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Amazon delays HQ2 phase two

Amazon.com Inc. is delaying construction on the second phase of HQ2, its $2.5 billion East Coast headquarters in Arlington County.

The news comes as Amazon plans to open HQ2’s first phase, Metropolitan Park,
in June, and as the Fortune Global 500 tech company laid off a record 18,000 workers amid concerns over slowing revenues and a potential recession.

Amazon anticipated the groundbreaking for its second phase, PenPlace, to occur this year. While the e-tailer has not offered an updated timeline for construction on phase two, Amazon has begun some pre-construction work, including applying for permits, and expects to continue such efforts this year.

“We’ve already hired more than 8,000 employees in HQ2 and we’re excited to welcome them to our new Met Park campus this June,” Amazon Vice President of Global Real Estate and Facilities John Schoettler said in a statement March 3. “We’re always evaluating space plans to make sure they fit our business needs and to create a great experience for employees, and since Met Park will have space to accommodate more than 14,000 employees, we’ve decided to shift the groundbreaking of PenPlace out a bit.”

Amazon originally announced that HQ2 would create 25,000 jobs by 2030, and the company says its hiring goals have not changed.

Amazon rapidly grew its global workforce during the pandemic, ending 2021 with more than 1.6 million employees, up from 798,000 in the fourth quarter of 2019, according to CNBC. The company began layoffs in November 2022 and paused corporate hiring. Citing the need to reevaluate designs for hybrid work environments, Amazon also paused construction in July 2022 on six office buildings in Bellevue, Washington, and Nashville, Tennessee, according to Reuters.

The company has not yet decided whether it will modify its PenPlace plans, which include 3.3 million square feet of office and retail space spread across three, 22-story buildings, as well as the distinctive spiral Helix building.

Arlington County Board Chair Christian Dorsey says the delay is not a cause for concern.

“As we all negotiate the post-pandemic reality, everyone from every sector is thinking about … long-term plans in a new light, and sadly, we don’t all have all of the answers,” he says, “so it’s not incredibly surprising that Amazon is taking a pause before beginning the second phase of a project for which they haven’t fully opened the first phase.”  

German electronics manufacturer to add 100 Va. jobs

Germany-based Zollner Elektronik AG will invest $18 million to expand in Virginia, including boosts to its electronics manufacturing operations in Danville as well at the company’s U.S. headquarters in Leesburg, adding 100 jobs, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Wednesday.

The expansions include $14 million to expand manufacturing operations in the Danville-Pittsylvania County Regional Industrial Facility Authority-owned Cyber Park to develop custom electronics products for clients using proprietary technology, which will add 80 jobs. In Leesburg, the company will invest $4 million, and add 20 jobs.

Virginia competed with North Carolina and West Virginia for the projects.

The expansion comes after Zollner acquired Leesburg-based Electronic Instrumentation and Technology’s (EIT) electronics manufacturing services (EMS) division in July 2022. Zollner is among the world’s largest electronic manufacturing services companies.

“Zollner Elektronik’s decision to increase its market reach with the expansion of its manufacturing capabilities in Danville and U.S. headquarters in Loudoun County demonstrates the strength of our business climate and workforce that benefits diverse industries and locations across Virginia,” Youngkin said in a statement. “EIT has a long history of success in the commonwealth, and we look forward to building on that partnership with Zollner in the years to come.”

EIT has locations in Leesburg, Danville and Salem, New Hampshire. EIT’s founder, Joe May, served in the state House of Delegates from 1994 to 2014.

“Since EIT was founded in 1977, we have had a great deal of support from the commonwealth of Virginia and local government agencies in helping us grow and prosper,” David Faliskie, president and CEO of EIT-Zollner, said in a statement. “The acquisition by Zollner AG will give us the advantages of a global company while being able to maintain our Virginia presence. Our locations in Leesburg and Danville have workforce availability and are supported by complete transportation systems, so we look forward to continued growth through the acquisition by Zollner.”

Faliskie told Virginia Business in an email that the company as “aggressive growth plans” beginning this year. Openings in the company’s manufacturing areas including machine operators, hand assemblers, stockroom associates, soldering technicians, quality inspectors and test technicians and there are openings for buyers, project managers and engineers, he said.

Headquartered in Zandt, Germany and founded in 1965, Zollner Elektronik AG employs 12,000 people and has 20 locations around the world.

