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Tag: sustainability

Lego breaks ground on $1B Chesterfield facility

The Lego Group broke ground Thursday on its $1 billion Chesterfield County manufacturing facility — launching the Danish toymaker’s first U.S. manufacturing plant and one of Virginia’s biggest economic development projects.

The Billund, Denmark-based toy company known for its brightly colored plastic toy bricks and construction sets plans to hire 1,761 people to work at its plant in Chesterfield’s Meadowville Technology Park over the next 10 years, with production, including molding plastic toys, expected to begin in the second half of 2025.

“We are not just building a factory, but we are building a culture of diverse, inclusive and playful workplaces for more than 1,700, or to be exact, 1,761,” said Lego Chief Operating Officer Carsten Rasmussen.

Lego is initially hiring 500 people to package toys in a temporary facility in Chesterfield’s Walthall Interchange Industrial Park and plans to begin those operations in the first half of 2024. So far, the company has hired about 20 people, Rasmussen said. Lego’s Virginia careers website shows several open positions, including construction project manager, director of human resources, facility director, materials planner and senior procurement manager.

“This is an iconic company,” Gov. Glenn Youngkin said during the groundbreaking ceremony. “…Together [we] are committed to invest [in] and grow … [a] workforce that is truly best in class.”

Lego plans to select a general contractor for the facility in the next few months, Rasmussen said, and the company has contracted with George Nice & Sons Inc. to conduct groundwork currently occurring at the site.

When complete, the Lego facility will have 13 buildings comprising 1.7 million square feet, including office spaces, molding, processing and packing buildings and a high bay warehouse. The property spans 340 acres.

A Lego model in the Chesterfield facility's visitor center shows the planned layout. Photo by Rick DeBerry
A Lego model in the Chesterfield facility’s visitor center shows the complex’s planned layout. Photo by Rick DeBerry

Lego is eligible for incentives approved by the General Assembly’s Major Employment and Investment Commission. During the ceremony, Youngkin signed Virginia HB 2238 and SB 1134, establishing the Precision Plastic Manufacturing Grant Fund. The bill provides up to $56 million in grants between July 1, 2027, and July 1, 2035, “to a qualified company that engages in the manufacture and distribution of precision plastic products in an eligible county and that between June 1, 2022, and Dec. 31, 2035, is expected to make a capital investment of at least $1 billion and create at least 1,761 new full-time jobs related to or supportive of its business.”

Thursday’s event was celebratory, but Virginia’s economic development officials have acknowledged that Lego’s plant is a one-of-a-kind deal in the commonwealth, while neighboring states have won many more high-dollar industrial projects since 2015. Youngkin has blamed a lack of shovel-ready industrial sites and focused on allocating more state funds toward site preparation in hopes of winning more megaprojects.

Lego is also using the Virginia Economic Development Partnership’s Virginia Talent Accelerator Program, a discretionary incentive program that provides free customizable workforce recruiting and training services for eligible businesses locating or expanding in Virginia.

Lego has touted its commitment to the Richmond community. On Thursday, the company announced it will donate more than $1 million to charities that support local children from disadvantaged backgrounds with learning-through-play programs. In 2022, Lego donated $300,000 to the Children’s Museum of Richmond and the Science Museum of Virginia, but the company and its foundation won’t announce recipients of the remaining $700,000 until this summer.

“Children are our role models because they have boundless creativity and natural curiosity about the world and they’re a constant source of inspiration,” said Skip Kodak, Lego’s regional president of the Americas.

Lego has also emphasized its commitment to sustainability. By 2032, Lego Group aims to reduce its global carbon emissions by 37% of its 2019 output. The Chesterfield facility will be carbon-neutral, with ground and rooftop solar panels and a 35- to 40-megawatt solar plant onsite. The toymaker is also aiming for a Gold LEED certification for the facility once complete.

The Chesterfield factory is Lego’s first U.S. manufacturing facility and its second in North America, the first being in Monterrey, Mexico. The Danish company plans to open another facility in Vietnam by 2024 and is expanding its facilities in Mexico, Hungary and China.

Lego established its American subsidiary, Lego Systems Inc., in 1973. Although its Americas headquarters have been in Enfield, Connecticut, since 1975, the company is moving its U.S. headquarters to Boston in 2026. The toymaker employs more than 3,000 people in the U.S. and has more than 100 stores, including three in Virginia — in Arlington, McLean and Woodbridge. Worldwide, the company has more than 27,000 employees.

Bowman gives $5M to Va. Tech for land development program

Reston-based Bowman Consulting Group Ltd. founder and CEO Gary Bowman committed $5 million to Virginia Tech’s College of Engineering for the expansion of sustainable land development learning initiatives, the university announced Monday.

