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Hampton Roads' Infrastructure
Helps Land Major Announcements

With some 1,394 jobs created and $64.7 million invested already this year, the Hampton Roads area in southeast Virginia continues to prove its appeal to business. The region's economic expansion has come from several industry segments, but some of the top announcements this time around have been in the distribution, manufacturing and technology-related industries.

The No. 1 reason for this wide appeal, says Jones Hooks, president of the Hampton Roads Economic Development Alliance, "is our labor availability." Although the area's unemployment hovers around 3 percent, according to The Dismal Scientist, it has what Hooks calls a replenishing work force. "We have over 20,000 exiting military each year, and those people are available for work," Hooks explains. "Secondly, we have 70,000-plus college students in our area."

John Deere agrees. Last year, the Fortune 500 company located its utility vehicle engineering, manufacturing and marketing complex in James City County, and this year it announced that it would expand its operations again. Part of John Deere's reasoning for the new $12.5 million expansion, which includes a new paint facility, was the area's labor pool.

"We are already starting to prosper here because of the great people we have been able to find and the ease with which we have been able to recruit, due to the schools and the quality of life on the Virginia Peninsula," says Dave Larson, general manager of the John Deere Vehicle Group.

The same is true for Evercel's 180-job, $25 million investment in Newport News, where the company is locating its North American manufacturing operations. "Evercel selected Newport News based upon superior quality of life issues, competitive manufacturing costs and the available skilled work force," says Robert L. Kanode, president and CEO.

Another key component of the Hampton Roads' success has been its strong infrastructure network. The region has direct connections to major north-south corridors I-95 and I-85, and it's serviced by the Norfolk-based railroad Norfolk Southern Corp. The area's port system, howe ver, was the big draw for major investments this year.

Wal-Mart Stores chose James City County for a new 2 million-sq.-ft. (185,806-sq.-m.) distribution center, where it will employ 400 workers. James City County competed with Georgia for the $50 million project.

"The proximity to the port played into Wal-Mart's decision very, very heavily," says Keith Taylor, economic development director with the James City County Economic Development Office. "It allows them to move goods from overseas into this distribution center, and then they will redistribute those from that import center to their regional distribution centers up and down the East Coast, so location was paramount for them."

Other distribution companies have also found the Hampton Roads' infrastructure a plus. SYSCO Foodservices, for example, is locating a new $44 million distribution center in Suffolk. The food service distributor has plans for a second phase within the next five years, bringing the total square footage to 500,000 (46,452 sq. m.).

In Chesapeake, DaiEi Papers Corp., a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Kokusai Pulp and Paper, plans to relocate its corporate headquarters to the area from Parsippany, N.J. The new facility will export 100 percent of DaiEi Papers' products from the Port of Virginia.

"The fine facilities available for global trade provided by the Virginia Port Authority were major factors in our decision to locate our new facility in Chesapeake," says Michael McCann, president of DaiEi Papers. "The available infrastructure with road and rail ensured efficiencies in operational expenses that could not be matched in other locations."

The Hampton Roads region has also taken steps in locating high-tech industries to the area. In fact, the region ranks No. 2 in the state for number of employees and companies involved in the high-tech arena, reports Hooks. Among Ha