The Virginia Economic Development Partnership worked with the city of Danville, Pittsylvania County, the Southern Virginia Regional Alliance and Loudoun County to secure the project for Virginia. Youngkin approved a $360,000 grant from the Commonwealth’s Opportunity Fund to assist the Danville with the project. The company is eligible to receive state benefits from the Virginia Enterprise Zone Program, administered by the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development.

Support for Zollner Elektronik AG’s job creation will be provided through the Virginia Talent Accelerator Program.

Amazon delays construction on HQ2

Amazon.com Inc. is delaying construction on the second phase of HQ2, its $2.5 billion East Coast headquarters in Arlington County.

The news comes as Amazon plans to open HQ2’s first phase, Metropolitan Park, in June, and as the Fortune Global 500 tech company laid off a record 18,000+ workers amid concerns over slowing revenues and a potential recession.

Amazon had anticipated the groundbreaking for its second phase, PenPlace, to occur this year. While the e-tailer has not offered an updated timeline for construction on PenPlace, Amazon has begun some pre-construction work, including applying for permits, and expects to continue such efforts this year.

In a statement, Amazon Vice President of Global Real Estate and Facilities John Schoettler said, “We’ve already hired more than 8,000 employees in HQ2 and we’re excited to welcome them to our new Met Park campus this June. We’re always evaluating space plans to make sure they fit our business needs and to create a great experience for employees, and since Met Park will have space to accommodate more than 14,000 employees, we’ve decided to shift the groundbreaking of PenPlace (the second phase of HQ2) out a bit.”

Bloomberg first reported the construction delay.

Amazon originally announced that HQ2 would create 25,000 jobs by 2030, and the company says its hiring goals have not changed.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Amazon rapidly grew its global workforce, ending 2021 with more than 1.6 million employees, up from 798,000 in the fourth quarter of 2019, according to CNBC. The company began layoffs in November 2022, at the time expected to total 10,000 employees, and in January, that number grew to 18,000, according to The Wall Street Journal. Amazon, which also paused corporate hiring at the same time, is one of several tech giants that have begun large-scale layoffs in recent months, including Google LLC, which cut 12,000 employees, and Meta Platforms Inc., which cut more than 11,000 people.

Amazon has pulled back on other real estate projects over the past year. Citing the need to reevaluate designs for hybrid work environments, Amazon pausing construction in July 2022 on six office buildings in Bellevue, Washington, and Nashville, Tennessee, according to Reuters.

The company has not yet made a decision on whether it will modify its PenPlace plans. Plans for HQ2’s second phase currently include 3.3 million square feet of office and retail space spread across three 22-story buildings, as well as the distinctive spiral Helix building, along with 100,000 square feet of retail space and about 2.5 acres of public space. In April 2022, Arlington County approved the plans for PenPlace, which. include 20,000 square feet for Arlington Community High School.

Amazon purchased the 11-acre development site for PenPlace for $198 million in June 2022 from Bethesda, Maryland-based developer JBG Smith Properties, Amazon’s HQ2 development partner. Unless the Arlington County Board grants an extension, Amazon’s site plan approval will expire on April 23, 2025, if the company has not received a footing to grade permit to construct the second phase’s first building by then. Amazon’s use permits for the proposed public park and high school will also expire on April 23, 2025, if construction or operation has not started by then, according to Arlington County Board agenda documents.

“We continue to work with Amazon to advance plans for PenPlace, and look forward to helping Amazon realize its complete vision for HQ2,” JBG Smith CEO Matt Kelly said in a statement.

HQ2’s roughly 2.1 million-square-foot first phase consists of two 22-story office buildings, about 50,000 square feet of retail space, a park and a 700-person meeting center.

In February, Amazon announced that employees would be required to work in person at least three days a week beginning in May, a divergence from its previous remote work policy. A group of Amazon employees released a petition calling for remote work to continue, according to CNBC.

Amazon is eligible for up to $750 million in incentives from a state economic development package based on its annual hiring goals at a stipulated average annual wage. While the company became eligible to submit its first payment application on April 1, 2020 — reflecting its job creation through Dec. 31, 2019 — and receive its first payment in fiscal year 2024 — which begins July 1, 2023 — Amazon instead submitted a progress report, according to Suzanne Clark, Virginia Economic Development Partnership’s managing director of communications and marketing.

