy. In the article, Swain noted more incentives are available in the United States for business owners. “We can get so much help everywhere — apart from in our own backyard,” he told the Financial Times.

The Cane Creek Centre is jointly owned by the City of Danville and Pittsylvania County. The Virginia Economic Development Partnership worked with Pittsylvania County, the City of Danville, the Danville-Pittsylvania County Regional Industrial Facility Authority and the Southern Virginia Regional Alliance to secure the project for Virginia.

Youngkin approved a $500,000 grant from the Commonwealth’s Opportunity Fund to assist Danville and Pittsylvania County with this project. The Virginia Jobs Investment Program will also provide funding and services to support employee training activities.

AeroFarms plants roots in Cane Creek Centre

AeroFarms won’t harvest the first crops at its new Cane Creek Centre facility until summer, but the company is already expanding.

In December 2019, the Newark, New Jersey-based indoor agriculture company announced it would invest $42 million and create 92 jobs in the 136,000-square-foot facility building in the industrial park owned by Danville and Pittsylvania County. Now the company has upped that to $53 million and as many as 150 jobs.

“We’re seeing so much interest and demand, we’re thinking about how can we service that by expanding our workforce,” says Marc Oshima, AeroFarms cofounder and chief marketing officer.

Those jobs, says Pittsylvania County Economic Director Matt Rowe, will pay a collective $4 million to $5 million annually.

AeroFarms will grow and harvest short-stemmed leafy greens, herbs and microgreens and process them for shipping to retail outlets and restaurants within 250 to 300 miles — “from seed to package under one roof,” Oshima says. The vegetables, nurtured with efficient lighting, a mist of water and nutrients, grow in a patented cloth medium made out of natural fiber. The proprietary system uses up to 95% less water than outdoor farming and no pesticides. Because growing conditions are optimized and another growing season can begin almost as soon as one ends, the system can be up to 390 times more productive than growing the same plants outside, the company says.

“It’s really writing a new playbook in agriculture,” Oshima says.

AeroFarms chose Cane Creek Centre because it’s within a day’s drive of 50 million potential customers.

AeroFarms is a B corporation, meaning it’s certified as a for-profit company committed to transparency and social and environmental responsibility.

That mission includes giving formerly incarcerated people a second chance. “We owe them an opportunity to help address recidivism [and] provide career opportunities,” Oshima says.

In Newark, AeroFarms put working farms in schools, senior centers, community centers, even City Hall. The company plans to do the same sort of thing in Virginia. “The ambition is to extend these community farms into the communities that we operate in,” Oshima says, “so people have an opportunity to be hands-on with their growing and appreciate where their food’s coming from.”

Rowe seems convinced AeroFarms is a good catch.

“It’s great news to bring in companies,” he says. “It’s better news to bring in companies that have a history of watching out and taking part in the community.”