Economic Development: Keep on keeping on

In 2023, Virginia racked up another year of economic development wins in the manufacturing sector. Meanwhile, Gov. Glenn Youngkin continued his push toward producing more shovel-ready industrial sites in the state, one of his key priorities since taking office in January 2022.

In November 2023, the U.S. Department of Energy announced that the Southern Virginia Megasite at Berry Hill in Pittsylvania County was in contention for a lithium-ion battery manufacturing facility topping $1 billion in investments and bringing as many as 1,500 jobs, according to Microporous CEO John Reeves. Meanwhile, in Waynesboro, Northrop Grumman broke ground Feb. 2 on its $200 million advanced electronics facility with plans to create 300 area jobs, and in Prince George County, PGT Innovations, a Florida-based manufacturer and supplier of windows and doors, announced in November 2023 it would invest more than $54 million to revamp a former Rolls-Royce plant, creating 659 jobs.

One of the state’s splashiest announcements last year was the $900 million Kalahari Resorts & Conventions water park resort currently under construction in Spotsylvania County’s Thornburg area, a project expected to create 1,400 jobs.

Other companies are planning expansions, including Press Glass, a Polish glass fabricator set to spend more than $155 million to expand its operation in Henry County and add 335 jobs (see related story), and in Roanoke County, Wells Fargo plans to expand its operation with an $87 million investment, adding about 1,100 customer service jobs. In Newport News, the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility is set to lead the High Performance Data Facility Hub, a $300 million to $500 million data science computing hub, with aims to create 150 jobs.

Not everything came up roses, though. In November 2023, the U.S. General Services Administration announced that the FBI’s new headquarters would be relocated from Washington, D.C., to Greenbelt, Maryland, instead of Springfield, a site pushed by Virginia officials and recommended by one FBI representative and two GSA representatives. The day after the announcement, FBI director Christopher Wray wrote an email to the FBI’s full workforce, saying that a former political appointee to the GSA had overridden a three-person panel’s recommendation to build in Springfield. U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, responding to Wray’s letter, called for a reversal of the decision, and the inspector general for the GSA launched an investigation.

In December 2023, Youngkin and local officials announced plans to build a $2 billion entertainment complex in Alexandria on the Potomac River centered around a new arena for the Washington Capitals and Washington Wizards pro teams, as well as a new headquarters for team owner Monumental Sports & Entertainment. Though it was framed as a done deal, the project requires General Assembly and gubernatorial approval of a new Virginia Sports and Entertainment Authority, which would own the land and buildings within the entertainment district. During the session, the project stalled amid opposition in the Senate, though a House bill was still alive as of mid-February.

Meanwhile, the governor has also proposed moving $179.5 million from the state’s general fund to the Virginia Business Ready Sites Program Fund in fiscal 2024 and $200 million for 2025 and 2026. Even so, Virginia has a long way to catch up to its peer Southeastern states, which have invested billions in site development, while the commonwealth spent only about $1 million a year before 2021. Between 2015 and 2022, neighboring states won 120 industrial megaprojects totaling $1 billion or greater in investments apiece, while Virginia landed just one — the Lego Group’s $1 billion toymaking plant in Chesterfield County.

In other news, Amazon.com’s East Coast headquarters, HQ2, opened its first two buildings in Arlington County in June 2023, and the Potomac Yard–VT Metro station opened in May near the Virginia Tech Innovation Campus in Alexandria. Also, Framatome announced it plans to expand its U.S. headquarters in Lynchburg, investing $49.4 million and creating an estimated 515 jobs. The French nuclear power company has more than 1,300 employees in Lynchburg, where it’s been located since 1989.