Amazon submitted progress reports in April 2021 and 2022 as well. The e-tailer has until April 1 this year to submit its first application for payment, which would reflect its performance from 2019 through 2022. Amazon would then be eligible to receive its first grant payment in fiscal year 2027, meaning on or after July 1, 2026.

The company said it didn’t want to begin requesting payments until it reached key milestones, like the opening of Met Park, because it intends to be a community partner. In the memorandum of understanding between the state and Amazon, the tech giant’s cumulative job creation goal was 4,983 by Dec. 31, 2022. With 8,000 new jobs so far, Amazon is well ahead of its hiring timeline.

Arlington County Board Chair Christian Dorsey said the delay is not a cause for concern. “As we all negotiate the post-pandemic reality, everyone from every sector is thinking about its long-term plans in a new light, and sadly, we don’t all have all of the answers,” he said, “so it’s not incredibly surprising that Amazon is taking a pause before beginning the second phase of a project for which they haven’t fully opened the first phase.”

Arlington will continue its infrastructure projects around the site, like the 12th Street South Complete Street Project, which will create a streetscape with landscaping, sidewalks, pedestrian ramps and streetlights on 12th Street between Clark and Eads streets. The project will also create center-running transit-only lanes.

Familiar territory

When it came time to select a new home for its corporate headquarters and distribution center, Würth Revcar Fasteners Inc., a company with Star City roots dating back to 1969, stuck with the Roanoke Valley.

Owned by the Würth Group, an industrial distributor headquartered in Germany, and consisting of more than 400 companies across more than 80 countries, Würth Revcar Fasteners is investing $11 million to renovate the 387,558-square-foot former Home Shopping Network distribution center it’s leasing in Roanoke County into its new headquarters and primary East Coast distribution center.

The company supplies fasteners, like screws and rivets, to corporate customers and the U.S. Navy. “We work with our suppliers, domestic and abroad, to secure quality parts that meet the quality specifications,” explains Betsy Troyer, marketing manager of Würth Revcar Fasteners.

Additionally, the company develops custom inventory management solutions for its customers “so they don’t run out,” Troyer says. “They have the parts they need when they need them.”

Würth Revcar Fasteners needs to move to a bigger space, says CEO Chapman Revercomb, because the company has sustained “pretty extreme growth” over the past several years.

Part of that growth stems from the Würth Group consolidating complementary business units from different Würth Group companies over several years, Troyer says. Industrial customers that had previously obtained their fasteners from other Würth Group companies were absorbed by Würth Revcar Fasteners. “It was a moving of the chips,” she says.

Since the pandemic, Würth Revcar Fasteners has also won new clients and seen increased orders from established customers. That’s in part because Würth Revcar Fasteners hasn’t struggled as much with post-pandemic supply chain and labor issues, Revercomb says. Being owned by a large international company with deep pockets helped protect Würth Revcar Fasteners from those difficulties, he believes.

“We certainly didn’t have a crystal ball,” Revercomb says. “But as the lead times kind of developed and disruptions continued to mount, we were able to quickly invest in enough inventory to cover those disruptions.”

Since 1999, Würth Revcar Fasteners has worked out of a 42,000-square-foot building on Thirlane Road in Roanoke. For the past several years, the company also has occupied a 50,000-square-foot warehouse located off U.S. 460 in Roanoke County. Both sites are at 100% capacity and have been for a while, according to Revercomb. Those buildings will be leased to other companies when Würth Revcar Fasteners moves into its new digs.

When he learned in early 2022 that the expansive former Home Shopping Network building on Avery Row was available, Revercomb quickly got on the phone with Würth Group executives about what had the potential to be Würth’s largest facility in North America. “We ended up going for it,” he says.

The goal, Revercomb says, is to have the space to support two decades of “accelerated growth” for the company.

Initially, executives at Würth made a rough estimate that office renovations
and warehouse infrastructure would cost $5 million. But after working with a general contractor and architects, the cost grew to $11 million, according to Troyer.

The new Würth Revcar Fasteners operation on Avery Row will look quite different from the 7,000-square-foot Southeast Roanoke building where Jim Revercomb Sr.,
Chapman Revercomb’s grandfather, first launched the business that would become Würth Revcar Fasteners.

As of December 2022, Würth Revcar Fasteners had about 100 employees in Roanoke. Employees will move into the new facility in phases, with a goal of everyone being moved into the new facility by July, she says.