“The Bowman gift solidifies Virginia Tech as the premier undergraduate and graduate programs in the field of sustainable land development,” Mark Widdowson, head of the Charles E. Via Jr. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, said in a statement. “In partnership with the land development industry and through the generosity of Gary Bowman, our department has set the standard for curriculum innovation and experiential learning that will enrich the education of civil engineering students for years and decades to come.”

The donation will establish the Bowman Sustainable Land Development Program, serving both undergraduate and graduate students. The sustainable land development master’s program, currently in its second year, will fall under the program, as will the Land Development Design Initiative (LDDI), which will be renamed but will continue to allow people and organizations in the industry to provide input on curriculum and to provide students with mentoring and experiential learning opportunities, like field trips and practitioner-led workshops.

Virginia Tech established LDDI in 2005.

“When I began to recruit students from Virginia Tech 25 years ago, most students were unaware of land development design as a potential career path,” Bowman said in a statement. “The establishment of LDDI resulted in a sea change in awareness among Virginia Tech students of land development design as a desirable career choice. Clearly the industry, and our company, has benefited from the influx of well-prepared young talent.”

Bowman graduated from Virginia Tech in 1980 with a degree in civil and environmental engineering. He was a principal at Urban Engineering for 15 years before founding engineering services firm Bowman Consulting Group in 1995. Started with five employees, the company now has 1,700 employees. It went public in May 2021.

Bowman serves on the College of Engineering Advisory Board and has served on the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department’s alumni board in the past. He is a member of the department’s Academy of Distinguished Alumni. Bowman also served on the LDDI’s leadership board in its early years.

“The program has withstood the test of time and has blossomed into a mature program educating a tremendous number of students,” Bowman said in a statement. “My hope is that this gift will be the beginning of a new level of support for the program that will ensure its long-term durability and provide resources to enable it to continue to grow and evolve.”

Frederick County insulation facility add-on to create 37 jobs

Atlanta-based Kingspan Insulation LLC will invest $27 million to expand its Frederick County operations, a project expected to create 37 jobs, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Wednesday.

Kingspan Insulation is a division of Kingspan Group that manufactures energy efficiency and moisture management products for residential and commercial construction. The company will add a 155,000-square-foot manufacturing facility at 200 Kingspan Way to create its OPTIM-R vacuum insulated panels.

“Kingspan Insulation has been a valued employer in Virginia for more than four decades, and we are proud to see the company reinvest in Frederick County,” Youngkin said in a statement. “This great project is a win-win, as Kingspan will increase production capacity to expand its East Coast presence while also creating 37 high-quality jobs, tapping into the region’s workforce.”

Kingspan Insulation manufacturers insulation, building wraps and pre-insulated HVAC ductwork suitable for new build and renovation in residential and commercial buildings.

“Our Winchester plant first opened its doors in 1980 and has grown to become a critical manufacturing facility for Kingspan,” said Doug Crawford, managing director for Kingspan Insulation North America, in a statement. “The Winchester plant’s consistent track record of strong performance coupled with the support of Frederick County and the commonwealth of Virginia has given us the confidence to continually invest in this operation. We are eager to start constructing a state-of-the-art manufacturing plant to produce OPTIM-R vacuum insulated panels.”

In keeping with its Planet Passionate initiative, the company will use methods to increase sustainability while building the facility, like replacing removed trees, using translucent wall panels to allow natural lighting, installing photovoltaic roofing (solar panels or cells) and recycling rainwater.

The Virginia Economic Development Partnership worked with Frederick County and the Port of Virginia to secure the project for Virginia. The company received a $550,000 grant from the Virginia Investment Performance Grant, an incentive for existing companies to continue capital investment.

HII division announces new VP of infrastructure and sustainability

Newport News-based Fortune 500 military shipbuilder HII announced Wednesday that Eric Crooker is the new  vice president of infrastructure and sustainability at its Pascagoula, Mississippi-based Ingalls Shipbuilding division.

In this role, Crooker will focus on compliance and enterprise risk management along with overseeing environmental; health; safety and security; and facilities and maintenance elements. His team will oversee environmental, social and governance expectations.

“I am pleased to announce this strategic alignment of several of the most critical elements of our business,” Ingalls Shipbuilding President Kari Wilkinson said in a statement. “The purpose of this organizational shift is to increase the collaboration between the teams already ensuring the health and protection of our people and our shipyard, and to enable sustainability for future generations of shipbuilders to come.”

Crooker has been with Ingalls for 10 years and worked in operations, facilities, legal and security. He previously worked in corporate law, compliance, emergency preparedness and crisis management.

He is a second-generation shipbuilder and holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and a law degree from Tulane University.

