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Roanoke/New River Big Deal: Framatome expands for a small modular future

The future is small, modular and very bright, according to Framatome, the nuclear energy company that is one of Lynchburg’s largest employers.

A presence in the city since the 1980s, Framatome broke ground in April 2024 on a $49.4 million, multi-year expansion and renovation at its Mill Ridge Road facility, one of the company’s two locations in the city. The North American subsidiary of the French nuclear equipment, services and fuel producer, Framatome has a third site nearby in Campbell County.

Along with the expansion, Framatome plans to hire 515 workers, adding to about 1,250 employees it already has around Lynchburg.

“It’s a transformational project for the city,” says Marjette Upshur, Lynchburg’s director of economic development.

The Lynchburg expansion is part of Framatome’s preparation for what it hopes is nuclear power’s next major growth area: small modular reactors, or SMRs. Quicker and cheaper to construct than the larger, standard reactors, SMRs are widely heralded as an answer to ever-growing demands for electricity and a key to decarbonization.

One hiccup: No power-generating SMRs have yet been built in the United States, although construction began in July 2024 on a demonstration reactor in Tennessee.

Even so, Dominique Grandemange, vice president of operational support for Framatome’s installed base business unit in North America, says he expects a wave of SMRs around 2030. In October 2024, Amazon.com and Dominion Energy Virginia entered into an agreement to explore potential development of SMRs at the North Anna Power Plant in Louisa County, and Appalachian Power said in November 2024 it plans to build an SMR in Campbell County.

Framatome, which provides maintenance services for nuclear power plants, sends teams to help maintain nuclear plants for months at a time, usually in the spring and fall, off-peak seasons for power generation. The Lynchburg expansion is part of Framatome’s plan to ready a corps of technicians who will be ready to service the new plants. The expansion will include a replica SMR where technicians can train and test equipment.

“This is going to be very unique for the SMR market,” Grandemange says. “This is really going to position Framatome well.”

Besides the SMR training center, Framatome’s expansion includes a new two-story office building and major renovations to the present facility. The company hopes to finish the new building in the second quarter of 2025 for a June move-in.

After workers shift to the new building, the existing offices, built in the early 1990s, are to be overhauled with new HVAC, a new roof, and other changes. The renovation could be finished in mid-2028, Grandemange says.

By the end of 2024, about 200 people had been hired, according to Grandemange. The new ranks include technicians and engineers who will be based in Lynchburg but sent to nuclear plants for stints of about three months at a time. About 90% of the new hires probably will go to plants in the United States, while others could be sent to Canada, South Africa, South Korea, and countries in Europe — for certain specialized tasks, even France, Framatome’s home country, Grandemange says.

For some new hires, training will include classes at Central Virginia Community College, which recently revised the training program it has run with Framatome for years. After 25 years of being restricted to Framatome workers, the college program opened in 2023 to all students.

The community college now offers an associate’s degree in nuclear technology. Framatome usually sends 15 employees to the college each semester, covering tuition and other costs while also paying full-time wages and benefits for the workers to take classes.

After a semester in the classroom, the Framatome employees return to regular duties, then come to school again the next year.

With a semester on, then a semester off, it takes Framatome workers four years to earn a degree, according to Marcella Gale, CVCC’s mechatronics faculty and program head. That’s faster than the typical student in the program, who studies around full-time work and, on average, needs six years to finish, Gale says.

Recently, the company had 128 applicants for its 15 class spots, according to Gale. A Framatome technician who graduates from the community college program will have a minimum pay rate of $28 per hour, according to a company spokesperson.

Framatome has had numerous applications for jobs tied to the Lynchburg expansion, according to Grandemange. “We are enjoying every moment of this growth.”

Virginia 500 Spotlight: H. Garrett Hart III

WHAT I WAS LIKE IN HIGH SCHOOL: Typical, brain-dead teenage boy

HOW I CHOSE MY CAREER: The recession of 1980

ADVICE FOR NEW COLLEGE GRADUATES: Do what you love and find a problem to solve.

PLUSES AND MINUSES OF WORKING FROM HOME: As a person [who] gets energy from working with others, I only see minuses.

DO YOU LEAVE WORK AT WORK AT 5 P.M.? No

HOW I FEEL ABOUT AI AT WORK: It is the next business revolution.

BIGGEST CHALLENGE I’VE FACED: To turn vision into reality

IF I HAD A TIME MACHINE, I’D MEET: Abraham Lincoln

INTERESTING PLACE I’VE TRAVELED: Hiroshima, Japan

TEN YEARS FROM NOW, I WILL BE: Happily retired and traveling

WHAT I WOULD DO DIFFERENTLY: Lived more in the moment

DOGS OR CATS: Dogs

DID YOU KNOW? Hart has six grandchildren — four boys and two girls.