As part of the expansion, Würth Revcar plans to hire 50 new employees by this summer, Troyer says.  The openings will include office and warehouse jobs.

Between late 2023 and 2025, Würth Revcar Fasteners plans to invest an additional $6 million in warehouse automation, according to Troyer. “We’re doing it for the long haul,” Revercomb says. “We’re going to be there for at least 20 years and hopefully more.”

Here to stay

Composite decking and railing manufacturer Trex Company Inc. has called the Winchester community home for more than 25 years, so when it came time for the company to construct a new global headquarters, Winchester was top of mind.

“Trex was already based in the area, so they were familiar with the city and approached us when they began considering sites for their new headquarters,” says Winchester City Manager Dan Hoffman. “From there, it was important to start building a relationship and listening.”

Last spring, the publicly traded company broke ground on its 64,000-square-foot, $7 million global headquarters on eight acres along Crossover Boulevard near Interstate 81. The company’s corporate offices, approximately 40,000 square feet, are currently located on Exeter Drive in Frederick County.

About 200 people will work in the new headquarters, which is set to open midyear. In 2020, Trex was one of the nation’s 100 fastest-growing companies, according to Fortune magazine, and it brought in more than $1.2 billion in fiscal 2022.

“Trex has experienced tremendous growth in recent years. As the company rose to meet the demands of our customers, it quickly became clear that our current headquarters location could no longer support the growth of our team,” says Bryan Fairbanks, its president and CEO. “We began to look for an opportunity that would afford us the space we needed but also the modern work environment and technologies that our team members desired.”

Early in the process, the company had considered other locations in Winchester and Frederick County but was drawn to the I-81 corridor.

There are limited sites along I-81 that are already prime for development and also have access “to the amenities that Winchester has to offer, such as an excellent school system, an extensive network of parks and trails, and a historic downtown,” Hoffman says.

The location along Crossover Boulevard also offered space for future expansion as well as easy access to transportation routes and visibility along I-81. The new headquarters will feature eco-friendly elements such as electric vehicle charging stations and rooftop solar panels.

As with any modern workspace, the new corporate headquarters “will provide opportunities for greater collaboration and recruitment of top talent,” Fairbanks says. “Additionally, the location is closer to our Winchester manufacturing campus, which will support synergies across our work streams and sustain growth moving forward.”

Between the new corporate headquarters and a 200,000-square-foot expansion for decking production added to its Frederick County manufacturing campus on Shawnee Drive in 2021, Trex expects to create about 350 jobs in the Winchester and Frederick area, including 150 manufacturing jobs, many of which the company says already have been filled.

One of the components of the headquarters deal was the promise of incentives. “The incentive itself was fairly straightforward, so it just needed to go through the proper approval processes. Our economic development authority and city council both had to approve it,” Hoffman says.

Under the agreement, Trex will pay all assessed property taxes on the new building, but for the first seven years, the Winchester Economic Development Authority will refund any portion of Trex’s tax payment that exceeds the amount currently being generated by the site. 

The deal went smoothly, Hoffman says. “We were very upfront about what was possible, and the executive team at Trex was great to work with. My hope is that this sends a message to other companies looking for a new home,” he continues. “We have other sites in the city that would be ideal landing spots for a large or midsized company.”

“We are honored the city of Winchester is the destination for Trex corporate headquarters,” says Rick Cobert, executive director of the Winchester EDA, adding that having “one of IndustryWeek’s 50 best U.S. manufacturers exemplifies our focus on target industry attraction.”

Trex has a long, rich “history in the Winchester and Frederick County area and is proud to be part of such a strong and supportive community,” Fairbanks said in a statement. “This is our home, and we are pleased to be able to contribute to the health and prosperity of the area through jobs creation, community involvement and national recognition from our industry-leading products and brand.” 

Playing defense

What’s in a name? Perhaps a lot if you’re riding on the coattails of Boeing Co. and Raytheon Technologies Corp.

The May and June 2022 announcements that Fortune 100 contractors Boeing and Raytheon would move their corporate headquarters to Arlington County generated plenty of buzz, but they didn’t dazzle like the 2018 announcement of Amazon.com Inc.’s multibillion-dollar HQ2 East Coast headquarters coming to Arlington. That may be, at least in part, because the Boeing and Raytheon announcements didn’t come with similar headline-grabbing capital investment or job-creation figures.

