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Education: Va. colleges increase in-demand programs

Virginia’s higher education institutions grew their degree programs and, in some cases, grew physically in the last year as they sought to train students for in-demand and growing fields.

In response to an increasing demand for skilled tech workers, ‘s universities have expanded their STEM capacities, manifesting in several cases as new buildings. The University of Virginia opened the first academic building dedicated to its School of Data Science in April 2024, five years after the school started. The new four-story, 61,000-square-foot building includes an atrium, four adaptable classrooms and a two-story hub and event area.

To the north, George Mason University’s $254 million Fuse tech hub in Arlington County opened to the public and industry partners in December 2024. Undergraduate and graduate-level classes at the 345,000- square-foot building are expected to begin in fall 2025.

The first academic building of Virginia Tech’s $1 billion Innovation Campus opened in January, welcoming graduate students to the Alexandria campus. Since fall 2020, Innovation Campus students had attended classes at the school’s Northern Virginia Center in Falls Church. The $302 million Academic Building One has 300,000 square feet.

Yet to come is Norfolk State University’s $118 million science building that will replace one of the school’s oldest buildings and support new master’s degree programs, including in cybersecurity. The four-story, 131,000-square-foot facility is expected to open in fall 2027.

Although not tied to a new building opening, Virginia Commonwealth University added six undergraduate minors in the 2024-25 academic year: artificial intelligence, aerospace engineering, nuclear engineering, software engineering, cybersecurity and data science.

Also expanding its cybersecurity offerings, George Mason received a nearly $200,000 grant from the U.S. Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology, announced in April 2024, for a two-year program to improve cybersecurity workforce development. The school has more than 20 degree programs that include a cybersecurity focus.

New schools and programs dedicated to public health, health care and related fields also were on the rise in Virginia. On July 1, 2024, about two years after the planned merger became public, Eastern Virginia Medical School officially merged into Old Dominion University, becoming
part of Macon & Joan Brock Virginia Health Sciences at Old Dominion University.

Plans for another health-related school progressed as well. In fall 2024, the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia approved the Joint School of Public Health, a collaboration between ODU and Norfolk State University that is also part of Macon & Joan Brock Virginia Health Sciences at ODU. NSU is the second historically Black college and university in the U.S. to be part of a school of public health.

The school, offering bachelor’s and master’s degrees and one doctorate program, is seeking Council on Education for Public Health accreditation.

In a similar vein, VCU launched a bachelor’s degree in pharmaceutical sciences program last year, becoming the state’s first public university to offer the degree. It prepares students for pharma jobs like quality assurance technicians, research technologists and laboratory technicians.

Universities in Hampton Roads further focused on training and education for maritime professions last year. In fall 2024, ODU launched its School of Supply Chain, Logistics and Maritime Operations, an upgrade from an earlier program offered through its Strome College of Business.

William & Mary, meanwhile, expanded its marine research. The Williamsburg school announced in July 2024 that Jane Batten pledged $100 million — the largest gift William & Mary has received — to boost its coastal and marine science research toward finding global solutions for flooding and sea-level rise. The newly named Batten School of Coastal & Marine Sciences will expand the Virginia Institute of Marine Science.

In February, William & Mary announced a $50 million donation from alumnus Dr. R. Todd Stravitz to create a full tuition scholarship fund for the university’s Batten School and VIMS. First scholarships will be awarded for the fall semester.

Northern Va. Big Deal: Digital Gateway lawsuits head to appeals court

When the massive Prince William Digital Gateway data center project was approved by county supervisors in December 2023, the project was hailed by some as an economic boon that could support 30,000 new construction jobs and infuse more than $500 million in annual tax revenue in the next two decades.

Others saw the project as a looming catastrophe, an economic boondoggle that would fail to deliver on its promises while leaving a blight on the western edge of the county, where the 2,100-acre project was approved along Pageland Lane bordering the historic Manassas National Battlefield Park.

Foes of the project promised to fight, and they have.