Recycling joint venture to create 210 jobs in Chesapeake

Two sustainable development companies — New Jersey-based Kamine Development Corp. and Minnesota-based Nicollet Industries LLC — will invest $267 million to establish a joint venture paperboard recycling and production facility in Chesapeake, a project expected to create 210 jobs, Gov. Ralph Northam announced Tuesday.

The 335,000-square-foot Celadon Development Corp. facility will be at the Chesapeake Deepwater Terminal site.

“Celadon Development Corp.’s state-of-the-art operation will produce in-demand fibers from recycled paper products, benefitting the environment and positioning Chesapeake and the commonwealth as pioneers of this exciting recycling technology in the U.S.,” Northam said in a statement. “The capital investment, new jobs and environmental stewardship opportunities provided by this project will pay dividends for years to come, especially as we build out our clean economy.”

The joint venture will convert recycled mixed paper and corrugated cardboard into reusable fiber sheets to supply middle-market paper manufacturers in China. The company will use a paper mill dryer system to produce its paper products from waste cardboard for a lower cost than bleached paper.

At peak operations, Celadon might use up to 300 rail cars per month and export 80,000 TEUs — 20-foot equivalent units — per year through the Port of Virginia. The joint venture would produce about $200 million in export value annually at full capacity.

“Virginia has one of the largest and most automated container terminals in the country, and the port has been extremely supportive of our project,” Celadon CEO Tim Zosel said in a statement. “We worked closely with the city of Chesapeake to find a great piece of property that could be developed into a first-class location for our project.”

The Virginia Economic Development Partnership worked with the city of Chesapeake, the Hampton Roads Alliance, the Port of Virginia and the General Assembly’s Major Employment and Investment Project Approval Commission to secure the project, for which Virginia competed with South Carolina. Northam approved a $2 million grant from the Commonwealth’s Opportunity Fund to assist the city of Chesapeake. Celadon is eligible to receive benefits from the Port of Virginia Economic and Infrastructure Development Zone Grant Program. The VEDP’s Virginia Jobs Investment Program will provide funding to support employee recruitment and training activities.

Arlington agriculture nonprofit names first president and CEO

Arlington-based sustainability agriculture nonprofit Leading Harvest announced Friday that it has named Kenny Fahey as its first president and CEO.

Fahey, who works remotely from Seattle, has been Leading Harvest’s executive director since its launch 18 months ago. He has enrolled more than 1.3 million acres across 29 states in the organization’s Farmland Management Standard for sustainable agriculture, and he is overseeing a pilot program in Australia.

“Kenny has led us through our early months with a strong and sure hand, and the full board is thrilled that he will continue to drive Leading Harvest’s efforts as we build on our successes in the U.S., engage with the supply chain and expand our reach in international markets,” Oliver Williams IV, Leading Harvest chair and global head of agricultural investments for Hancock Natural Resource Group, said in a statement.

Fahey came to Leading Harvest on loan from The Conservation Fund, where he had served as its working lands principal. The Conservation Fund convened a group of farmers, investors, NGOs and farm managers to create a universal third-party certification program for farmland management, and Larry Selzer, the fund’s president and CEO, appointed him to staff the group. The group became Leading Harvest.

“This is a bittersweet moment for The Conservation Fund, where Kenny has been a highly respected and valued colleague,” Selzer, who is also vice chair of Leading Harvest board, said in a statement. “But we know that Leading Harvest — and the future of agriculture — will be well-served by this terrific, committed leader in our conservation and sustainability movement.”

Fahey holds an undergraduate degree from Bowdoin College and an MBA and master’s degree from the University of Michigan.

Started in 2020, Leading Harvest is a nonprofit organization committed to increasing the adoption of sustainability practices in agriculture. The organization provides assurance programs composed of standards, audit procedures, training and education and reporting and claim offerings.

Henrico green-lights $2.3B GreenCity project

The Henrico County Board of Supervisors this week unanimously approved rezoning the 204-acre former Best Products headquarters campus into the $2.3 billion GreenCity project, a major mixed-used development that will feature a 17,000-seat arena.

GreenCity, which was proposed in December 2020, is also expected to include two hotels with 600 rooms, about 2.2 million square feet of office space, 280,000 square feet of retail space, 2,100 residential units and green space and plazas. Michael Hallmark with Capital City Partners LLC and Susan Eastridge, the president and CEO of Eastridge, are leading the project for developer GreenCity Partners LLC.

Anthony Romanello, the executive director of the county’s economic development authority put the project in context of the impact it will have on the region’s economy: Henrico’s gross county product is $26 billion annually and GreenCity’s impact is projected to be as much as $1.4 billion per annually. “It’s really going to be phenomenal,” he said.