What the headquarters moves did do, however, is instantly make Virginia the center of the defense contracting universe. With Boeing and Raytheon joining Northrop Grumman Corp. and General Dynamics Corp., Virginia is now home to four of the world’s five largest defense contractors and aerospace companies. (The largest, Lockheed Martin Corp., is based in nearby Bethesda, Maryland.)

The news also brought validation that the Washington, D.C., region is a marquee location for tech, aerospace, defense and adjacent industries.

“Anytime you get a major corporation locating your headquarters in town, that’s a bragging point. It seems to matter,” says Terry Clower, director of George Mason University’s Center for Regional Analysis. “I don’t have a formula that tells you what the economic value of that is, but it’s one that … it makes sense, because it’s deepening and broadening your corporate network infrastructure for the region.”

And Arlington economic development officials hope to build on these big headquarters wins.

“They’re kind of like the equivalent of the home run,” says Arlington Economic Development Director Ryan Touhill, who started in the role in November 2022, about the headquarters moves.

Neither Boeing, which was previously headquartered in Chicago, nor Raytheon, which called Waltham, Massachusetts, home, have discussed much about their moves publicly other than a desire to be located closer to government clients and industry partners.

Raytheon has about 130 corporate staffers in Rosslyn, a number that hasn’t increased, though the company has “slightly expanded its footprint,” says spokesperson Chris Johnson, who also cites the region’s multiple international airports as a factor for its move. And, while Raytheon CEO Gregory Hayes won’t be relocating to Virginia, Johnson has previously said Hayes is expected to spend a lot of time here.

Similarly, Boeing already had about 400 employees in Arlington’s Crystal City area, and its move didn’t involve any major job relocations. According to the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, Boeing’s relocation brought 150 new jobs and $5 million in investment. Connor Greenwood, a company spokesperson, could not confirm the accuracy of those figures, nor did the company respond to questions about plans for a research and technology hub it pledged to establish with its move.

Nevertheless, home runs like these headquarters moves can help Arlington hit economic development singles, doubles and triples by helping the county draw smaller, emerging companies that “benefit from the things that the larger companies attract,” Touhill says, adding that the county is “seeing a good amount of aerospace interest.”

In the wake of Boeing and Raytheon’s announcements, Arlington economic development officials increased outreach to target companies and industries, says Michael Stiefvater, acting director of Arlington Economic Development’s Business Investment Group. “We’ve done a bit of a campaign to reach out to companies in the aerospace and defense industry following those announcements,” he says.

Along with positive publicity from the announcements, the county has heard “good things” in its communications with site selectors, brokers and companies, Stiefvater adds. While that hasn’t translated into immediate deals, he chalks that up to uncertainty in the post-pandemic office market environment.

The county has, however, received “quite a few” requests for proposals from consultants, “which is a nice change,” Stiefvater adds. “It was really quiet, basically since the beginning of the pandemic through this fall, in terms of corporate headquarters deals.”

Those RFPs haven’t yielded results the county can announce yet, but Stiefvater says they’re a signal that “we’re in competition.

“I’m imagining, you know, Boeing, Raytheon certainly probably played a role in catching people’s attention and hopefully got us on the short list or a final list.”

Fertility testing startup to establish $1.4M Albemarle HQ

Life sciences startup PS-Fertility Inc. will invest $1.4 million to establish its headquarters and operations in Albemarle County and plans to create 31 jobs, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Wednesday.

PS-Fertility Inc. will commercialize a male fertility diagnostic technology that was originally developed at the University of Virginia. The company will lease 4,000 square feet at 3030 Vision Lane in Charlottesville to serve as its headquarters and house a test kit assembly operation and a diagnostic lab.

“Virginia continues to advance as a hub for cutting-edge research and development, and we are proud that this technology developed at one of our leading universities will have positive ripple effects on the life sciences industry in the commonwealth,” Youngkin said in a statement. “Startups and small businesses are critical to Virginia’s future, and PS-Fertility is a homegrown success story that reinforces our commitment to providing an environment that encourages innovation and entrepreneurship.”

PS-Fertility Inc.’s product tests for the presence of a biomarker on sperm cells necessary for fertilization. It will use an at-home sample collection model, and clients will mail samples to the Albemarle County lab.

The Virginia Economic Development Partnership worked with Albemarle County to secure the project for Virginia and will provide employee recruitment and training funding and services to PS-Fertility through the Virginia Jobs Investment Program.