Billed as the world’s largest data center corridor and a rival to Loudoun County’s Data Center Alley, the Digital Gateway remains tied up in legal wrangling, and its future appears unclear.

The Digital Gateway would add as many as 23 million square feet of data centers to the county and is considered the world’s largest data center project. As of June 2024, Prince William had 9.17 million square feet of data centers in operation and about 3 million square feet under construction, and the county brought in $166 million in tax revenue in fiscal 2024, a 50% increase over fiscal 2023. By comparison, Loudoun has about 43 million square feet of data centers in operation or under construction, and that county is projected to bring in $1 billion in tax revenue in fiscal 2025.

Overland Park, Kansas-based QTS, one of the Digital Gateway’s two developers, declined to talk about its timeline for construction. Dallas-based Compass Datacenters, the project’s other developer, did not respond to an email.

The Northern Electric Cooperative, or NOVEC, also declined to discuss specific details about the work it must complete on behalf of the project, saying only that it is working with the developers to finalize all its substation locations, which will determine transmission line requirements. Dominion Energy, which will engineer and construct those lines, deferred questions about those needs to NOVEC.

The county board’s approval to rezone land for the project took place during a lame-duck session after the November 2023 elections. Its then-chair, Ann Wheeler, was voted out over her support for the project, and more than 200 people spoke during a marathon meeting that went past midnight. After the vote, a couple of dozen landowners and the American Battlefield Trust went to court, filing multiple suits against the county. One suit claimed the board failed to adequately notify the public about the hearing, and a second challenged the adoption of a comprehensive plan amendment that paved the way for the project.

Last fall, county circuit court judges dismissed the lawsuits, but plaintiffs are turning to the Virginia Court of Appeals, which they hope will block the development. A decision by the court in each case is pending.

Chap Petersen, a former state Democratic senator and an attorney representing plaintiffs in the American Battlefield Trust lawsuit, points out several flaws with the county supervisors’ vote to approve the project, including a recommendation by Prince William planning staff that the body deny the Digital Gateway because the developers’ application lacked critical information.

For now, the project appears stalled while legal wheels turn. That includes the sale of land to developers, angering some homeowners who had planned to sell, Petersen says. QTS previously told Virginia Business that about 100 homeowners joined together to sell their land for the Digital Gateway.

“The issue is that the rezoning is not final until they get all the way through the appeals process,” Petersen says. “So, they [developers] don’t want to buy the land because it may turn out to be worth a lot less than what they expected.”

Trevor Johnson, Prince William’s deputy director for economic development and tourism, says the county is focusing on attracting industries including life sciences and technology, and is not actively courting data centers. He would not speculate on the economic impact should legal battles lead to the Digital Gateway’s dissolution, and was not aware of any construction timelines.

“All along, it was a 15- [or] 20-year project, and so I wouldn’t even know if it’s considered a delay or not, or if this is kind of the timeline,” Johnson says.

Shenandoah Valley Big Deal: Dairy producer again expands in Frederick County

Dairy company HP Hood has nearly completed the $83.5 million expansion and upgrade of its Frederick County plant, which will allow it to increase production and meet future customer demand.

A new machine to fill and seal milk containers was installed and went into production in December 2024, and a new warehouse and processing room will be in service during the first quarter of 2025. The plant will encompass 442,000 square feet when the expansion is complete, says Lynne Bohan, Hood’s group vice president of communications and government affairs.

“Our growth and investment in Frederick County will enable Hood to continue to provide a market for local dairy farms through our milk cooperative partnerships,” she says. “As we continue to invest in our Winchester facility, it will enable Hood to create new jobs and new products in the future.”

The plant, located just south of Winchester, processes 150 million gallons a year of extended-shelf-life fluid milk and nondairy products. They’re used for Hood’s own brands, private label partners, licensed brands and co-packing partners. These include Lactaid, Blue Diamond Almond Breeze Almond Milk and Planet Oat.

A nationally branded dairy processor headquartered in Lynnfield, Massachusetts, HP Hood has 12 manufacturing plants across the United States and annual sales revenues of approximately $3.5 billion. Customers include chain and independent retailers, convenience stores, and food service channels across the country, according to a news release from the governor’s office.

