RIFA backs incentives deal for Pittsylvania industrial site

A development appears to be percolating in Pittsylvania County.

On Friday, members of the Staunton River Regional Industrial Facility Authority unanimously approved a local performance agreement, which includes details of incentives used to woo a soon-to-be-revealed company to the Southern Virginia Multimodal Park in Hurt, according to Matt Rowe, Pittsylvania County’s economic development director.

The meeting’s agenda noted the governor’s office is expected to make an economic development announcement related to the agreement next week. The development’s code name, according to the agenda, is Project Volare.

A collaboration among Pittsylvania County, the Town of Hurt and the City of Danville, the authority works to develop the Southern Virginia Multimodal Park, which is now more than 1,000 acres.

The agenda for Friday’s specially called meeting also reported the authority and county will provide a grading grant of up to $1.7 million, an “encumbrance relocation” grant of $7.5 million and a local enterprise zone jobs grant of about $1.55 million.

Additionally, the members approved a local enterprise zone waiver of building permit and water and sewer fees estimated to be valued at $1 million. The project will also receive a 70% tax rebate on real property taxes and machinery and tools taxes for a decade.

On Tuesday, both the Pittsylvania Board of Supervisors and Danville City Council approved documents supporting a $7.5 million low-interest loan from the Virginia Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission to the authority for developing the Southern Virginia Multimodal Park.

In January, the county Board of Supervisors approved the rezoning of nearly 225 acres from residential and agricultural zoning to M-2, Industrial District-Heavy Industry zoning, to allow the property to be used for advanced manufacturing in an expansion of the Southern Virginia Multimodal Park.

In a Dec. 14, 2025, letter to the Pittsylvania Planning Commission, Rowe wrote that once the Southern Virginia Multimodal Park is fully developed, “the property will result in transformational job creation and investment opportunity.”

The industrial park was the site of a Burlington Industries textile mill until 2007. The RIFA formed in 2017 and the park received its current name in 2020.

The RIFA operates under an agreement in which Pittsylvania foots 61% of the project’s costs and receives that much in revenue, while Danville gets a 35% share and Hurt receives 4%.