Central Va. Year-in-Review: Region scores in manufacturing, data centers

Central Virginia continued making headway in manufacturing and offices in 2024, as well as seeing increased interest from the data center sector.

Growth is still taking place in Northern Virginia, home of Loudoun County’s famous “Data Center Alley,” where 70% of the world’s internet traffic courses, but as companies seek less expensive land for data center campuses, many are checking out Central Virginia.

In October 2024, Powhatan County approved a $2.7 billion campus on 119 acres bordering Chesterfield County, and in December 2024, Connecticut-based AVAIO Digital Partners signed an agreement to purchase 452 acres in Appomattox County for a $3 billion data center.

“The uptick in data center projects has ballooned in our pipeline from where it was at this point last year,” says Jennifer Wakefield, president and CEO of Greater Richmond Partnership.

Incoming data centers, as well as the entry of the $57 million Condair plant in Chesterfield, where the Swiss manufacturer will produce cooling equipment, humidifiers and dehumidifiers, will be a big part of the region’s economic development future. But Wakefield notes that manufacturing continued to be the “bread and butter” of the region’s announcements this year, as well as finance, insurance and entertainment.

Richmond

In September 2024, the Richmond Flying Squirrels and Richmond-based used car retailer CarMax announced the new Richmond ballpark and entertainment venue will be named CarMax Park.

Considered a cornerstone of the planned Diamond District development in Richmond, the ballpark will have a capacity of 10,000 attendees (including 8,000 seats), and the rest of the project will include 935,000 square feet of office space, 195,000 square feet of retail and community space, and two hotels with a total of 330 rooms, according to Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer. The entire project is estimated to cost $2.44 billion, according to the City of Richmond.

“The Diamond District has been something that folks have been working on for a long time, and we’re seeing it come to fruition,” says Katie McConnell, senior deputy director of Richmond Economic Development. “It’ll be a really good catalytic project.”

Richmonders can see “cranes and dirt moving” on the initial phases of the ballpark, McConnell says. The official groundbreaking on CarMax Park was in September 2024.

Also on the horizon is the Allianz Amphitheater at Riverfront, a $30 million open-air concert venue that’s set to open in June looking over the James River. Construction and development on CoStar Group’s $460 million campus expansion next door to the amphitheater also continued, McConnell says. The 750,000-square-foot campus will include the city’s tallest building at 425 feet and is expected to be complete in 2026.

Henrico County

Henrico County had its biggest year in history in 2024 from a capital investment standpoint, says Anthony Romanello, executive director of the Henrico Economic Development Authority, with investments totaling $7.6 billion and more than 1,300 jobs created.

“We hit on several sectors: manufacturing, retail, office headquarters, technology,” Romanello says. “That just speaks to the diversity and the strength of our economy.”

The largest projects announced in Henrico in 2024 were related to data centers, with Iron Mountain purchasing 66 acres for more than $8 million within the White Oak Technology Park in the eastern end of the county. QTS Data Centers also acquired 397 acres there for $118.8 million in June 2024, giving it a total plot of 622 acres, acquired for a cumulative $137 million.

Also, LL Flooring sold its 995,792-square-foot distribution center on 97.55 acres in White Oak Technology Park for $104.75 million to QTS in September 2024, as part of the former Lumber Liquidators chain’s bankruptcy proceedings. The land is adjacent to two other plots QTS owns.

Henrico also saw major investments for other industry projects, including a $10 million investment from Tucker Door & Trim, a Georgia-based distributor and manufacturer of doors, windows and specialty millwork for the construction industry. This project is expected to create 50 jobs.

KSB USA/North America, a supplier of pumps and industrial valves and a subsidiary of Germany’s KSB Group, also announced it would invest $25 million to expand its Henrico facility, creating 32 jobs.

Other highlights from the county’s year in economic development include the completion of DPR Construction’s new 15,000-square-foot office building and the relocation of Fortune 500 health care logistics company Owens & Minor to Innsbrook from Hanover County.

“We want to keep our economy really strong in all sectors,” Romanello says. “So, as we look at what the next five years is going to look like, you’re still going to see industrial and advanced manufacturing, and we do have some additional data center projects in the pipeline.”

Chesterfield County

The theme of 2024 in Chesterfield County was executing on large projects that have been in the pipeline for years, says Matt McLaren, deputy director of Chesterfield Economic Development. This included seeing the $1 billion Lego Group manufacturing plant moving forward and Plenty Unlimited’s opening of its $300 million project, the largest indoor vertical farm in the country, in September 2024.