The company built its Frederick County plant in 2000 on 878 acres at 160 Hood Way. The site provides access to both U.S. Route 11 and Interstate 81, as well as a milk cooperative network that includes the Dairy Farmers of America and the Maryland & Milk Producers Cooperative Association. It supplies finished products to customers in New England as well as the Southeast, Mideast and Midwest, says Bohan.

“When we chose this location way back before 2000, we thought it served us, from a distribution standpoint and an ingredient standpoint, an employment standpoint, and we were supported by the local department of economic development. They’ve been terrific partners with us all along,” she says.

Attracting the plant was an important deal, not only for Frederick County, but also the Shenandoah Valley region, says Patrick Barker, executive director of the Frederick County Economic Development Authority. Hood is now one of the county’s major manufacturers and employs more than 600 people.

The dairy processor previously expanded operations at the facility in 2013, investing $84.6 million to increase ultra-high temperature production capacity.

“They’ve done multiple expansions since they located there, and we appreciate every one of them,” Barker says. “This one, which is close to $84 million, is a further confirmation of the county being a place where business wants to locate and business happens.”

The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services worked with Frederick County and the county’s EDA to secure this most recent upgrade and expansion project for Virginia. Youngkin approved a $50,000 Infrastructure Grant from the Governor’s Agriculture and Forestry Industries Development Fund, which Frederick County is matching with local funds.

According to Lindsay Reames, executive vice president of sustainability and external relations at the Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative Association and the 2024 chair of the Virginia Agribusiness Council, the expansion and upgrade “will definitely allow us to continue to supply them and shows a strong signal to us that they are investing in their business and we’re going to have a home for our milk in the future.”

HP Hood’s continued investment in its Winchester facility will enable it to create jobs and add additional capacity in response to growing customer demand, according to the company, although no new positions have been added yet. Nevertheless, Hood is always hiring and has worked with area colleges and held job fairs to recruit people from the Shenandoah Valley. Sourcing employees from the region is important to the company, Bohan says.

The Frederick County plant and its employees also give to their communities by supporting the Winchester Rescue Mission, SPCA, local Lions Club and Toys for Tots, in addition to donating turkeys to The Laurel Center, an organization assisting those affected by domestic and sexual violence.

“We like to consider ourselves a good neighbor and community supporter,” says Bohan.

Shenandoah Valley Year-in-Review: Manufacturing, tourism drive region’s growth

The year 2024 turned out to be a surprising but positive one for the Shenandoah Valley region.

“We had more activity than anticipated in terms of lead generation and opportunities,” says Jay Langston, executive director of the Shenandoah Valley Partnership.

The food and beverage sector remains the region’s main industry, but last year, a variety of manufacturing projects came into play, including equipment, battery and electrical vehicle components and electrical and electronic components.

“It’s pleasant to see that we don’t just have one industry,” Langston says.

The region secured company expansions throughout the year, including a $58 million expansion of Shamrock Farms’ manufacturing operation in Augusta County. Announced in October 2024, the project is expected to create 28 jobs and add 81,000 square feet to the company’s existing 250,000-square-foot facility in Mill Place Commerce Park, allowing the dairy product manufacturer to reconfigure space to accommodate a new production line and add cold storage.

To prepare for companies looking for site-ready parcels, SVP conducted a Regional Industrial Facility Authority site feasibility study for a possible almost 500-acre regional commerce park in Weyers Cave. The RIFA process was under discussion as of January.

Last year was “an [important] year for infrastructure building,” says Langston. “We are always looking at opportunities to provide the right environment for our companies so the region can be successful.”

Frederick County

The county’s economic growth has been consistent over the past few years, with a continued increase in manufacturing.

“We pride ourselves on that consistency,” says Patrick Barker, executive director of the county’s economic development authority. “We are continually focusing on ready-to-go talent and sites so we can continue our competitive nature going forward.”

Framebridge, a custom framing company, opened its new manufacturing operation in Winchester in late July 2024, creating 65 jobs. It will ship to 28 retail locations on the East Coast and Texas.

