by ADAM BRUNS adam.bruns bounce@conway.com

T

he 15 jurisdictions of Hampton Roads – in the southeastern Virginia market punctuated by the Port of Virginia's deepwater terminals in Norfolk, Newport News and Portsmouth – account for exactly 20 percent of the 300 projects Conway Data's New Plant Database has tracked in the Commonwealth of Virginia from January 2005 through the end of September 2006. Part of the draw is movement of goods, and part is movement of people: The area's military community sees 15,000 servicemen and their spouses exit the service annually.
   Leading the way in project volume is Suffolk, with 15 projects in that span, followed by Norfolk and Virginia Beach with 10 each. And as one might suspect, many of those projects are movement- oriented: the still- rising $500- million terminal from Maersk- APM in Portsmouth and Target's distribution center (DC) in Suffolk are just two examples. NYK Logistics announced in early October that it will build a new $26- million, 100- job distribution facility Chesapeake after just expanding its still- busy facility in nearby Hampton last year. And Johnson Development Associates continues spec work at the Shirley T. Holland Commerce Park in Isle of Wight County, where cotton fields are giving way to the next wave of industrial and logistics development.
   The Port of Virginia has attracted 111 distribution centers and is responsible for $584 million in annual wages and salaries, $763 million in business revenue and $60 million in state and local tax receipts, reported Gov. Tim Kaine in August comments to state legislators.
   No wonder transportation funding and oversight has been at the top of the state legislature's agenda. As the governor stated, "By 2009 the new Maersk terminal – the largest privately owned container terminal in North America – will be fully operational in Hampton Roads, single- handedly bringing another one million containers a year. How do we integrate that increasing freight traffic into an already congested road and rail grid? Without infrastructure improvements, the port's potential will be lost."
   A special legislative session in September to address transportation reform, construction and funding challenges did not produce legislation, though a legislative commission charged with overseeing DOT efficiency and reform was announced by Gov. Kaine in October. Meanwhile, beyond the coal piles, seafood industrial park and densely stacked cranes of Hampton sits Craney Island, where even bigger port facilities are scheduled to come online 15 years from now.