“The Virginia Economic Development Partnership comprehensively met our company’s needs, recognizing that this valuable scientific discovery made at the University of Virginia has significant benefits for people interested in reproductive health as well as to the state’s economy,” PS-Fertility CEO Kevin Combs said in a statement. “As a result, we anticipate launching our company’s advanced testing platform to measure and analyze male fertility levels in the very near future.”

FyberX to invest $17.5M in Mecklenburg HQ

FyberX Holdings, a regenerative agriculture company, will invest $17.5 million to establish its U.S. headquarters and production operations in Mecklenburg County, creating 45 jobs, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Wednesday.

The company will be located in the formerly vacant Kinderton Distribution Center in Clarksville, where it will process hemp and other agricultural products and produce fibers for the textiles industry, Youngkin’s office said in a news release.

“This industry is an emerging market in the United States, and I welcome the opening of the headquarters of FyberX, which will unlock its growth potential in the commonwealth,”  Youngkin said in a statement. “This industry provides a sustainable alternative for industrial and consumer products that will also bring economic benefits to Virginia communities and farmers, and we look forward to a successful partnership with FyberX.”

FyberX was founded in 2019 to build the infrastructure necessary to process raw agricultural biomass into refined natural fibers, while creating environmentally friendly manufacturing solutions. The company focuses on industrial hemp sources in the U.S. and will use its technology to process hemp for use as replacements for the textile, packaging and construction industries.

“Southern Virginia is strategically positioned to play a vital role in unlocking the economic potential of industrial hemp fiber in a variety of markets including textiles, construction, packaging, automotive, and bioplastics,” FyberX CEO Ben Young said in a statement. “We are excited to work with the local community to implement socially responsible best practices, including a zero-waste production model that minimizes emissions, a transparent supply chain, fair wages, and safe and state-of-the-art processing facilities, all of which will define a new global standard for natural-fiber production facilities”

Young hinted that the company anticipates growth in the Southeastern U.S. FyberX plans to build a green supply chain by working with industrial hemp and other domestic nontree sources of fiber and establishing centralized, large-scale processing centers throughout the nation.

“Every business that comes to our region is a positive,” state Sen. Frank Ruff, R-Clarksville, said. “We are delighted that they will employ over 40 direct jobs. As an additional positive, they will also provide a benefit to our farm community, which will now have another crop for their land. The reason I offered the hemp legislation several years ago was for exactly this type of use.”

The Virginia Economic Development Partnership and Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services worked with Mecklenburg County to secure the project for Virginia. Youngkin approved a $150,000 grant from the Commonwealth’s Opportunity Fund to assist Mecklenburg County with the project. FyberX is eligible to receive state benefits from the Virginia Enterprise Zone Program, administered by the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development. Money and services to support employee training activities will be provided through VEDP’s Virginia Jobs Investment Program.

RapidFlight to add 119 jobs at Manassas HQ

RapidFlight LLC, a designer and manufacturer of unmanned aircraft will invest $5.5 million to establish operations in Manassas, creating 119 jobs over the next three years, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Friday.

RapidFlight is an integrated, end-to-end provider of airborne drones. Founded in 2021 by RapidFlight President Jay Gundlach, the company works for national security and private sector clients. RapidFlight uses technology such as additive manufacturing, advanced avionics and propulsion systems. Gundlach has penned three books on unmanned aircraft and is considered an expert in the field.

The company will establish a 25,000-square-foot facility at 9617 Center St., renovating the former Georator Corp. building. This space will house its headquarters, design and production operations. The facility is near Manassas Regional Airport, home to a strong customer base for RapidFlight, including a growing number of aerospace firms, defense contractors and government agencies, according to a news release from the Manassas Department of Economic Development.

The jobs RapidFlight is hiring for include positions for engineers, manufacturing technicians, program managers, administrative staff and others.

“Virginia is uniquely positioned to lead the unmanned systems industry, and RapidFlight is on the cutting edge of developments in this innovative technology sector. We look forward to supporting the company’s growth in the city of Manassas,” Youngkin said. “Since Day One, we’ve declared that Virginia is open for business, and businesses such as RapidFlight are a prime example of the success and growth that businesses can achieve in the commonwealth.”

The Virginia Economic Development Partnership worked with the city of Manassas to secure the project for Virginia and will support RapidFlight’s job creation through the Virginia Jobs Investment program.