HP Hood is investing more than $83.5 million to expand its dairy processing operations in the county. The project includes upgrades to production and packaging equipment and construction of additional cooler and warehouse space.

Desi Fresh Foods, a producer of South Asian yogurt, is investing $13 million and creating 56 jobs in the county to open a new manufacturing facility servicing the East Coast. The facility’s projected opening date is this spring.

WCS Logistics, a Winchester Cold Storage company, will invest $27 million to expand in the county, building an 83,000-square-foot cold storage facility. The project will create more than 15 jobs and is scheduled to open in July.

FlyAdvanced selected the Winchester Regional Airport for a new location to expand its aircraft maintenance, charter and management business in August 2024. In the next five years, FlyAdvanced expects to employ 20 aviation maintenance technicians and an equal number of pilots. The company also expects to invest $5 million in training, infrastructure and capital investment in that timeframe.

Harrisonburg

The city had a solid year thanks to its strong, diverse manufacturing base, bolstered by its dominant food processing sector.

Farmer Focus has become Harrisonburg’s largest private sector employer, with more than 1,200 employees.

“They are one of the fastest-growing organic chicken producers in the country,” says Brian Shull, the city’s director of economic development. “The company recently completed a $17.8 million expansion and has added 200 jobs” in an 18-month span starting in the fourth quarter of 2023.

Kerry Group, a food processing company based in Ireland, announced an $8 million expansion to its Harrisonburg facility in April 2024 to expand its broth and seasonings manufacturing.

The Harrisonburg Innovation Hub opened in the downtown area in late 2024. Peter Denbigh and his team invested $4.5 million renovating the historic Wetsel Seed Complex building’s three floors.

Lauf Cycles, a high-end bicycle manufacturer headquartered in Reykjavik, Iceland, expanded downtown in 2024. All Lauf assembly and distribution operations moved from Taiwan to Harrisonburg.

“Every Lauf bike sold worldwide is now assembled and shipped direct to the consumer from Harrisonburg,” Shull says.

Page County

Page County has seen significant growth in both new and expanding businesses, particularly in the tourism industry. Its transient occupancy tax has increased more than 20% since 2022, according to Nina Fox, the county’s economic development and tourism director.

Dubbed the “Cabin Capital of ,” the county has seen average nightly room rates increase around 26%, with occupancy rates remaining steady. A group of investors purchased the Mimslyn Inn in Luray and are in the process of updating and revitalizing the facility.

“Gen. [John Rutherford] Allen, one of the owners, a retired four-star Marine Corps general and noted Civil War historian, will conduct the occasional symposium and battle tour of Civil War actions in the area,” Fox says.

Rockingham County

Stable and steady is how Josh Gooden, the county’s economic development and tourism coordinator, describes 2024.

The most noticeable win for the county is the construction and location of the first Buc-ee’s travel center in Virginia, which as of January was slated to open June 30. It will bring in about 200 jobs and more than $6 million in investment.

“They have the building under roof, a lot of the parking lot has concrete poured, and supports for the 120 fueling stations are in place,” says Gooden. “We estimate the meals tax revenue generated will be approximately $2 million annually.”

In September 2024, the county received a $4.5 million grant from VEDP’s Virginia Business Ready Sites Program to create a roughly 20-acre pad-ready site in Innovation Village. The county expected to start construction early this year.

The site will be located next to the Leiber facility. The German manufacturer, which refines brewer’s yeast into animal food and other products, is investing up to $20 million to establish its first U.S. operation in Innovation Village, a project announced in 2023. Construction is slated to begin mid-2025.

On the tourism side, Massanutten Resort is working on an expansion to its indoor water park and building a 145-room hotel during the first phase of its multi-year master plan. It expects both to be completed by early 2026.

Waynesboro

Waynesboro was able to tap into the momentum it built in 2023 to end 2024 on a successful note.

“We had another very good year,” says the city’s director of economic development and tourism, Greg Hitchin. 

