Sign In
Free Newsletter
Shenandoah County takes long view on economic development
Shenandoah County hopes a $100,000 study is an early step toward welcoming new businesses and jobs. “We know that it takes time to develop property,” Jenna French, the county’s director of tourism and economic development, says. “We are planning for the future.” The county hired the Timmons Group to identify possible sites for business development. […]
Danville-Pittsylvania authority invests in history
Using a $1.89 million loan from the Virginia Small Business Financing Authority, Danville and Pittsylvania County officials plan to purchase about 289 acres adjacent to the Southern Virginia Megasite at Berry Hill. Members of the Danville-Pittsylvania Regional Industrial Facility Authority (RIFA) unanimously agreed in January to move forward with purchasing the land at 5981 Berry […]
Seeing the sites
Despite boasting a world-class port, a highly skilled workforce and easily accessible transportation infrastructures, Hampton Roads perennially comes away empty-handed in attracting large-scale industrial developments. Chalk it up to the region’s lack of shovel-ready sites, a situation that state and local economic development and political leaders are fervently working to change. Last year,[...]
Betting on success
Thousands of new jobs are flowing into Southern Virginia as Caesars Virginia prepares to open its permanent casino resort next year, and industries move into the region or expand. Meanwhile, local economic developers have been pitching the vacant 3,500-acre Southern Virginia Megasite at Berry Hill for megaprojects like electric vehicle assembly and battery manufacturing plants […]
Making the grade
For Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, this is the state’s rebuilding era. Although his Democratic predecessor, Gov. Ralph Northam, trumpeted Virginia’s unprecedented consecutive two-time run as CNBC’s Top State for Business, Youngkin has been critical of the state missing out to our Southern neighboring states on big manufacturing deals because of Virginia’s dearth of project-r[...]
Democrats call out Youngkin on Ford plant decision
Democratic state delegates excoriated Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin on Tuesday for taking Virginia out of the running for a $3.5 billion Ford Motor Co. battery manufacturing plant that would have created at least 2,500 jobs in Southern Virginia. The governor said last week that although Virginia was a finalist for the economic development project, he […]
21 Va. industrial sites awarded $90M for development
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced $90 million in grants for the development of 21 industrial sites across the state Monday, helping localities get shovel-ready for big economic development projects. The two biggest winners are Chesterfield and Henry counties, which received $25 million and $22.2 million respectively from the Virginia Business Ready Sites Program (VBRSP), which […]
December 2022 Top Five
The top five most-read daily news stories on VirginiaBusiness.com from Nov. 14 to Dec. 14, 2022, included a Virginia Business scoop about a restaurant on the culture-war frontlines that became a national news story. 1 | Richmond restaurant refuses service to conservative Christian group Metzger Bar & Butchery canceled The Family Foundation’s reservation, citing the […]
Youngkin to propose $350M for site development
Gov. Glenn Youngkin will propose allocating a new $350 million investment for industrial site development next week, the governor said in a speech delivered Friday at the Virginia Chamber’s Virginia Economic Summit & Forum on International Trade. In the 2022-24 budget, which Youngkin signed in June, the state allocated $150 million for the Virginia Economic […]
Everything is not awesome
When Lego Group representatives toured Chesterfield County’s Meadowville Technology Park on a winter day early this year, they didn’t speak. As with most industrial site visits, the county economic development authority staffers conducting the tour didn’t yet know which company they were working with, although they’d answered a site consultant’s request for proposal. [...]