Lego, meanwhile, has started construction of its 340-acre campus, with the first building expected to take shape this year. Plans were to start production in 2025, but that timeline was pushed back to 2027.

Late last year came another big announcement, when Commonwealth Fusion Systems, a Massachusetts-based fusion energy company, said it plans to build the world’s first grid-scale commercial fusion power plant in Chesterfield, a nearly $3 billion investment. Spun out of MIT, CFS says it will build at the James River Industrial Center, a site owned by Dominion Energy, and be in operation in the early 2030s.

Business expansion was also a boon for the county in 2024, adding to Chesterfield’s overall $2.8 billion in new investments and nearly 1,200 jobs created. In September 2024, commercial and industrial contractor Atlantic Constructors Inc. announced it would double its headquarters in Chesterfield, a $25 million project. Engineering and manufacturing company Super Radiator Coils also announced a $22 million expansion in Chesterfield.

“They’re some of our oldest and longest businesses. They’ve been here 30 years plus,” says Garrett Hart, director of Chesterfield Economic Development. “For them to continue, again and again, [to invest] is a really good sign that they’re being successful in Chesterfield.”

Meanwhile, work on the 42-acre Springline at District 60 mixed-use development continued throughout 2024, with apartments and the civil engineering firm Timmons Group’s headquarters opening soon.

Rounding out Chesterfield’s year were Condair’s $57 million manufacturing facility, and the announcement in July 2024 that Danish electrolyzer manufacturer Topsoe planned to build a $400 million plant and create 150 jobs.

“We’re continuing to see companies that we would have never really thought about as potential economic development goals for us, or prospects for us, really come into our market,” McLaren says.

Hanover County

Hanover County also worked toward future data center projects in 2024. The county worked closely with land developers to approve land rezoning, including 1,200 acres north of the town of Ashland that will be solely dedicated to data center use, says Brandon Turner, director of Hanover County Economic Development. The county anticipates that during the next 20 years, there could be about $10 billion to $15 billion in investment in data centers in Hanover, creating at least 700 jobs, he says.

“Site work is starting as far as design and engineering, so it’s going to be a few years before we have anything going on up there from a building standpoint,” Turner says. “But the foundation has been laid for it.”

Another big win for Hanover in 2024 was the announcement that nursing home The Virginia Home would sell its Byrd Park facility in Richmond and move to a $120 million facility in Hanover, creating 250 jobs.

Hanover also saw a record year for tourism in 2024, thanks to a boost in sports tournaments and other attractions, Turner says.

Southern Va. Year-in-Review: Major projects landed in region

For Danville and Pittsylvania County, 2024 was a monumental year.

In November 2024, battery-component manufacturer Microporous broke ground on a $1.3 billion plant at the Southern Virginia Megasite at Berry Hill, where it expects to create 2,015 jobs. The following month in Danville, Caesars Virginia hosted the grand opening of its $750 million casino.

“All indicators point to continued growth and momentum,” says Corrie T. Bobe, Danville’s director of economic development and tourism.

It’s a long way from Danville’s past as a textile manufacturing town, an identity that collapsed by the early 2000s as Dan River Mills entered bankruptcy and closed. Partnering with Caesars Entertainment to bring a casino to the city has proven to be a winning hand for Danville. It received more than $34 million in gaming tax revenue and supplemental payments from when Caesars opened a temporary casino in Danville in May 2023 through December 2024, according to City Manager Ken Larking.

The casino had 1,200 employees on opening day, according to Barron Fuller, regional president for Caesars Entertainment. It’s projected to attract more than 2 million visitors annually.

“This project represents a transformative … investment, converting an 80-acre blighted and historic former textile site — previously generating no revenue — into a world-class entertainment venue,” says Bobe.

Nestled next to the “Three Sisters” smokestacks, remnants of the shuttered Dan River Mills textile facility, Caesars Virginia may be the most obvious symbol of the evolution of Southern Virginia’s economy.

Far from putting all their economic development eggs into the casino basket, area officials have poured time and money over the last two decades into creating sites with supporting infrastructure to attract advanced manufacturing companies such as Microporous. More than $200 million has been invested in development at the Southern Virginia Megasite at Berry Hill alone, making it one of the largest megasites on the East Coast.

The casino and Microporous project were enough good news to offset some bad news in February, when Goodyear announced it would be laying off 850 workers at its tire plant in Danville. Larkin said the city would work with state and regional partners to assist displaced employees.