Northrop Grumman is in the midst of building its $200 million advanced electronic manufacturing and testing facility, which was announced in 2023. The facility, which will add more than 300 jobs over the next five years, is scheduled to open in the summer.

Virginia Panel Corp. (VPC), a manufacturer of interconnect solutions products — products that establish connections between devices — has invested
$11 million to expand its current machine shop in Waynesboro. The Virginia Economic Development Partnership supported the retraining of VPC’s current workforce to the company’s new digital technology through its Virginia Jobs Investment Program.

Thanks to a Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development Virginia Business District Resurgence Grant to Waynesboro, businesses located in the downtown historic commercial district have received more than $120,000 in grants that funded technical assistance, consulting services and façade improvement.

“Our downtown is bustling with restaurants and shops opening,” says Hitchin. The city’s tourism numbers indicate its economic growth, with direct visitor spending in 2023 reaching $77.8 million, a 6.5% increase over 2022.

Southern Va. Big Deal: Microporous’ mega project

Microporous’ decision to invest $1.35 billion to build a battery component plant in Pittsylvania County is a mega deal not just for the region but for the state.

“The company will create over 2,000 jobs in multiple phases and the potential is there for, frankly, additional job creation beyond that,” says Matt Rowe, the county’s economic development director for Pittsylvania County, which co-owns the Southern Megasite at Berry Hill with the City of Danville.

Announced in November 2024, Microporous’ project was the state’s biggest economic development win of the year, and a meaningful victory for Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who was criticized when he took Berry Hill out of the running in 2023 for a $3.5 billion Ford Motor Co. electric vehicle battery factory over concerns about a project partner’s ties to the Chinese government.

Youngkin nodded to that controversy at the groundbreaking ceremony, calling Microporous “an American company using American technology that will hire American workers and supply American companies.”

Based in Sullivan County, Tennessee, Microporous has produced separators for lead-acid batteries for more than eight decades, and at the Berry Hill facility, it plans to produce separators for lithium-ion batteries, which are used in electric vehicles and energy storage systems.
With wages averaging around $60,000, “that will allow folks to improve their standard of living and pay to send their children to college and also have more disposable income,” Rowe says.

The company’s presence is likely to attract other businesses to the region, creating a spin-off effect, says Linda Green, executive director of the Southern Virginia Regional Alliance and vice president of economic development of the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research.
The global market for battery separators is expected to grow from $8.1 billion in 2024 to $19 billion by the end of 2029, according to BCC Research, a Boston market research firm.

Microporous picked Pittsylvania, according to Brad Reed, the company’s vice president of corporate development, because it had the land and infrastructure to support the project, as well as state support.

Prior to landing the battery separator manufacturer, Berry Hill caught the eye of a few major companies, including Hyundai and Albemarle Corp., a chemical manufacturer headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, but none had popped the question, making Microporous the megasite’s first major tenant.

Youngkin, backed by the state legislature, has prioritized site preparation during his term and pumped more state funding into programs to get industrial sites “shovel-ready,” so businesses can set up shop within a year or two of announcements. Also, the Virginia Economic Development Partnership’s Virginia Talent Accelerator Program is available for many major projects, offering recruitment and training to companies at no cost for the first year.

Microporous will prepare a pad site for the first of two phases in the half of 2025 and begin construction in the third quarter of this year. The company’s goal is to have at least its first set of equipment operational by the end of 2026, says Reed.

In late 2024, Microporous began installing equipment at its Tennessee plant that will apply a coating to the separators to enhance lithium-ion battery safety and cycle life. It will go into operation in the first quarter of this year, allowing Microporous to produce marketing samples before the Pittsylvania County plant opens. Initial hires will train in Tennessee, so they’ll have hands-on experience once the Pittsylvania facility begins running, according to Reed.

In January, during the final days of President Joe Biden’s term, Microporous was formally selected for a $100 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy designed to boost the renewable energy supply chain.