“Virginia is an important state, providing unique access to decision makers, a world-class workforce, unmanned test infrastructure and an advanced materials industry,” Gundlach said. “Thanks to its central location on the East Coast, we can readily work face-to-face with our government customers while also leveraging Virginia’s unmanned systems’ infrastructure to conduct operations and test our systems, rapidly delivering new capabilities to our nation. There is something for everyone in Virginia, whether you love history, exploring nearby parks or attending a local concert or sporting event. It is a beautiful state to live, work and raise a family. RapidFlight is proud to be a Virginia company.”

It’s the second economic development announcement in recent months from an unmanned aircraft systems company growing its business in Virginia. In August, Virginia Beach-based DroneUp LLC announced it would add 655 jobs as part of a $27 million expansion that will include establishing a drone testing, training and research and development center at Richard Bland College.

Va. Beach’s DroneUp to add 655 jobs

Virginia Beach-based DroneUp LLC is adding 655 jobs as part of a $27 million expansion that will include establishing a drone testing, training and research and development center at Richard Bland College, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced during a news conference Wednesday at the Executive Mansion in Richmond.
DroneUp, which specializes in commercial drone delivery and flight services and software, will invest $20 million to establish the college center and $7 million to expand its Virginia Beach headquarters at 160 Newtown Road. The headquarters, currently about 15,000 square feet, will expand to about 80,000 square feet.
Youngkin and DroneUp founder and CEO Tom Walker began discussing the project in February.
“DroneUp’s decision to expand its footprint across Virginia shines a spotlight on the advantages, the strengths, that are providing this great growth platform for not just companies,” Youngkin said, “but for Virginians: our best in class location right here, right here on the East Coast with a port that serves the world, a world-class infrastructure beyond our port, with investment in roads and broadband in order to connect Virginia, a highly skilled workforce that is the envy of the nation in a top-tiered education system. And when we bring together this winning formula, companies win and Virginia wins.”
The company will add 510 jobs at its headquarters and it will create 145 jobs for drone operator trainers at the training center. DroneUp currently has about 300 employees but expects to have about 750 by the end of this year, DroneUp founder and CEO Tom Walker said.
“When you’re growing that fast, you’re hiring in everything. You’re hiring in marketing, you’re hiring in finance, you’re hiring in technology,” Walker said, referencing the fact that DroneUp’s new headquarters jobs will be divided across a variety of fields.
DroneUp will open three drone hubs at Walmart Inc. locations in Virginia in the next two to three months that the company will use in the new operator training program, Walker said. Those hubs will be at two locations in Chesterfield County and one in Chesapeake, said Virginia Beach Mayor Bobby Dyer. However, announcing locations is a bit premature, said T. Preston Lloyd Jr., a Williams Mullen partner representing DroneUp: “At this time, DroneUp is still negotiating and exploring where those final hub locations will be.”
A provider of drone services for Walmart, DroneUp announced a partnership with the retailer in 2021 to provide drone delivery services at 34 sites around the nation with the capacity to reach 4 million homes. Walmart has a minority stake in DroneUp and a seat on its board.
The concrete for the training facility was poured Tuesday, Walker said, and the building facilities will be delivered Thursday.
“Right now, we’re having to train these people … at various ball fields … in Virginia Beach and in Arkansas and other places,” he said. “But my anticipation is we will [begin] training [at Richard Bland College] in two weeks.”
The training program will run six weeks total. Students will learn online for two weeks, and then DroneUp will fly them to Richard Bland for two weeks of training before transitioning to training with delivery operators at one of the area Walmart stores using its services.
Richard Bland College anticipates students earning nine college credits through the program, which equates to a Federal Aviation Administration micro-credential in unmanned aerial systems, said college President Debbie Sydow.
The Virginia Economic Development Partnership worked with Virginia Beach, Dinwiddie County, Richard Bland College and Virginia’s Gateway Region to secure the projects. Virginia competed against Arizona, New York, North Carolina and Texas for the projects. Youngkin approved a $928,000 grant from the Commonwealth’s Opportunity Fund and $4 million from the Virginia Economic Development Incentive Grant. The Virginia Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission approved a grant for $111,000 from the Tobacco Region Opportunity Fund for the project and funding and services to support DroneUp’s employee training activities provided through the Virginia Jobs Investment Program.
Founded in 2016, DroneUp works with more than 20,000 drone pilots.