Discussing the arena during the Oct. 12 Henrico Board of Supervisors meeting, attorney Andy Condlin with Richmond-based law firm Roth Jackson Gibbons Condlin PLC spoke on behalf of GreenCity Partners LLC, telling supervisors that the project’s centerpiece venue will be “a much more intimate arena” and “artists will want to come here.” He also noted the growing movement among performers to only play in arenas that have set sustainability standards and have made climate pledges, so he expects this arena to be sought-after venue for such artists. An operator for the arena has not been named yet.  

Over the next four to six months, the developers will create a community development authority with the county that will serve as the vehicle for financing the arena, Eastridge told Virginia Business. The developers will also buy the property from the county and work on financing the first phase of development in that time period. The price of the property is about $6.2 million, according to Anthony Romanello, Henrico’s economic development director.

The first phase will be an “adaptive reuse” of the existing 300,000-square-foot Best Products building, rather than increasing the project’s carbon footprint with all-new construction, Hallmark said. The developers hope to start construction in the second half of 2022 and complete it by the end of 2023, Eastridge said. 

In the second phase, GreenCity Partners LLC will build the 17,000-seat arena and most of the retail and hotel space, which they hope to start in 2023 and complete in 2024 or 2025. During the meeting, the developers noted that the whole project would not be done until about 2033 or 2034. 

“What’s most exciting about this project is there’s just nothing like it,” Romanello said. “And to have a fully sustainable community that has this kind of an economic impact, it will be unique. And what we’re really thinking about from an economic development standpoint is [that] lots of corporations are committed to sustainability and are really working hard to reduce their carbon footprint or eliminate their carbon footprint. … You may not be in a position to build a fully sustainable building, but now what this will allow is folks who are committed to sustainability to lease space and a facility that helps them live out that commitment.

“We believe that it’ll be really attractive for corporate office headquarters, particularly again for companies that have that strong feeling or strong sensitivity to sustainability,” he added. “And so that’s where I think the sustainability element is one of the differentiators.”

GreenCity’s developers are conducting a feasibility study on residential units to see how quickly they can build them without creating competition between them. They’re also studying the proposed park area, which will run about 1.5 miles from Parham Road to Interstate 295, to see if it can be developed at one time or should be built in phases, Eastridge said. 

During the Oct. 12 supervisors meeting, Nelsen Funeral Home CEO Bernie Henderson spoke in support of the project on behalf of ChamberRVA’s Henrico County Government Affairs Committee: “Our committee has closely monitored the GreenCity project from its initial announcement to the present time and we find that it is well-conceived and that it has enormous beneficial potential specifically for Henrico, as well as for the greater Richmond metropolitan community. We proudly offer enthusiastic support for it.” 

Henrico County Supervisor Tyrone Nelson said, “I feel like we’ve been talking about this ad nauseam. … We’re just ready to move forward.” 

Tigercomm to acquire Florida clean energy PR firm

Vienna-based Tigercomm, a clean energy-focused public relations firm, is acquiring Tampa, Florida-based Chase Media Services LLC, in a deal that is expected to be completed by Nov. 1.

Mike Casey, the Tigercomm founder and president, said the acquisition will help Tigercomm meet growing demand from clean economy sectors.

“This acquisition is a strong fit with our growth trajectory,” he said in a statement. “As a firm specializing in clean energy, we know that many times the U.S. energy market acts more like a collection of 50 state markets. Chase Media spent a decade working in one of those top bellwether markets.”

Chase Media focuses on cleantech and climate change communication, with clients including the Union of Concerned Scientists and Florida Clinicians for Climate Action.

Chase Media founder Melissa Baldwin became a senior vice president for Tigercomm last week.

“I’m excited to put my skills to use to accelerate the transition to a clean economy,” Baldwin said in a statement. “I look forward to helping cleantech firms win with customers, investors and policy makers.”

Northrop Grumman names chief sustainability officer

Northrop Grumman Corp. has named Michael Witt its vice president and chief sustainability officer. He will assume the role on Aug. 9, according to the Falls-Church based Fortune 500 aerospace and defense contractor.

Witt will lead Northrop Grumman’s sustainability initiatives, creating business practices for carbon reduction, resource efficiency and materials management.

Witt previously held leadership positions at Dow Inc. He has a doctorate’s degree in environmental engineering from Michigan State University and a MBA from Northwood University.

Northrop Grumman employs roughly 97,000 people worldwide and reported $36.79 billion in 2020 revenue. The company reported $8.9 million worth of contract awards and $9.2 billion in sales for the first quarter of 2021, up from $8.6 billion in sales for the first quarter of 2020. It received an A- in CDP’s 2020 climate change rankings.