Leaders in Southern Virginia are also hard at work to make sure they can support the area’s growing workforce. Danville began holding housing summits for the entire region in 2022.

“Since then, we’ve brought in 1,112 multifamily housing units and 912 single family [homes] and townhouses,” says Linda Green, executive director for the Southern Virginia Regional Alliance and vice president of economic development at the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research. “And that doesn’t normally happen in a rural area. In addition to that, we’ve currently got 23 projects ready to go.”

Late in 2024, residents began moving into Dan River Falls, the $85 million multiuse project in the city’s White Mill, a striking former warehouse on the banks of the river. A public-private project between the city’s industrial development authority and The Alexandria Co., Dan River Falls includes 150 apartments and 147,000 square feet of office and retail space. An adjacent $14 million riverfront park is slated to open in the spring.
“These developments will fully revitalize our riverfront, further enhancing the region’s appeal and quality of life,” Bobe says.

Danville and Pittsylvania

Announced in August 2024, RBW Sports & Classics, the United Kingdom’s only manufacturer of hand-built electric sports cars, is investing $8 million to establish a manufacturing plant in the Cane Creek Centre, an industrial park owned by Danville and Pittsylvania. It is expected to create 144 jobs.

The facility, the company’s first U.S. location, will produce its first left-hand drive electric classic sports cars — Roadster and GT models —for the U.S. market.

RBW Sports & Classics will open its facility at the Cane Creek Centre in the second quarter of 2025, according to Matt Rowe, economic development director for Pittsylvania County.

Cambridge Pavers announced in December 2024 its plans to invest $47.35 million to establish a 150,000-square-foot facility at Ringgold East Industrial Park, just outside of Danville in Pittsylvania. The New Jersey-based company manufactures pavers, slabs and wall systems used for patios, landscaping and pool decks. The Ringgold East operation is expected to create 55 technical, manufacturing and customer service jobs with an average pay of $58,151 annually.

Speyside Bourbon Cooperage is investing $16.85 million to build a stave mill in Brosville Industrial Park in Pittsylvania. The mill will produce staves, or strips of wood, from white oak, which are used to make bourbon barrels. It is expected to create 40 jobs and source 40% of the timber needed from Virginia forest owners.

A division of Scotland’s Speyside Cooperage, the bourbon barrel maker has three other Virginia facilities, and the Pittsylvania mill will supply wood for the company’s presence in Smyth County.

EPL America, a specialty packaging manufacturer, is investing $34.7 million in new printing lines, a tubing line, and molds for producing closures and caps to boost capacity at its Airside Industrial Park facility in Danville, creating an estimated 24 jobs. This will allow the company to grow into the beauty and cosmetic markets and serve customers interested in replacing existing plastic products with laminate tubes.
“Market demand for its products in the [United States] remains robust, and the company has successfully tapped into Southern Virginia’s skilled labor force to support its continued growth and meet this increasing demand,” says Bobe.

The rest of the region

Danville and Pittsylvania are not the only Southern Virginia localities focused on drawing new business. In April 2024, Henry County supervisors awarded a $24 million contract to Chatham’s Haymes Brothers Construction to prepare a 172-acre pad site in Commonwealth Crossing, an industrial park in Ridgeway.

In January, Press Glass announced it would be closing its Stoneville, North Carolina, fabrication operations and moving them to Ridgeway in Henry County. That’s expected to increase Press Glass’ Virginia employee count to about 500. In 2023, the company announced a $155.2 million addition to its Ridgeway facility, and construction started last year.

Also, Hitachi Energy is investing $26 million to expand its South Boston facility, which manufactures transformers. This will pay for new equipment, upgrades and other production line improvements, which will expand capacity for producing distribution transformers.

Work started on the expansion in September 2024. It’s expected to be completed and new production underway by the end of 2026, says Kurt Steinert, Hitachi’s head of external communications in North America.

The facility currently has 585 employees, and the expansion is expected to create about 100 jobs. Hiring has begun, Steinert says.

In Mecklenburg County, Shalag US is investing $16.6 million to open a manufacturing and production facility in the former Global Safety Textiles building.

Shalag purchased the 154,000-square-foot building and associated property in August 2024 for $5.75 million.

The Oxford, North Carolina-based company manufactures a wide range of nonwoven fabric for use in products including diapers, feminine hygiene, air filtration and cleaning wipes. Its Mecklenburg facility is expected to create 52 jobs and allow the company to increase overall production capacity in the U.S. by 25%, according to a news release.

“They have started working on upfitting the building to their needs,” says Angie D. Kellett, director of the Mecklenburg County Office of Economic Development.