However, late in January, President Donald Trump ordered a temporary freeze on $3 trillion in federal spending, potentially affecting major economic development projects, along with nonprofit organizations and individuals. After an outcry and several lawsuits, leading to a temporary injunction, Trump’s administration rescinded the order. However, it’s unclear whether the White House intends to make another attempt to cancel federal funding awarded under Biden.

On the state side, Microporous is eligible to receive up to $60.6 million from the General Assembly’s Major Employment and Investment Project Approval Commission if it invests more than $1.3 billion. The Virginia Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission approved up to $25 million in low-interest financing to bring major natural gas service to the project.

Southwest Va. Big Deal: EO hub offers regional workforce development

The workers and managers at Food City in Abingdon can see the future by stepping out and looking to their left toward a former Kmart.

The old Kmart has been redeveloped by EO, a nonprofit that spun off from the United Way of Southwest , into the 87,000-square-foot Regional Workforce and Child Development Hub. Construction started July 2023, and the hub opened in October 2024.

The redevelopment project cost $26.5 million. Eighty percent came from the private sector, including $7.85 million from Food City and $4 million each from Ballad Health and the Wellspring Foundation of Southwest Virginia. The Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development’s Industrial Revitalization Fund paid another $5 million.

The hub aims to create 100 jobs over the next three years — 70 in the child care center run by Ballad Health, and 30 on the workforce side of the facility. Already, EO and its partners have created 68 jobs through the hub.

The hub includes 25,000 square feet dedicated to early childhood care and education. That facility includes 300 slots, helping fill a child care gap as more jobs return to the office. Another 60,000 square feet is used for students to explore potential careers through partnerships with employers, universities, community colleges and regional school systems. The area also includes training labs for students and teachers, equipped with robotics, 3D printers and more.

Perhaps most striking is the “Career Commons” — a 25,000-square-foot mall-type area featuring 20 spaces built out to create a simulated city. Students can interact with the space at various grade levels.

“We have seventh-grade programming happening right now,” says Kristy Worley, EO’s vice president of programs. “They come in and get to actually do the hands-on career simulations in each of these labs.”

Food City, for example, offers a simulation of its stores, complete with a checkout, a coffee bar and opportunities to stock shelves. The space next door offers a glimpse of Food City’s warehouse operations, including truck driving and forklift simulators. These experiences prepare students for employment at Food City, but also at other warehouses, distribution facilities and even the Volvo Trucks factory a bit north in Pulaski County.

“Just three exits up is the distribution center for [Food City parent company] K-VA-T Food Stores, and they’ve got more than 1,200 employees up there,” says EO President and CEO Travis Staton.

Nineteen of the 20 spaces in the Career Commons are already booked. Tourism and hospitality, computer science, retail, transportation, logistics, automotive, finance, health care and electric utilities are represented in spaces sponsored mostly by private companies, as well as state agencies like the Virginia Department of Transportation.

“We’re working to bridge the gaps between worlds of learning and worlds of work,” Staton says. “We have hands-on learning activities for students as early as third grade to learn, seventh graders to test drive and get a feel, 10th graders to understand the importance of financial literacy, and in 11th grade working with employers on career development, resume writing, mock interviewing and intern placement.”

The hub anticipates foot traffic of roughly 30,000 students per year. So far, 26 schools in 13 counties have partnered with the hub, but Staton says there are plans for more.

The hub has only been open since mid-October, but it’s already drawing praise from regional business leaders.

“Not only will our associates continue to utilize the child care center, but we’re also excited to have two mock career centers located in Career Commons,” says Steve Smith, president and CEO of K-VA-T Food Stores. “We are extremely fortunate to have a multi-use facility of this caliber located here in the heart of our community.”

The hub also is training teachers, child care workers and others to work with children. The goal was to place at least 100 people with jobs in early child care. By early December 2024, the hub had already surpassed 200 placements, Staton says.

“We are the Southwest Virginia hub for early childhood,” Worley says. “We currently work with 218 child care providers; that’s roughly around 560 classrooms and about 1,400 teachers that we serve, train and upskill.”

EO officials hope the hub will become a statewide model for providing child care and shaping workforce development to more directly meet the needs of employers.